The past twelve months have had a little bit of everything: a Grand Slam career, Ryder Cup chaos and much more. With 2026 on the horizon, our writers look back at the most memorable moments from 2025 and explain why they mattered.
No. 15 – The zero torque putter motion
No. 14 — Happy Gilmore 2 is taking the golf world by storm
Biggest Golf Moments of 2025 No. 13: LIV Stars’ Big Wins Lead to Bigger Questions
Twenty-five was a year of change for LIV Golf. There was change at the top and change in format. But on the course, the leading group saw one of its stars dominate the 54-hole circuit.
Joaquin Niemann won. Then I won again and again and again and again. The 27-year-old Chilean won five times in 2025, from Adelaide to Great Britain, and Jon Rahm even made bold claims about his place in the professional golf hierarchy.
“In my mind, I think Joaquin is seriously underrated in the golf world today, due to different circumstances,” Rahm said after Niemann’s win at LIV UK in July. “He’s one of the best players in the world, and he continues to prove it. … I don’t know the numbers. I don’t know. My guess is obviously majors, events outside of LIV that might push him back. It’s not a true reflection. He’s undoubtedly a top-10 player in the world right now. I say that conservatively.”
But every LIV victory for Niemann brought with it the same questions about his lack of major championship success. After his second win of the season, Niemann was confident that success on the biggest stage was on the way.
“I know I’m going to win a major. I know it’s going to happen,” Niemann said after winning LIV Singapore in March.
The 2025 season did little to assuage those questions. Niemann finished T29 at Augusta National before finishing T8 at the PGA Championship, his first top 15 in a major. That T8 in Quail Hollow was buoyed by some Sunday stumbles from players ahead of him. Niemann missed the cut at the US Open and Open Championship and subsequently parted ways with both his caddy and his coach. Niemann has had success at LIV, but that has yet to translate to the major championship. Until that happens, Niemann knows the questions about how good he can be and what his LIV wins mean will remain.
“I feel like there’s nothing else to try,” Niemann said of his biggest struggles after winning LIV UK. “Yes, it really frustrated me not to play well in the Majors, but I know I’m going to make it happen. I know I’m going to figure it out. This is obviously a game that’s very frustrating, and I think we all know that. Sometimes we take it personally, like the game is doing something against us. In the position I’m in, I feel like I’ll always learn something from every mistake and every bad result. I’m patient, so I know the results will improve.” Come. I’m just going to wait for them.’
The two-time major champion only won at LIV at the end, when his consistency allowed him to overtake Niemann as individual champion. Rahm said it was “bittersweet” to win the individual title without actually winning a tournament in 2025, but also said he believed it removed any “asterisk” from a season in which he finished outside the top 10 in just one LIV event.
But Rahm is realistic about his success at LIV. He knows it’s “easier to have top 10s with a smaller field” and that he will ultimately be judged on his great success, especially after his move to LIV Golf.
Rahm believes he was “unjustly judged” for his poor major performance in 2024, but he missed the cut at the Masters and was not a factor at the PGA or Open Championship. He did not play at the US Open due to a toe injury. After a backdoor T14 at the 2025 Masters, questions about when we’d see the great killer Jon Rahm again – and whether LIV’s schedule and format held him back – only grew louder.
But then came the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, where Rahm put himself in contention and tied eventual champion Scottie Scheffler before a disastrous finish ended his title chances.
Despite falling short, Rahm was invigorated by his return to the big championship cauldron. In fact, it didn’t look like Rahm lost the PGA Championship at all. It looked like he had found something.
“God, it’s been a long time since I’ve had this much fun on a golf course,” Rahm said that Sunday in Charlotte.
“I mean, it’s hard to express how hungry I am for a major. About as hungry as anyone can be in this situation.”
For two of LIV Golf’s biggest stars, 2026 will be all about whether or not they can satisfy their great championship hunger. Or if the questions just keep getting louder.
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