2025 LIV Golf Season Preview: Legion XIII

The 2025 LIV Golf League season starts Feb. 6 in Riyadh. Here’s a quick look at Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII.

OVERVIEW

Lineup

• Jon Rahm (Captain), Spain
• Tyrrell Hatton, England
• Tom McKibbin, Northern Ireland
• Caleb Surratt, USA

Who’s New? McKibbin, the 22-year-old who has already won on the DP World Tour, is the team’s big offseason acquisition. He fills the lineup spot created by Kieran Vincent’s relegation.

The Offseason: Hatton had an extremely productive offseason, winning the Alfred Dunhill Links in Scotland in early October, then reeling off three more top-6 finishes before winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in mid-January. That leaves him in good shape to play in all four majors this year … Caleb Surratt nearly corralled his first professional win in December, making a three-man playoff that included LIV Golf captains Joaquin Niemann and Cameron Smith at the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers. Niemann won on the second playoff hole … Hatton turned 33 on Oct. 14, Jon Rahm turned 30 on Nov. 10 and McKibbin turned 22 on Dec. 19.

Going to be a good year if … the kids play well.

ALL-TIME RESULTS

Trophies Won

TEAM (4)
2024 Mayakoba
2024 Miami
2024 Nashville
2024 UK by JCB

INDIVIDUAL (3)
2024 Nashville – Hatton
2024 UK by JCB – Rahm
2024 Chicago – Rahm

Rahm also won the season-long LIV Golf Individual Championship title

ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

Top Duo – No team has a better 1-2 punch than Rahm & Hatton.

Momentum – With four team wins in their debut season, Legion XIII enters 2024 with plenty of confidence.

Birdie machine – The team ranked second in birdies made last season.

OPPORTUNITIES

Caleb, Year 2 – It was a learning experience in his first pro season. How much have the growing pains reduced?

Format change – With all scores counting for each round, Legion XIII’s depth on the back end will be tested.

WORTH NOTING

HATTON ON FIRE: Tyrrell Hatton made six starts during the LIV Golf offseason. His results: T10, 1, 2, 6, 5, 1. He said his current hot form was likely ignited by his win at LIV Golf Nashville last year. “I don't know specifically what's caused my form to go up a little bit. I guess in a way it started in Nashville last year. Winning again for the first time in 3-1/2 years was massive for my confidence,” Hatton said.

Perhaps the only disappointment was finishing fourth in the season-long LIV Golf Individual Championship, which left him just outside the bonus-paying positions. “It was sad to miss out on the top 3 in the individual rankings the final event,” he said. “But obviously finishing fourth, you had to play some pretty good golf to even finish there.”

LIV GOLF’S APPEAL. Tom McKibbin is the youngest newcomer to LIV Golf this season, having just turned 22 on Dec. 19 (he’s still older than teammate Caleb Surratt, who is 20). Asked why LIV Golf appealed to him, McKibbin said it was an age thing.

“Being young and 22. I've watched this for the last couple years since it started, and it's something that I've really liked to watch, something very different, something that probably appeals to more people my age,” he said. “I think sort of the opportunity to get to play with these guys here and learn from some of the best players in the world week in, week out is something that appealed very, very nicely to me.”

The Northern Irishman expects that his learning process will accelerate quickly when competing against the LIV Golf fields. “I know when I have got a chance to play with some great players, it has definitely helped my game,” he said. “I've definitely learnt a lot from getting to spend a lot of time around those guys, and I think it's something that can only help my game going forward.”

McKibbin already has a win on the DP World Tour while Surratt remains in search of his first pro win. Surratt welcomes another young player on the team. “It's nice to have somebody my age, and I think me and Tom have been getting along really good,” Surratt said. “I think it's going to be an incredible dynamic that I think is going to lead to a strong year for us. But we're both learning and definitely a great opportunity that we both have.”

QUICK OFFSEASON. Jon Rahm joined LIV Golf in December of 2023, and his teammates joined even later, so he didn’t have a full offseason as team captain. This year he did – and he quickly grasped what it was like to make high-level decisions on the executive level, including the signing of McKibbin in late January.

"I've come to realize quickly that the offseason is arguably the most stressful time when you're involved with a team in this way, just because all the decisions that need to be made and all that goes on that maybe the league or the GM doesn't tell me when I'm playing. It becomes very stressful," Rahm said. "We all have the habit of waiting until the end for different reasons to sign, so my resting heart rate just keeps going up every week."

CAPTAIN'S LAST WORD