“How is that possible if I’m like number 100 in the world” - Joaquin Niemann takes a sly dig at OWGR
Joaquin Niemann is a favorite to win one of the Major championships this summer per a recent report. That was brought up to him following his victory over the weekend. A reporter revealed to him that the odds were in his favor to capture what would be his first ever Major championship. He will probably compete in most if not all of them despite qualification barriers, and the oddsmakers think he could break through.
He responded to the news via NUCLR GOLF on X (formerly Twitter):
“How is that possible if I’m like number 100 in the world?"
The reporter responded that he was not, at least not really. Niemann responded only with a slight grin. The LIV Golf star was joking about the fact that OWGR points aren't awarded to any event on LIV.
That means his Jeddah victory means nothing to his current rank. It won't give him any boost from his current spot of 72. He has played some sanctioned events to try and get points to boost his chances at making the Majors and it has resulted in an increase in ranking, but it may not accurately reflect his stature since his main events don't count.
In fact, all that effort he's been putting in to try and make the Major tournaments has not gone unnoticed. He earned an invitation to Augusta National this spring, and it drew praise from Rory McIlroy.
The Irishman was responding to Talor Gooch's frustration at not being invited, and he praised Niemann:
"But at the same time, Joaquin Niemann got an invite. I played with Joaquin down in Dubai a few weeks ago. He went down to Australia and won. He was in Oman last week. He's been chasing his tail around the world to try to get this either play his way into Augusta or show enough to warrant an invite and I don't know if the same can be said for Talor."
Niemann has never won a Major, so this is big news for him. In fact, he's never even finished in the top 10. His best showing came at the Masters last year, when he finished T16. He has otherwise finished T23 at the 2022 PGA Championship, T23 at the 2020 US Open and T53 at the 2022 Open Championship.
Joaquin Niemann turns in brilliant performance at Jeddah
Joaquin Niemann won the LIV Golf Jeddah tournament. It's his third pro golf victory in three months, as he won the Australian Open in December as well. He followed that up with a playoff victory over Sergio Garcia at Mayakoba.
He shot four under par in the final round and kept his opponents at bay. Louis Oosthuizen was second, but he was four strokes behind Niemann's -17 showing. Charl Schwartzel was tied for second, and Bryson DeChambeau came in fourth. Newcomer Jon Rahm was fifth.
It was a huge win for Niemann, who took back the top spot on the individual points leaderboard from Dustin Johnson.