LIV GOLF HONG KONG

March 8, 2026

Jon Rahm

Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling

Legion XIII

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome to the media center, our HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong 2026 individual champion, Jon Rahm. Jon, your first LIV Golf individual title since 2024. I know it's been an eventful week, but how does this feel?

JON RAHM: Very relieving. That's the only way I can describe it. I've been very ecstatic for wins in the past. This one just feels like a big weight off my shoulder. That's all I can say.

It's been a good round. I've been playing great golf. Coming up close is tough. But I'm playing really, really good golf, and just had to stay patient and believe that it was going to happen. Yeah, that I did, and took advantage of the opportunities when I could today.

Q. The team battled hard all week. While they didn't end up securing the team victory, how proud are you of your teammates' resilience and perseverance during quite challenging times entering the tournament?

JON RAHM: I'm very impressed by all of the guys involved. Obviously the war in the Middle East, all the guys that were there in Dubai, all the possible extraction plans, the flights that came on board and -- came up and kind of disappeared, let's say, the expectations and hope of hopefully getting out of there, and the fact that they came and then Thomas did as well as he did and had a chance to win, Caleb had a bad first day and battled back, and even Lee, as well, coming back from injury and then the whole thing and playing good golf, it's nothing but the utmost respect for what they went through.

Very happy that they were able to make it. Very happy that they were here competing for all of us.

As far as my teammates go, I think I told them Monday or so, like, forget about golf. You're not playing Hong Kong, we'll see you in Singapore; let's figure it out. It's mindblowing that it was able to work out the way it did and they were here competing. Again, massive respect for both of them for doing the way they did.

Q. Jon, you said yesterday that you were kicking yourself for not having come to play Hong Kong sooner. I was just wondering if you could expand a little bit on that.

JON RAHM: Well, I didn't realize how fun of a golf course and how fun of a city this was. There's very few combinations in my mind of golf course and venue as a city, entertainment value, that can rival this week. It's undoubtedly one of the best cities in the world.

As a golf course, for a golf course that was started in 1889, it's unbelievable. It's really fun. You have it all; you have long difficult holes, you have short easy ones, you have drivers off the tee, irons off the tee. It's plenty of different strategies, big greens, small greens, wind, no wind. It's a very fun golf course to play, and I've enjoyed it every single time, and I really sincerely hope we come here for a very long time.

Q. I think this is your 23rd career win. How many of them would you describe as relief?

JON RAHM: Well, this one, I would say my first ever win at Torrey Pines. My first ever win at Torrey Pines, this one, possibly the first Spanish Open, something I really wanted to win. But then that U.S. Open, that first major. That hour of waiting for Louis to finish in 2021 was arguably the most stressful hour of my life golf-wise, not off the course. Very difficult to deal with because of everything it entails.

But the relief of getting your first major is something that I don't think can be surpassed, to be honest. For something you've dreamed of for so long, getting it done, especially in my case, being the first Spanish person to win the U.S. Open was quite unique.

There's a few milestones in my life that I'm very appreciative of, and a few of them felt like a relief. Maybe not at that moment because I was ecstatic. As far as awayness for that, maybe this one takes the cake.

Q. I think you've mentioned this out on the broadcast, but what you learned in that final round in Adelaide and how you took that into today and how you played today.

JON RAHM: I was just a little bit too tense, aware that I hadn't won in a while. Even though I had I believe a four-shot lead on the fifth hole and gave myself birdie chances, I was way too tentative and maybe not as committed as I should have been to each shot. Didn't have my best swing-wise that day, but there was things I could have done better than what I did. That's what I applied today.

I told myself going to the first tee, no matter what, every single step I take today, it's 100 percent committed. Whatever shot I decide, we're going to go 100 percent committed, and if I make a mistake, I make a mistake, but it won't be because I wasn't committed to the decision.

I applied that, and luckily it worked out.

Q. Since that last individual win, you celebrated four regular season team titles, a couple individual championships, one Team Championship. Is there just a special thing about doing it on your own, winning the individual tournament, that just feels a little bit different than you think those others will?

JON RAHM: The interesting thing about LIV, right; even though I individually didn't win, I didn't feel like I lost last year. Like you mentioned, four team wins, Team Championship, Ryder Cup. I finished the year thinking there's so much that was accomplished that maybe it wasn't entirely -- obviously it wasn't entirely me but I was a part of it. Yeah, I never ended the year thinking it was anything short of good. Maybe a year of growth, but good.

It's very fun when you can stand on that podium and celebrate with your teammates, as well. But as far as obviously competitor and as myself goes, I wanted to get this done, and it feels -- it's different. I think I would be way more ecstatic if I was celebrating with my teammates for the win, like the Aces did today, but there's a sense of self-accomplishment and pride that goes with doing it myself.

Q. Some people might look at what you did earlier in the week and how you helped players get here, and I don't know if you believe in karma or anything like that, but it's certainly a nice way to end a potentially stressful week.

JON RAHM: I was raised with a value of, if you have the ability and the capability of helping somebody in need, you go and help them. It was never about karma. It was simply about luckily getting those boys out of a dangerous situation.

Like I said earlier, sometimes it wasn't even about golf. At one point I was thinking about almost reaching out to a contact in Spain to get Tom and Caleb somewhere to practice in Spain, not even thinking about coming here, just out of Dubai; go practice somewhere. That was priority number one.

The fact that my GM and agent, Jeff Koski, was able to pull a rabbit out of the hat and VistaJet, as well, were able to get a crew and a plane to Oman and somebody brave enough to go land picked them up and took them all the way here, the credit goes to those two pilots, the stewardess, VistaJets and Jeff. All I did is maybe have the vision to push them to do it, but they did all the work.

Q. Jon, correct me if I'm wrong, but you extended your 21 under-par events. What's the secret to your consistency?

JON RAHM: All 21 events in a row finish, or 21 rounds in a row?

Q. Rounds.

JON RAHM: Not something I think about, to be honest. Just a matter of trying to win. I've been playing really, really good golf and the results show it. Whether I won or not is different, but I've been putting in the work and seeing the results. I would have taken a few over-par rounds and a few more wins. Not something that I'm really thinking about actively while I'm playing.

Q. How long do you savor this win until next week or three days' time?

JON RAHM: Well, enjoy it tonight for sure. But for most people that are flying today, today is the beginning of next week. That's the beautiful thing and maybe the negative about golf. No matter what, the next week there's always a tournament, there's a new champion and a new goal. I'll enjoy it, but like I said earlier, I think it's been such a feeling of relief rather than euphoria that it's a weight off my shoulder, and I can continue the rest of the season knowing that I've got the win.