LIV Golf: Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann a pair to watch at Bolingbrook Golf Club this weekend

BOLINGBROOK – A man from Spain, by way of Arizona State, and a man from Chile will try this weekend to win a fancy ring and an insane amount of money on a public golf course carved from a former cornfield in a southwestern suburb of Chicago.

The Spaniard is Jon Rahm, the Chilean Joaquin Niemann, and one of them – even if they don’t win the LIV Golf Invitational at Bolingbrook Golf Club, the final regular stop of the season that begins Friday – will end up the regular-season LIV champion and collect the $18 million bonus. Nobody else is close to contention for the title, which would be the first such crown for either player on any major tour.

“This was the goal, to win,” said Rahm, who jumped from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf late last year for a reported $300 million. “To have a chance to win. We’re all aware it’s the last [individual] event of the season. To be in this position and to have the nerves is a privilege.”

Rahm has won a Masters, a U.S. Open, and 19 other tournaments, including the LIV stop in England a few weeks ago, following a fifth-place finish in the Olympics. Rahm was the PGA Tour Player of the Year in 2020-21, but not the 2021 Tour Championship winner the following season, even though he shot the lowest score, because of that tournament’s handicap-stroke format.

Niemann, who left the PGA Tour for LIV two years ago, has won a dozen times as a pro, including twice on the LIV circuit early this season.

“At the start of the season, I was playing amazing,” Niemann said. “To be in this position at the last tournament of the year is pretty special. One of my goals has been to win the season.”

Their battle will take place within the confines of the three-round tournament that itself offers a $25 million purse, with $5 million allocated to a team competition that few beyond the players and diehards pay any mind to, and $20 million spread among the 54 players in the field, with $4 million handed to the winner Sunday. Thus, either Rahm or Niemann, should they win the tournament, would collect a total of $22 million individually plus whatever share of the loot their team collects.

The season runner-up gets to console himself with $8 million.

The 54-player field includes U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, multiple major winner Brooks Koepka, Tyrell Hatton and Sergio Garcia.

Meanwhile, the representatives of the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian-owned Public Investment Fund, owner of LIV Golf, have been talking in New York this week, trying to settle the three-year argument that has split men’s professional golf into two camps and bruised feelings on both sides. The talks were criticized by the 9/11 Justice group, which has accused the Saudi government of direct involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks, for taking place in New York this week.

If there has been progress, it has not been announced.

Rahm, whose jump from the PGA Tour to LIV came not quite a year ago, hoped for a settlement sooner rather than later.

“We have an opportunity to create a new stage for golf in the world of sports that could be better than what we had before,” Rahm said. “I think we could do some special things having both tours, with the League and the Tour. Now, you do need ‘the smarter people’ behind closed doors to decide what it looks like.”

This is the third LIV appearance in the Chicago area in as many years. Rich Harvest Links in Sugar Grove, an ultra-private course in Jerry Rich’s backyard, was the host the previous two years, when Cameron Smith (2022) and DeChambeau (2023) won.

In contrast, municipally owned Bolingbrook – the dream of longtime mayor Roger Claar – is hosting its largest event since it opened in 2002. The Arthur Hills design has been converted to a par-70 for the week, and the nines flipped, but regulars otherwise will recognize their course, albeit with tournament trappings festooned upon the landscape.

“It’s in fantastic condition,” Rahm said of his first look. “They’re small greens, and they’re not flat, so they play even smaller than they are.”

CW, including WGN-TV, is the television outlet. Tickets are available at livgolf.com/events/chicago-2024. Most spectators will be shuttled in from a parking lot at 200 Old Chicago Drive in Bolingbrook. The only parking at the course is for players, officials and a handful of corporate suites.