Joaquin Niemann Wins in Darkness As LIV Golf Has a Sunday All to Itself
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — With a rare window for LIV Golf to possibly shine to a skeptical golf world, Joaquin Niemann overcame a two-stroke penalty, darkness and Sergio Garcia to win for the first time on the circuit.
Niemann, 25, who turned pro as a teenager and joined LIV Golf in 2022 just months after winning the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational, outlasted his mentor, Garcia, who shot a final-round 66 to tie him, forcing extra holes.
The duo played the par-4 18th hole four times, with both players parring it on the first three occasions and needing golf-cart rides to speed up the process as they played it for the final two holes, with Niemann finally holing a birdie putt from the back of the green with the green illuminated by a nearby scoreboard. He won $4 million.
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"It’s really awesome," the Chilean said. “I’ve been saying for the last couple of weeks I’ve put so much into wanting to win and coming out ready. So to do it is awesome."
Joaquin Niemann secured his first LIV Golf victory with a birdie on the fourth playoff hole, with about the only light coming from a greenside scoreboard.
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On a day when the final round of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was postponed due to weather, LIV Golf had an opportunity to perhaps catch some golf fans who otherwise would have tuned it out.
It didn’t hurt that LIV Golf’s big signee in the offseason, Jon Rahm, played his way into contention and was tied for the lead with Niemann and Garcia with two holes to play.
But he bogeyed both the 17th and 18th holes—he did the same on Friday—to finish with a round of 70 and end up two shots back, in third place.
Rahm’s consolation was that his new team, Legion XIII, won the overall LIV Golf team title by four shots over Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers. All four scores count in the final round of the team competition and Rahm’s 70 was added to the scores of Tyrrell Hatton (64), Caleb Surratt (67 in his pro debut) and Kieran Vincent (69).
"In any normal tournament I probably would have been upset at my finish," Rahm said. “To actually have something to celebrate, and that is one of the big reasons why I decided to transition, to share the stage with those three guys, to share the golf course with all the other teams and compete for something else is what it's all about. It means a lot.
"It's really fun to be out there on the golf course and see the team doing well, right. First time I was able to see any scores was on 12, and by that point, Tyrrell was already 7 under, and the other guys were also doing great work. We had a comfortable lead, and that also motivated me to play a little bit better."
Niemann, whose Torque team finished third, went to sleep on Saturday night with a four-shot advantage after following his opening-round 59 with a 70. But after arriving at the course on Sunday morning, he was approached by rules officials and asked to explain a drop he took on Saturday. Niemann was taking relief from a cart path which comes with a free drop. The problem? He took two club lengths instead of one, which is the protocol in such a situation. That meant his score of 70 went to 72 and his lead dropped to two strokes. He played in the final group with Rahm and Dean Burmester, who tied for third with Rahm.
"I told to myself that I don't want to let this situation beat me, and I tried to turn it around," Niemann said of the penalty. "The only thing I needed to do is just play golf. I still had a good chance to win the tournament. I was still two shots in front of the one who is behind, so I still had a bigger chance than anybody of winning this tournament. I just needed to go out there and play some good golf."
Garcia, 43, the 2017 Masters champion, was also seeking his first LIV Golf victory.
Late last year, Niemann won the Australian Open, giving him membership on the DP World Tour. He took advantage of the perk and played in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic two weeks ago, finishing fourth but not high enough to move into the top 50 in the world.
That goal will prove elusive without LIV Golf getting world ranking points via the Official World Golf Ranking.
"I want to win majors, but I gotta get in first," Niemann said when he was being interviewed on the LIV broadcast after his victory.
He’s in the British Open due to his Australian Open victory as that was an Open Qualifying Series event. He’s also likely to get a spot in the PGA Championship, provided he remains top 100 in the world. The Masters, which has a top 50 cutoff in early April, seems remote as he won’t play any OWGR events that offer enough points. It is possible Augusta National could extend him a special exemption. Niemann did, after all, win the 2017 Latin American Amateur Championship.
"I think I have a different mindset for this year," Niemann said. "It kind of hurt me a little bit not being in the majors and I think also helped me to get motivation to kind of earn my spot back into the majors, into the elite players.
"I think it helped me a little bit to get focused back, to start working harder, to start working with a purpose. I think it's paying off, and I just want to keep telling myself that I'm capable of doing this, of winning tournaments, and this is a good way to prove that, and I don't want to stop working the way I'm doing it. I just want to keep going."
