After his second win in just three 2024 tournaments, Joaquin Niemann believes he’s the player to beat in the LIV Golf League.
And who can argue?
Niemann posted a final-round 4-under 66 to finish at 17 under en route to a four-shot victory at LIV Golf Jeddah. The 25-year-old Chilean, and captain of Torque GC, also won the season opener in overtime at Mayakoba against Sergio Garcia.
The two titles in the opening three LIV Golf events of 2024 moved him atop the season-long Individual Championship standings.
The win is a continuation of Niemann’s stellar play that began during the LIV Golf offseason when he won the Australian Open and finished inside the top-5 in two other European tour events.
“It’s probably my best moment, the best I’ve ever played before,” said Niemann. “I just want it to keep going in the same direction.”
The Crushers, meanwhile, produced their best moment of the season at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club after winning the 2023 Team Championship in Miami last October.
In a record-setting a performance, Captain Bryson DeChambeau‘s squad teamed up for the biggest rally by any team in the final round.
Starting the round with an 11-shot deficit, the Crushers shot a mind-blowing 20 under – eight shots better than any other team – to finish 38 under, four strokes clear of the Stingers GC.
Brooks Kopeka‘s Smash GC, winners of the previous event in Las Vegas, rounded out the podium.
The previous largest rally by any winning team came last season in Adelaide when 4Aces GC won after starting the final round with a seven-stroke deficit.
DeChambeau was the Crushers’ catalyst, shooting a low-round 8-under 62. Charles Howell III chipped in with a 64 (tying for second lowest of the day) and Anirban Lahiri’s 65 tied for the fourth lowest. Paul Casey produced a 69 as the Crushers moved to the top of the season-long team standings.
“It was just a top priority for us to play our best, and this obviously showed today,” said DeChambeau, who had the team’s best individual finish with a solo fourth. “Especially in these types of conditions, when it’s really windy, we do pretty well.
“We just hold our head high. I don’t know what else to say.”
Said Lahiri: “Shooting 20-under on any golf course is a big deal, and to do it on a course like this on such a windy day is actually, I think, one of the best Sunday team performances that you’ll see for a while.”
Stinger GC players, captain Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, shared the second spot behind Niemann. It was Schwartzel’s best LIV Golf finish since winning the London event during the inaugural 2022 (beta-test) season, while Oosthuizen equaled his best result as a LIV golfer.
Their individual finishes helped offset the disappointment of blowing what was a 10-shot team lead early in the final round.
“I think a good team score today, I would have said would probably be 10 [under],” Oosthuizen said. “To shoot 20 under like they did, there’s not much you can do against that.”
Right now, there’s not much the rest of the league can seem to do against Niemann. He’ll enter next week’s LIV Golf Hong Kong full of confidence and should be one of the top favorites at next month’s Masters Tournament.
“I want to feel, and I want to think I’m the best all the time,” he said. “I think that’s the only way to be confident and play good golf.”
LIV Golf Communications’ email/press release was used to compile this report.
