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ROCESTER, England: On a day of familiar winners but high drama, Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann and Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII exerted their dominance Sunday at LIV Golf UK by JCB, continuing the winning form that keeps them atop the season-long standings.

Niemann won for a record fifth time this season, shooting a 3-under 68 to finish at 17 under and hold off a spectacular back-nine challenge from RangeGoats GC captain Bubba Watson.

Legion XIII won their second consecutive and fourth team title of the year, this time led by their youngest player, 21-year-old Caleb Surratt, who earned the first podium finish of his LIV Golf career.

With the three-shot victory, Niemann extended his lead in the individual points race to 37.64 points over Rahm and now can clinch the individual championship at next month’s LIV Golf Chicago on Aug. 8-10. Niemann becomes the first player to win five times in a season; the 26-year-old from Chile now has seven LIV Golf wins, most of any individual player.

“If I play my best game, I know I can win,” Niemann said. “I think that’s the only thing that kind of matters for me, is to find that A-game more often.”

After entering the final round with a six-shot advantage, Niemann admittedly didn’t have his A-game on Sunday, but his steady play allowed him to build his advantage to eight shots with 10 holes to play.

That’s when Watson, the 46-year-old from Florida, produced the best six-hole stretch in LIV Golf history.

It started with a birdie at the par-3 ninth when his tee shot landed inside 3 feet. He then eagled the par-5 10th with a brilliant driver off the deck on his second shot that finished inside 6 feet. He followed with birdies at the 11th and 12th hole, then used another driver off the deck at the par-5 13th to set up another eagle from 21 feet. He finished the amazing stretch with a birdie at the par-3 14th from 12 feet.

“It’s almost like you black out,” Watson said. “When that stretch happens, you’re just kind of unconscious, right? One of those moments, an hour-long stretch, that was unbelievable. … That was crazy. Throwing in the eagles with two drivers off the deck was pretty special, pretty spectacular.”

Watson’s 8-under stretch allowed him to move within two shots of the lead going into the par-4 15th. That’s when Niemann responded with a terrific approach shot from 140 yards off a difficult lie in the rough, followed by a 5-foot birdie putt that stemmed the tide and gave him some much-needed breathing room.

“I never thought he was in the picture,” Niemann said of Watson. “(Then] he started making those moves, started making a big charge, and I was in a way feeling a little bit more uncomfortable with my lead. … Was able to hit a great shot on 15. That put me back into my place.”

Watson ultimately shot 65 to finish solo second at 14 under, while Surratt also shot 65 to finish another stroke back, the best individual results for each player since joining LIV Golf

Surratt’s play was especially important on the team side, as it sparked Legion XIII to produce another final-round rally with a cumulative 14-under total on Sunday to win by eight strokes over Torque, with Rahm also shooting 65 to tie for fifth. Not only was it Surratt’s first-ever top 10 finish on LIV Golf, it was the first time he had led his team in scoring after a tournament.

“It means a lot,” Surratt said. “Shows me a lot. It’s very hard to be at the top of the leaderboard out here, especially for the first time … To be able to do it on a day where I knew it was going to be really, really hard means a lot to myself.”

Said Rahm: “Getting his first top 10 and finishing third is a big deal, a big week.”

Legion XIII has now won two consecutive tournaments, and their lead is 46.66 points over Crushers GC. Rahm’s team has the opportunity to guarantee itself the top seed in the Team Championship with a good result in Chicago.

As for Niemann, he’s close to wrapping up the most successful regular season by any player in LIV Golf’s young history. Only Rahm or DeChambeau can catch him for the championship now.

“Obviously I want to win the season,” Niemann said. “I think there is a lot of golf to play yet. Jon, we know how good of a player he is, also Bryson.

“There is not much I can think about other than worry about what I’m doing, how I can improve and get better and play my best golf for the next two weeks. I feel like that’s all I’m worrying about it right now.”

TEAM SCORES

Here are the results and scores for each team after Sunday’s Rd. 3 of LIV Golf UK by JCB:

1. LEGION XIII -35 (Rahm 65, Surratt 65, Hatton 70, McKibbin 70; Rd. 3 score: -14)

2. TORQUE GC -27 (Niemann 68, Muñoz 69, Pereira 71, Ortiz 73; Rd. 3 score: -3)

3. STINGER GC -26 (Burmester 66, Oosthuizen 66, Schwartzel 66, Grace 69; Rd. 3 score: -17)

T4. FIREBALLS GC -23 (Ballester 65, Garcia 68, Puig 69, Ancer 71; Rd. 3 score: -11)

T4. CRUSHERS GC -23 (Lahiri 64, DeChambeau 69, Casey 71, Howell III 71; Rd. 3 score: -9)

6. RIPPER GC -17 (Smith 67, Herbert 70, Leishman 70, Jones 73; Rd. 3 score: -4)

T7. CLEEKS GC -14 (Kaymer 67, Bland 68, Meronk 69, Kjettrup 75; Rd. 3 score: -5)

T7. HYFLYERS GC -14 (Ogletree 69, Steele 69, Tringale 70, Mickelson 72; Rd. 3 score: -4)

9. SMASH GC -9 (Gooch 66, Kokrak 68, McDowell 70, Koepka 73; Rd. 3 score: -7)

10. RANGEGOATS GC -6 (Watson 65, Uihlein 67, Campbell 70, Wolff 71; Rd. 3 score: -11)

11. 4ACES GC -5 (Reed 66, Varner III 68, Pieters 71, Johnson 75; Rd. 3 score: -4)

12. MAJESTICKS GC -3 (Horsfield 69, Poulter 72, Stenson 72, Westwood 74; Rd. 3 score: +3)

13. IRON HEADS GC +7 (Na 66, Jang 67, Kozuma 69, Lee 74; Rd. 3 score: -8)    
 

BLAINE: Adam Svensson of Canada eagled the final hole at TPC Twin Cities to shoot a course-record 60 and take the first-round lead at the 3M Open on Thursday in Blaine, Minnesota

Svensson was already working on a sterling round, with nine birdies and no bogeys through 17 holes. He reached the green at the par-5 18th hole in two shots and had two putts to break the course record.

He only needed one.

Svensson’s uphill eagle attempt from just more than 48 feet hit the flagstick and dropped for an eagle, finishing an 11-under round with matching 30s on both nines.

“I just didn’t want to leave it short,” Svensson said. “It was carrying a little bit of speed and (caddie Jace Walker) gave me a good line and it just happened to go in.”

It was a round few would have predicted. Svensson, who won the 2022 RSM Classic, has plummeted to 234th in the Official World Golf Ranking while missing 11 of his first 21 cuts in 2025. That includes his two most recent starts entering this week and four of his past five.

But Svensson could feel a memorable round incoming after what he described as a great range session before his tee time.

“Just really putted amazing,” Svensson added. “I made a bunch of breakers. It was probably my best putting round I ever had, so I’m pretty happy.”

He broke the previous course record of 62 originally set by Scott Piercy in 2019, and matched by Sam Stevens’ round that was completed just a few groups ahead of Svensson on Thursday.

Stevens is tied for second at 9 under with Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen.

Stevens was on 59 watch when he reached 10 under through 16 holes. He narrowly missed a birdie putt on the 17th hole and then put his approach on 18 in the water. Stevens had to settle for a 62 after closing with a bogey.

“I had a good drive and I probably made the decision trying to shoot 59 because I was in between — I have a pretty big gap between my 3-iron and my 3-wood, and I hit a terrible shot,” Stevens said. “But I thought if I hit a 3-wood, it was just going to fly to the back of the green, and I kind of had to hit a 3-iron perfect to even cover the water. But I figured that was my best chance to shoot 59, so I gave it a go.

“Didn’t hit a good shot, but made a nice up-and-down for 6, so I guess that’s a positive. Yeah, not the best way to finish the round, but gave it a crack.”

Chris Gotterup continued his hot streak after winning the Genesis Scottish Open and placing third in his debut at the Open Championship. Gotterup fired a bogey-free, 8-under 63 and was tied for fourth with Chad Ramey and Germany’s Matti Schmid.

“Someone asked me last week if you’ve ever been on a heater, and I said I guess this is kind of my first one,” Gotterup said. “Yeah, you know, I’m just going to try to ride it out as long as I can.”

Jake Knapp, Chris Kirk, Zac Blair and Brendan Valdes were tied at 7-under 64. Rickie Fowler was among those to shoot a 65, as he turned in a card with six birdies and no bogeys.

“A lot of good swings, a couple loose ones, but I’m definitely happy about (his round),” Fowler said. “Obviously, playing fairly easy out there with the soft conditions. Svensson put together a nice round. It was definitely out there, a lot of birdies to be made, but at the same time there’s a few holes that you have to keep your guard up in a way and make sure you execute.”

Fowler is searching for a jolt as the regular season winds down, as is Max Homa, a former top-five player in the world currently outside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings. Homa opened with a 5-under 66.

Defending champion Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela posted a 3-under 68, and 2022 champ Tony Finau shot a 2-under 69.