Joaquin Niemann had to fight to reach these Masters. Now he wants to stay

MIAMI — It was exactly what he wanted. Being nervous. To push herself into a corner and force herself out. That was why Joaquin Niemann was there in the first place, flying around the world in Australia for two weeks. The Chilean golfer has always been one of the most talented players no matter what course he has played. But he was young. He was relaxed. And then he went to LIV.

At the Australian Open he continued to push himself into that corner. He gave up a two-shot lead in the final holes to allow a playoff. Then he missed a makeable birdie on the first playoff hole that would have won him. Nerves. Busy. Good. From the fairway on the next playoff hole, Niemann stuck the ball five feet from the pin. Made the well. Won the Australian Open.

Niemann probably played that shot to the 2024 Masters.

Joaquin Niemann is the most popular player in men’s golf not named Scottie Scheffler. He’s 25. He just won three tournaments in six starts. In three other competitions he was in the top five. He has one win at Riviera and a total of five professional wins. He shot a 59 on a former PGA Tour course. So you might assume he’s a star, right? But despite being ranked No. 9 in the world on DataGolf (which ranks all players from all tours), he is No. 91 in the Official World Golf Ranking (which does not rank LIV professionals).

Niemann chose to leave the PGA Tour two years ago and captain an all-Latin American team with LIV Golf called Torque GC. He was reportedly paid $100 million to do it. And he struggled. “I didn’t play the best,” he said. He finished just 21st in the 2023 LIV rankings and was left without exemptions for future majors.

So Niemann made plans to go to Australia during his ‘offseason’. And Dubai. And then Oman. It was a gamble, but the plan was to jump from 87th in the world to the top 50 and earn a spot at Augusta. And somewhere in these five months, Niemann might have become the golfer he was meant to be.

“I feel like you can see a change in him,” said Torque teammate Mito Pereira.

Niemann has dug deep and found a version of himself that thrives under pressure. The question is whether he can do that on the biggest stage.

During the celebration on the 18th green, the microphones picked it up. Niemann had just won LIV’s season-opening event in Mexico in February via a playoff, two days after shooting a 59, and before the interview could even begin, Niemann muttered, “But I’m not playing in the majors.”

Some thought it was rude. Some loved it. But it got the conversation started. Niemann’s offseason travels were noticed, but it was still an under-the-radar storyline. He finished fourth at the Australian PGA Championship. He won the Australian Open. He then finished T4 at the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour in January. It was an incredible three weeks in competitive fields, but he still finished just 59th to end the year. Niemann understood that. He thought he had to win both Australian tournaments to get into the top 50.

The bigger point was that he was more focused. Pereira, a childhood friend from Chile, said Niemann has always been great, but has also always been a relaxed person. The type who never thinks two hours ahead. But last fall, Niemann began to realize he wouldn’t be playing in the Majors until 2024, and suddenly a player whose goal was to become No. 1 in the world had to make a change. It wouldn’t matter how good Niemann was if he couldn’t play on the biggest stages. Pereira found himself working harder, going to the gym more, pushing himself and putting himself in situations where he had to succeed.

“I think I liked that kind of pressure,” Niemann said The Athletics last week for LIV’s pre-Masters tournament. “I feel like it pushed me to be better, to be more focused in a way, to prepare better, to have my game in better shape.”

Two weeks after Mayakoba, Augusta National gave Niemann one of three special invitations to the Masters without mentioning his play on the breakout tour. That same week he played at an Asian Tour event in Oman and came third. Niemann won again a week later at the LIV event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This time an LIV course reporter interviewed Niemann and suggested he would be one of the favorites to win a major championship.

A sarcastic Niemann said dryly: “How is that possible when I am 100 in the world?”

If Jon Rahm is the best player at LIV, and perhaps Brooks Koepka is the most important, and Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson really got the project going, and even Cameron Smith won an Open Championship right before his arrival, then Niemann is the most interesting LIV. player participating in this Masters. Because Niemann represents something new. He is the first young player to do this become a top player while playing in the little-watched LIV Golf Competition. And golf has no idea what to do with it yet.

Whatever you think about the LIV or the Official World Golf Ranking, or Niemann’s outspoken comments, it’s clear Niemann cares about the majors. He cares about his place in golf. He has said several times that he doesn’t mean to be hostile, and that he isn’t someone who gets motivation from beating other players or making enemies. His motivation is internal, and his frustration comes from his ambition and concern that he will not have opportunities to achieve it. The reality is that the majors carry more weight than ever on a divided tour.

“I want to win the majors,” Niemann said. “That’s the message I want to give myself, and that’s the approach I want to have at these tournaments.”

And Niemann at least gains reputation by going out and earning it, while fellow LIV golfers like Talor Gooch – who won the LIV individual title last year – have criticized the Masters for not awarding spots to top LIV players. This has not gone unnoticed among Niemann’s old PGA Tour colleagues.

“(Joaquin) is chasing him around the world to get his hands on this, fight his way into Augusta or show enough form to warrant an invite. I don’t know if the same can be said for Talor,” Rory McIlroy said in February.

This is the challenge for Niemann and LIV for the future. Niemann, Gooch and the fifty others at LIV made choices and knew that this would have consequences. That’s why Niemann changed his mind almost every day in August 2022 before leaving the PGA Tour. On the other hand, Torque teammate Carlos Ortiz told Golf Magazine’s “Subpar” podcast that players were assured they would receive OWGR points.

It leaves the careers of players like Niemann in a fascinating place. Most of the other stars and team captains already won their majors, earned their fame and became household names before joining LIV. Their success and acclaim were why LIV wanted them. Rahm was able to feel more comfortable making his move after winning a Masters and a US Open, which earned him exemptions for several years. Niemann’s potential and international reach are why LIV wanted him. Yes, he was once the No. 1 amateur in the world, convincingly winning the Genesis Invitational and finishing 11th in the Tour Championship after four years on tour, but he was just on his way to becoming a force in the golf world. Still far from one.

While Niemann has been able to earn his way into most majors this season (he is not yet competing in the US Open, but can work his way either through his Masters and PGA Championship performances or through open qualifying), there is no guarantee he’ll be back next year unless he thrives in this year’s majors or takes the same route he did this winter. For reference, Koepka finished second at the 2023 Masters and won the PGA Championship, but is only ranked No. 31 in OWGR. Cameron Smith is number 62. Great success doesn’t keep you high on the rankings forever.

Joaquin Niemann’s first LIV win came earlier this year by beating Sergio Garcia in a play-off. (Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images)

LIV CEO Greg Norman withdrew the request for world rankings points in March, ending hopes of changing that discussion anytime soon. The expected path LIV will now take is in talks with the four bodies that govern the majors to provide a certain number of places for the top-ranked players in the LIV rankings, but there is no indication yet that this is realistic. And while the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (which finances LIV) are in negotiations to restore the sport, there is still no actual timeline for doing so. And there is little knowledge about what a deal would mean for unification.

“It’s weird because we play to get better and not because people say, ‘Hey, you’re really good, you’re going to get this,’” Pereira said, “but when you’re that good, it’s clear that player and you gets nothing, it’s a bit unfair.

The more interesting element with Niemann is simply attention. Eyeballs. Concept. If a golfer becomes one of the top 10 players in the world and no one sees it, is he a top 10 player in the world? When LIV captured the golf world’s attention in February thanks to a rainout of the PGA Tour’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the PGA Tour’s third-round replay on CBS still drew 11 times more viewers than LIV on the CW Network . Niemann is legitimately good, but he doesn’t earn OWGR points, he doesn’t have a clear path to the majors, and his play is barely seen.

Golf fans already knew who Rahm, Mickelson, Koepka and Johnson were. How will casual fans get to know Niemann?

That brings us to this week’s Masters.

Most of these discussions are about broader issues that will be determined over years and years. Niemann is currently playing the Masters for the fifth time. He is ranked No. 9 on DataGolf and has the eighth-highest odds to win at BetMGM. The respect for Niemann is there. And the best way for him to announce himself is with a great week in Augusta.

But even before the qualifying dilemma, Niemann didn’t always thrive in the majors. He has just three top-25 finishes in 19 majors, and his T16 at last year’s Masters remains his best ever major finish. On the other hand, he has made three consecutive Masters cuts. This is a place where guys improve over time.

The hope is that this is another Niemann. This is the man who went to his friends last fall and said, “I have to go to grad school.” The one who spent more time in the gym, who practiced with more focus, who understood that he needed pressure on himself, and once he had it, he rose to a new level.

This version of Niemann understands that OWGR No. 1 is no longer the goal it used to be.

“There is no world ranking,” Niemann said, thinking about how to say it. “If you want to be the best, you have to win more majors than anyone else.”

This week he approaches the first tee at Augusta, and his heart rate will increase a little. His hands will become a little more shaky. He’ll be nervous. And we’ll find out if Niemann is ready.

(Top photo illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletics; photo: Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images)