Staff WriterIt might have been a foregone conclusion that when Scottie Scheffler ended his Saturday with the lead, he would eventually claim victory, but LIV’s best certainly challenged the world number one the entire way to the end.
Only needing par for his third major championship, Scottie Scheffler negated any and all mistakes he made and held on throughout the day to claim another huge win in an already illustrious, albeit young, career.
Jon Rahm easily had the best chance amongst the entire field to grab victory but, like several of his peers, he eventually fell out of competition with missed putts and costly mistakes down the stretch.
Bryson DeChambeau, despite a disappointing ending to Saturday, had the second-best chance to win, but failed to maintain an advantage throughout the day, having to settle for 1-under par.
Lastly, there was Joaquin Niemann, seemingly left for dead on Saturday night, executed a masterclass performance on Championship Sunday to secure his first-ever Top 10 finish in a major championship.
The Scoring Dries Up for DeChambeau
First off, Bryson should be very proud of a second consecutive Top 5 finish in a major championship, something only the game’s truly elite can pull off.
The putter on Sundays has not been kind to DeChambeau as of late. Recording three birdies and three bogies total with a lot of missed chances in between, one could sense that this would not be DeChambeau’s day less than halfway through the day.
There were several moments on the green where DeChambeau tapped his putter too lightly, perhaps anticipating harder greens or overestimating his power.
Whatever the issue was, Bryson was not the only one having issues as the reigning U.S. Open champion watched those in the field around him have similar collapses including Jon Rahm.
Bryson Highlights: (T2; second consecutive Top 5 Major Championship Finish after T5 in 2025 Masters.
The Green Mile Ends Rahm
As it was with Bryson on Saturday, The Green Mile destroyed any hope Jon Rahm had of winning his first PGA Championship on Sunday.
In a similar situation that Bryson found himself in earlier, Rahm once shared the lead with Scottie Scheffler and looked like he was poised to give the world number one a run for his money down to the very last hole.
Instead, a brilliant Sunday was thrown away on The Green Mile with bogey, double bogey, and another double bogey to finish out the round.
Everyone, including Rahm, knew it was pretty much over the second his ball smacked hard onto the 17th green and proceeded to bounce right into the water.
It was almost identical to how Bryson lost his lead in the third round, though a bit more pronounced with everything on the line.
The double bogey on 17 was followed up by a tee shot that landed into the stream running across the left side on the 18th.
What once looked like a legitimate chance to bring home LIV’s first major championship of 2025 resulted in a T8 finish.
Rahmbo Highlights: (T8; 3-under par before Sunday Green Mile; Rounds of: 70, 70, 67, and 73)
Niemann Rising
Like a phoenix, Joaquin Niemann has risen from the ashes of self-doubt and crushing disappointment.
It took nine years to get to this point, but Niemann has finally recorded a Top 10 finish in a major championship, his best since a T16 at the 2023 Masters.
Despite winning three individual tournaments on LIV this season alone, the young Chilean superstar has been much maligned recently at major championships for the past several years.
Joaco had routinely failed to pin his name to the leaderboard, and has often been an afterthought by championship Sundays.
Niemann, perhaps has rightful, received criticism about never really being in contention to win at any point in the majors.
While the issue of not spending a single day in contention persists, this PGA Championship should be seen as a big victory for the Torque captain.
His invite through virtue of finishing Top 3 in the 2024 LIV season did not go to waste, and committees such as those at Augusta will likely continue to extend offers to Niemann so long as he keeps performances like this up.
This PGA Championship was a huge step in the right direction for one of LIV’s best stars!
Joaco Highlights: (-4; T8; Rounds of: 74, 67, 71, and 68; 2.63 SG ARG; 3-under par Sunday)
The LIV Field
- Richard Bland recovered from a Saturday 76 to finish 1-over par overall, good for a T37 finish. It was Bland’s second PGA Championship tournament and first time making the cut.
- Tom McKibbin had a rough weekend and ended up T50 with a 4-over par score.
- Tyrrell Hatton and David Puig had disastrous Sundays and both finished T60. Hatton opened the PGA Championship with a 68 but failed to have an under-par day afterwards.
- Sergio Garcia’s weekend consisted of two great days (Friday 68 & Sunday 69) and very bad days (Monday 75 & Saturday 79). Finishing T67, Sergio did lift himself out of last place after starting the final round there.
Next Up
Before LIV Virginia (June 6 – 8), Richard Bland travels to Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland to defend his title at the PGA Senior Championship.
LIV Golf Weekly will follow Richard Bland throughout the weekend at the PGA Senior Championship and provide fantasy guides and daily updates for LIV Virginia in the upcoming days and weeks.
