Jon Rahm is suffering from flu-like symptoms, and those symptoms are so bad that they've forced the LIV Golf individual champion to withdraw from the LIV Golf Dallas team championship.
Rahm's Legion XIII team enters the three-day competition on Saturday after getting a bye through the Friday quaterfinal round, as the newest LIV Golf team finished second in the season-long team standings through 13 events. They're set to play the 12th-seeded, Phil Mickelson-captained Hy Flyers team in the semifinal round on Saturday after the Hy Flyers defeated the fifth-seeded Torque by a 2-1 count.
On social media, Rahm's team posted, "Jon has been experiencing severe flu symptoms the last few days. In the best interest of his team and under the advise of his medical team, he will not be playing this weekend. He will continue to provide full support to his team."
Jon Rahm will not be playing this weekend due to severe flu symptoms.
Get well soon, Captain.#LegionXIII #LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/SEJ6eGU6Yn
— Legion XIII (@LegionXIIIgc) September 21, 2024
John Catlin, an American multi-time winner on the DP World Tour and Asian Tour, will fill in for Rahm in the $50 million competition. Rahm's other three Legion XIII teammates -- Tyrrell Hatton, Caleb Surratt and the recently relegated Kieran Vincent -- will still play.
It's unclear if Rahm withdrawing allows Legion XIII to change their lineup for the three-match Saturday set with the Hy Flyers. In the quaterfinal and semifinal rounds of the event, each team-versus-team match has two singles matches and a foursomes (alternate shot) match involving the other two players. Rahm was set to play Cameron Tringale in a singles match. We don't yet know if Catlin will simply replace Rahm in the lineup or if the lineup can and will now be changed in Rahm's absence.
If Legion XIII wins on Saturday, they and the other three winning teams advance to the Sunday final round. All 13 LIV Golf teams play on Sunday for three different flights of competition to determine the fate of the $50 million in prize money. The top four teams showdown in the top flight in a stroke-play competition, where all four players on each team play an 18-hole round. The team with the lowest total score will win the championship.
Last week at Bolingbrook Golf Club in the Chicagoland area, Rahm won his second LIV Golf tournament of the season, as well as the season-long individual points race to claim $22 million in total ($4 million for winning the event and $18 million for winning the season-long race).
