Niemann gets win, has eyes on a spot in major
PEBBLE BEACH » Joaquin Niemann was among players who risked being shut out of the majors when he chose to sign for Saudi money at LIV Golf, and that remains mostly true.
Niemann, a 25-year-old from Chile, won his first LIV event last week at Mayakoba in the dark against close friend Sergio Garcia. The LIV broadcast crew didn’t waste any time taking the conversation to the majors, asking Niemann if he felt the win would get their attention.
“I want to win majors, but I’ve got to get in first,” he said.
Niemann faced the prospect of no majors in 2024 (unless he qualified for the two Opens). But he won the Australian Open in December, which is co-sanctioned by the European tour and part of the International Final Qualifying series, to earn a spot in the British Open.
He is No. 74 in the Official World Golf Ranking without any tournaments on the schedule where a win can put him into the top 50 and earn a bid to the Masters. If he stays in the top 100 by the end of April, he should expect a spot in the PGA Championship.
LIV currently has seven players in the top 100 — four of them new to the
Saudi-funded league this year — and opportunities will be dwindling. This was always the choice — giving up the chance to play in majors to take money they never imagined.
Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America’s chief championships officer, said in an interview last year he would consider all tours. That’s still to be determined. Augusta National has yet to announce if it will award any special invitations. Those typically are restricted to international players who are not PGA Tour members, because a PGA Tour member would have ample opportunity to earn an invitation.
Could a LIV player fall under that category? If not this year, that would be an indication to LIV players that getting into the majors might be more difficult than winning a playoff in the dark.
As for Niemann, the idea of missing the majors motivated him.
“I have a different mindset for this year,” he 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 focus back, to start working harder, to start working with a purpose.”