LIV Golf is off to an electric start in 2025

JON & JOACO SHOW ON REPEAT

Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm and Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann, the top two players in 2024, seem to be picking up right where they left off last season.

Niemann again posted an early win with his victory in Adelaide; last year, he won the season's first and third events.

Rahm has maintained his top-10 streak, with a T2 in Riyadh and a solo sixth in Adelaide. He's never finished outside the top 10 in his 14 LIV Golf tournaments that he's finished; the only thing that stopped him was a foot injury that forced him to WD in Houston last year.

The biggest surprise is that neither player sits atop the Individual standings after two events. That honor belongs to …

YO, ADRIAN

Cleeks GC's Adrian Meronk followed his season-opening win under the lights in Riyadh with a respectable T12 in Adelaide, finishing with a sizzling 7-under 65 that included seven birdies and an eagle. Were it not for a couple of double bogeys in his second round, he would've been right in the mix on Sunday.nMeronk also leads the league in birdies made and is third in putting.

He admits that the transition to LIV Golf last season was a bit of a chaotic start, and he didn't find his footing until midseason. But now he's showing why he was the DP World Tour Player of the Year in 2023. With the USGA and R&A announcing a pathway to the U.S. Open and The Open via the LIV Golf Individual standings, Meronk – as well as all the others not currently qualified for those two majors – have an additional huge incentive.

PUIG ALERT

Prior to this season, Fireballs GC's David Puig has struggled to replicate the form at LIV Golf events that he's shown in non-league starts. Consider his last 21 non-LIV Golf results since the middle of 2023: two wins, eight other top 5s and six other top 20s. Early signs indicate the 23-year-old from Spain finally figured out the transition. He tied for sixth in Riyadh, then followed with a solo fourth in Adelaide, leaving him fourth in the points standings. The only other player with top-10 finishes in each event is Rahm.

The most impressive thing is his final-round results, as he shot a bogey-free 7-under 65 in the third round in Riyadh, then a 5-under 67 on Sunday in Adelaide. Afterward, his captain Sergio Garcia marveled, "David played amazing."

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