I've previously written that LIV Golf gets it right while the FedEx Cup Playoffs format is broken, but this year's season-long race may have exposed a fault in the Saudi-backed tour's points system.
That's because Jon Rahm edged out Joaquin Niemann for the individual title by a margin of just three points despite failing to win a tournament this season...all the while Niemann won five.
Rahm, who landed the $18m prize for the second consecutive year, got over the line after two consecutive playoff defeats and admitted that an argument could be made that his Chilean rival deserved to win it more than him.
"That part doesn't feel great [losing in a playoff to Sebastian Munoz], so I'm sure over time I'll get over that, and I really appreciate what I've done this year," Rahm said.
"To be able to win the season without actually winning a tournament, I know eventually I'll be proud of that. Right now it's slightly more something I'm going to suffer over a little bit more, and it may never be replicated.
"You need a lot of coincidences to go on exactly with the year Joaquín had. He's won five times; he's played incredible golf. One could argue he was probably the more deserving guy to win this.
"But we have the points system that we have, and somehow, I don't know how, I managed to pull through and get it done."
The LIV Golf points system in question will surely be getting looked at by CEO Scott O'Neil and his team, with each week's champion getting 40 points and the runner-up picking up 30.
Had 50 points been on offer for a victory, Niemann would have comfortably won the season-long title. Or had 28 points been on offer for second-place, Niemann would have again come out on top.
LIV winners earn just 33% more points than the runner-up, which is a significantly smaller gap than on the PGA Tour.
Regular PGA Tour wins get 67% more FedEx Cup points than second-place, while Majors give 50% more points to the winner than runner-up. The gap in Signature Events is even larger, with the champion picking up 75% more points that their closest challenger.
LIV Golf points are only earned for a top 24 finish and Niemann failed to pick up points in two of the 13 events this season, with Rahm adding to his total in every single event. The Spaniard's lowest number of points earned was 7.5 from his T11 finish in Dallas.
Rahm managed 12 top-10s in his 13 events, with his worst finish being that T11 in Texas so he clearly was the most consistent player on the circuit - although some will feel that Niemann's five victories deserved more of a reward.
On paper, Rahm earned points in every single event, finished inside the top 11 in all 13 of his tournaments and was the most consistent player on the circuit - so perhaps there is nothing wrong with him taking the title.
Niemann did top the LIV Golf Money List, however, earning over $8.5m more than Rahm in regular earnings so the points vs money earned tallies don't quite match up.
Aside from his five wins, Niemann only managed one other top-10, coming in the final event, so his 'lack' of consistency is ultimately what left him just three points shy of Rahm at the end of the season.
"I don't know what's the right way to do it. I know it was obviously three points apart. I could have played better today, this week, or probably last week I could have played a little bit better," Niemann said.
"But Jon just proved how good he is and how good he is in these moments. Just like he did last week, he got in a playoff, and also this week.
"That just shows how good he is of a golfer. It's actually exciting for me to come back next year and try to beat him again. Well, for the first time."
He may feel slightly hard done by that a win only earns 10 more points than second-place but at the end of the day Jon Rahm can now call himself LIV's first ever back-to-back individual champion.
The Spaniard has now won the title in each of his first two seasons, where he has amassed prize money of more than $50m.
Jon Rahm vs Joaquin Niemann: 2025 LIV Golf finishes
Should LIV's points system be tweaked or is Jon Rahm the worthy champion? Let us know in the comments section below
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