La Sasso holds off Rahm, becomes LIV Golf’s youngest winner; Legion XIII successfully defends Team Championship

The 2026 LIV Golf season ended Sunday with a familiar foursome atop the team leaderboard and a bright young star declaring his future greatness as the individual champion of LIV Golf Indianapolis.

Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII won its second consecutive LIV Golf Team Championship and the 12th team trophy of any kind, an impressive run of success in its three seasons as the league’s first expansion team. The quartet of Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Caleb Surratt and Tom McKibbin shot a cumulative 10-under in the final round at The Club of Chatham Hills to win by six strokes over HyFlyers GC.

In his first three seasons in LIV Golf, Rahm has won three season-long individual championships, four individual tournament titles, two team championships and 10 regular-season team titles. That’s a total of 19 trophies, making him the winningest golfer in LIV Golf history.

“Both team and individual aspects, missing accomplished,” Rahm said. “I feel like we’ve done a phenomenal job. All of them individually felt very different but I’m happy to come back after not having won last season with the great year that I’ve had and if anything answer those questions with another good season and actually getting it done without a doubt. It’s a pretty good feeling.”

Rahm pressed hard for the individual tournament trophy with a 7-under 63 but came up one stroke short to the HyFlyers’ Michael La Sasso, who at 22 becomes the youngest winner in LIV Golf’s first five seasons.

Despite the pressure of being chased by major winners Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Sergio Garcia, La Sasso was unflappable on Sunday. Entering the day with a one-shot lead, he finished with a bogey-free 65 to finish at 18-under, clinching the tournament title with a clutch up-and-down birdie at the par-5 18th.

“I’m completely speechless,” said La Sasso, the 2025 NCAA Individual Champion who turned pro to join the HyFlyers this season. “… I knew coming into this week that something special might happen and kind of shooting 1-over the first round and looking back at the leaderboard, I didn’t really think I’d be standing here right now. But I was able to putt it off. It’s pretty unbelievable.”

Rahm was his primary pursuer and the two were tied for a large portion of the back nine. Rahm, who started his final round on the second hole, birdied the 18th to take a one-shot lead but finished with a bogey at the par-4 first hole after missing an 11-foot par putt. That dropped him into a tie with La Sasso, giving the youngster an opening to win the tournament on the last hole.

“My mistake opening the door,” said Rahm, the league’s dominant performer since joining in 2024. “Michael made a great up-and-down on 18 to win. He earned it and as frustrating as it is for me, I’m happy about all the good things I did this week to give myself a chance.”

Said La Sasso: “I definitely saw the names starting to rise up on the leaderboard, especially early. I know we teed off a little bit later, so I knew I had some holes coming in to kind of shake them off a little bit. I knew as soon as I saw this last hole, I was like, this is my time to strike. It all worked out.”

La Sasso has struggled for results this season but his second-round 10-under 60 on Friday put him in position to make his move on the weekend. On Sunday, he played steady golf all day, hitting every green in regulation – just the fifth time that’s happened for any player this season – and then finishing with three birdies in his last six holes. He’s 50 days younger than former LIV Golf player Eugenio Chacarra, the previous youngest winner at age 22 at LIV Golf Bangkok in the inaugural 2022 season.

“That was impressive,” said Majesticks Golf Club’s Laurie Canter, who played with La Sasso in the final group Sunday. “I knew he was a good player but he’s had no form. He’s a killer, isn’t he? He knows where it’s going. I love it. I think it’s great. I think he’s going to be great for golf.”

Legion XIII has been great for three seasons. The combination of Rahm and Hatton have been complemented by youngsters Surratt and McKibbin during their final two championship years. They started the day with a one-stroke lead but it only took approximately 90 minutes to build the lead to 10 shots, with all four players getting off to quick starts.

A year ago, they won the title under the previous format of match-play and stroke play. With all stroke play for this week, Rahm wasn’t surprised his team repeated as champions. “Giving us four stroke-play days where all the scores count, I think it benefits us the way we play,” he said. “I think we’re very consistent tee to green, and that plays to our advantage.”

Added Hatton: “As a team we’ve done incredibly well. Winning last year was special. Obviously, this time around it’s a little bit different, but it’s nice to defend the title.”

As for La Sasso, the future is bright. This week’s tournament was just his 13th as a professional. Pressured by some of the best golfers in the world, he stood strong, unflappable, never showing any nerves.

“Seeing those names on the leaderboard, those are guys I grew up watching and admiring,” La Sasso said. “Knowing I was able to hold (Rahm) off, that’s even more special, to be honest. I think it just kind of set the scene for it. It was a perfect day.”

In addition to La Sasso’s victory, the HyFlyers finished second on the team leaderboard, the club’s best-ever finish. La Sasso’s individual title is the second in team history after Brendan Steele’s win in Adelaide in 2024.

“That was really cool,” Steele said of Sunday’s success. “Obviously, it hasn’t been the best year for our team, hasn’t been the best year for Michael, so to finish like we did as a team plus him winning is incredible. We know that this is a level that he can play and the team can play at but we just haven’t done it. It’s nice to finally do it.”

The addition of Scott Vincent in recent weeks had raised the team’s performance in the absence of captain Phil Mickelson, who made just one start this season. The combination of La Sasso's win and Vincent’s T5 result provided the bulk of the scoring.

“The team has been playing amazing the last few weeks,” said Cameron Tringale. “The difference was at the bottom of the lineup, going from mediocre, bad weeks to winning. It does a lot for the team.”

La Sasso said Mickelson sent the team a text of encouragement on Saturday night. “ I know he was watching, said it was the most fun he’s had,” La Sasso said. “I’m sure he was looking at us and I’m thankful for everything he’s done.”

La Sasso needed birdie on the final hole, the par-5 18th but his second shot from 229 yards finished off the green, 20 yards from the pin. That left him with a chip shot in hopes of setting up a birdie putt – and he delivered when his chip rolled to within a foot of the pin.

“I just wanted to hit it as soon as I could,” La Sasso said. “I saw exactly where I wanted to land it and kind of just drew it up perfectly, and it just kind of rolled out to be perfect.”