When you play a shot, commit to it. That’s true of life as in golf.
No stranger to the No. 1 slot, Joaquin Niemann was the top-ranked amateur from May 2017 to Apr 2018 and after turning professional, he harboured ambitions to be the world’s best. No surprise there.
Having won twice on the PGA Tour, and bubbling as he was labelled the next big thing, the Chilean who loves collecting high-end watches called time on the premier circuit in 2022 and dealt a second hand at the lucrative Saudi-backed LIV Golf. Rumour had it he got paid $100 million to flip the switch. But that was not the whole story.
“I always like being in a team atmosphere. So, having that possibility of being in a team and getting better, I feel like it’s much bigger than playing for yourself. So being part of that is nice,” said the golfer from Santiago, who was named the captain of the Latin-American Torque team.
And then there were those before him who made that much-maligned move. “The characters that went to LIV were the best – Bryson (DeChambeau), Brooks (Koepka), Dustin (Johnson) and it wasn’t a very difficult decision, and being part of a team process interested me.”
“I have always been a team fan,” he reiterated, lest you doubted him.
The upshot of soaking in this atmosphere was the downer of losing World ranking points, with LIV being snubbed by the OWGR governing body. And as the Tour craved for legitimacy, the players had to find different routes to the Majors. And so, you saw Niemann hopping through continents, turning up in European Tour events.
One such pathway was the Asian Tour’s International Series, which was launched in 2022 in an agreement with LIV Golf. “I got enough points to maybe get the attention of the Majors,” the 26-year-old, who won the $5million PIF Saudi Invitational in December, said.
A second consecutive Masters invite arrived, when Augusta National rewarded him for “showcasing his talent while competing around the world”.