Joaquin Niemann Played the Fastest East Lake PGA Tour Round Ever
If you blinked, you might have missed Joaquin Niemann’s final round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club on Sunday.
OK, it wasn’t quite that quick. But Usain Bolt, eat your heart out … the PGA Tour has a new version of the “fastest man alive.”
With Brooks Koepka withdrawing on Saturday with a wrist injury, the final-round field became an uneven number (29). As a result, the 22-year old Niemann and his caddy Gary Mathews teed off alone to start the day at East Lake. And they decided to make the most — or should we say the least — of the opportunity.
Running from one shot to the next shot on numerous occasions, Niemann and Mathews completed the round in 1 hour, 53 minutes, establishing an unofficial record for the fastest round on the PGA Tour at East Lake.
The previous unofficial speed mark was 1 hour 59 minutes, set by Kevin Na and his caddy Kenny Harms during the final round of the 2016 Tour Championship. Na has developed a reputation as a rather slow player during his career, and perhaps a comparison of the rapid rounds underlines the fact.
Na shot a 70 during his fast-paced finish at East Lake in 2016, while Niemann sprinted to a 72. In other words, it took Na six more minutes to hit two fewer shots.
In case you were wondering, the fastest round ever on the PGA Tour (as far as we know) was when Wesley Bryan played the final round of the 2017 BMW Championship in a brisk 1:29.