Rahm, LIV players face uncertain future after season finale at Indy

WESTFIELD, Ind. (AP) — Jon Rahm finished the LIV Golf season Sunday in style — claiming his third straight season points title and his second team crown in a row at the revised season finale in suburban Indianapolis.

Now the 31-year-old Spaniard and the other full-time tour players will wait to see what happens to LIV in 2027.

Rahm is ready to head home and contemplate the future.

“I’m looking forward to going home and helping my very pregnant wife with the kids,” Rahm said. “The fourth one is due in October, and I’m happy to be dad for a few days before I get back to grinding for the Irish Open, and mainly looking forward to a haircut because I need one badly.”

Rahm closed with a 7-under 63 for his second straight runner-up finish in Indy. He ended up a stroke behind 22-year-old Michael La Sasso, the 2025 NCAA individual champ at Mississippi. La Sasso finished with a 65 to get to 18 under.

Clearly, there have been troubling signs for the LIV circuit in recent months.

In April, it was announced Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund would end its investment in the league after this season. LIV spent more than $5 billion in five years, pulling some of the world’s best and most popular American and international players away from other leagues.

Organizers also canceled two events this season — New Orleans in June and next weekend's originally scheduled season-ending event in Michigan — as well the weekend entertainment.

LIV CEO Scott O’Neil told reporters Wednesday he was bullish about plans for 2027 and beyond, saying players would be equity owners and have their commercial rights restored. O’Neil said the plan was to have five team championships overseas and five individual tournaments in the United States scheduled close to the majors for those who qualify for them.

He did not name the lead investor with whom LIV has reached an agreement. Several outlets have identified him as Ted Goldthorpe of BC Partners, who met with the tour's players on Tuesday. O’Neil said there was a deadline for players to commit to LIV 2.0 without citing a specific date. He also has not mentioned the size of the proposed investment.

Though O'Neil said he has a “good level of confidence” that a “critical mass of the right players" will return. Rahm is under contract through next season. Bryson DeChambeau — the other big name — has an expiring contract this year. He tied for third with Sergio Garcia on Sunday and did not speak with reporters following Sunday's event..

But with the season now over, there are only more questions.

"There’s been a lot that’s surrounded all of us pretty much since we joined, and at the end of the day when you step on the golf course, it’s just golf,” Rahm said after bogeying his last hole to open the door for La Sasso. “So all the problems and theories go away, and you compete. It hasn’t been any harder or any easier in any way. It’s just, kind of I think, the life of a pro athlete.”

Despite the cloudy future and the historic flooding in central Indiana that forced organizers to improvise how to get spectators parked and shuttled to The Club at Chatham Hills, in many ways things went off largely as expected.

Organizers set up electronic scoreboards and video boards as well as temporary suites around the course. There were advertising signs for Riyadh Air and other sponsors, chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” as La Sossa rolled in his 2-foot putt on No. 18 to secure the win and the celebratory champaign spray.

Those who attended last year's first tourney at The Club at Chatham Hills thought things went even better at the expanded four-round event.

“It was more well managed from the way they had the ropes set up, just getting in a little cleaner with the traffic so the operation itself was more smooth than last year,” Westfield resident Jacob Meyer said.

Meyer's friend, Jackson Gangwer, added: “It's just more relaxed. Last year it seemed a little more intense since it was the first year being out here.”

Last year's attendance for the three-round event drew more than 60,000 fans, an American record for a LIV event. Organizers did not announce this year's tournament.

But the tour brought top-flight men's golf back to metropolitan Indianapolis for the first time since it hosted the 2012 and 2016 BMW Championships, and it opened the door a new group of fans, some of whom had never attended a major pro event.

If this is the end of the line for LIV Golf, it came in a fitting location — about 30 miles from the arena where the Indiana Pacers closed out their time in the American Basketball Association in 1976 and that hosted Elvis Presley's final concert in 1977.

And after playing in front of the Indy fans each of the past two years, he had a message for those who came back.

“I just want to say think you. It's been incredibly fun to play in front of a crowd this enthusiastic,” Rahm said. “I'm sure everybody here has friends, family or themselves who have had to deal with some of the flooding issues and you know my heart goes out to all those people that lost their homes and lost loved. But the fact so many people came out and supported us means a lot.”

AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson also contributed to this report.

See AP’s full golf coverage here

Thomas Pieters, of 4Aces GC, hits from the 10th tee during the final round of LIV Golf Indianapolis, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in Westfield, Ind. (Montana Pritchard/LIV Golf via AP)

Captain Bryson DeChambeau, left, of Crushers GC, greets fans before the final round of LIV Golf Indianapolis, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in Westfield, Ind. (Pedro Salado/LIV Golf via AP)

Captain Bryson DeChambeau, of Crushers GC, hits on the 13th green during the final round of LIV Golf Indianapolis, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in Westfield, Ind. (Montana Pritchard/LIV Golf via AP)

Captain Jon Rahm, of Legion XIII, hits from the ninth tee during the final round of LIV Golf Indianapolis, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in Westfield, Ind. (Montana Pritchard/LIV Golf via AP)

LIV Golf fans gather at the practice putting green before the final round of the season-ending event in suburban Indianapolis, Ind., Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Marot)

MASON, Ohio (AP) — Coco Gauff defeated fellow American Jessica Pegula, 6-2, 6-4, to capture her second women's Cincinnati Open title on Sunday, and Arthur Fils of France defeated American Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 6-0, in the men's final for his first Masters 1000 title.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Pegula beat defending champion Iga Swiatek and Gauff defeated Sara Bejlek to set up the first all-American women’s final at the Cincinnati Open in 56 years.

The last time two American women played in the Cincinnati final was in 1970, when Rosie Casals beat Nancy Richey.

Pegula’s best finish in Cincinnati came in 2024, when she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

Gauff, who won the 2023 title beating Karolina Muchova, stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the first set on Sunday before winning 6-2. Pegula battled back to within 5-4 in the second before Gauff closed out the win. Gauff won five of six break points.

The head-to-head series between Gauff and Pegula is now tied at five apiece. Sunday was their second meeting in a final, with Gauff winning at Wuhan last year.

The Fils-Tiafoe match was the first time two Black players have met in an ATP Masters 1000 final.

Fils is the third Black man to win a Masters 1000 title, joining Ben Shelton, who won twice in Canada, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who won in Paris in 2008 and Canada in 2014.

At 22 years old, Fils is the youngest French champion in Masters 1000 history. He became the second French player to win a Cincinnati final, joining Guy Forget in 1991.

“Very happy with that,” Fils said. “It's been a tough last year. I didn't play the French Open (due to a hip injury). I lost early in Washington. People think that I'm done. But here we are. I got the title.”

It was the second time Tiafoe has appeared in the Cincinnati Open final, losing to Jannik Sinner in 2024. He was looking to become the first American male to win in Cincinnati since Andy Roddick in 2006.

“I'm going to have two Cincinnati finals trophies at the crib,” Tiafoe said. “I wish they were both champion ones. Losing on Sunday sucks. I've had a tough summer. I was able to play five great matches and beat quality players.”

Fils overpowered Tiafoe early in the first set on Sunday, winning 12 of 13 points to take a 3-0 lead. Tiafoe was dominant in the second, rolling to a 3-0 lead.

Tiafoe used the time break before the third set to stretch and receive massage treatment on his upper left leg and lower back.

“My hip bothered me a little bit, but that's neither here nor there,” Tiafoe said. “It's not about how I feel. I'll be alright in a week (for the US Open)."

Tiafoe saved three championship points in the final game before Fils closed out the victory.

The Frenchman had 11 aces and won 71% of his points on first serve. He improved to 10-0 in deciding sets this year and 8-0 against American opponents.

Fils also won his only previous meeting with Tiafoe in Miami last year, also in three sets.

“It feels very good to have a trophy next to me, especially Masters 1000,” Fils said. “Never won one before. You just have to stay positive and find a way to make it work. Being positive is going to help me in the next weeks in the US Open.”

See AP’s full tennis coverage here

USA's Coco Gauff reaches for the ball against Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina during a National Bank Open semi final tennis match in Toronto, Wednesday, August 12, 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Arthur Fils of France hits a return to Rafael Jodar of Spain during his quarter final tennis match at the National Bank Open in Montreal on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)