Joaquin Niemann credits his bagman Gary Matthews for his victory at LIV Jeddah - “He's pretty good on talking me through the shots”
Joaquin Niemann credited his impressive win at the 2024 LIV Golf Jeddah event on Sunday, March 3, to the essential support he received from his caddie, Gary Matthews.
This is his second win on the Saudi Circuit this year, with his previous win coming at the 2024 LIV Golf Mayakoba event, where he beat Sergio Garcia in a playoff. In the Jeddah event, Niemann shot a 4-under 66 on Sunday to register the victory. He finished four strokes ahead of his closest competitors Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.
During the press conference after the tournament, Niemann talked about how important his caddie's support was for him at the event. Matthews' role as the Chilean's caddie seemingly appeared after the 2020 US Open.
Niemann thanked Matthews, who had previously worked with players such as Garcia and Schwartzel, for his help and said:
"Gary's role was huge not only today, I mean during every day we play, every day we practice. He does a good role. He's pretty good on talking me through the shots. He knows how to read me pretty well. And I feel like during those moments where you're under pressure and you want to keep doing better and kind of stay more in the present.
"I think I got a, and it's something that I've been working on is trying to have more communication with my caddy during the round. Trying to talk about the shots, after I hit the shots, what was wrong and doesn't even help, not only helps our communication, it just helped me to get some feedback of how I hit that shot. So he's been doing a great job and we've been doing a great job together," he added.
Check out Joaquin Niemann in the video below (7:01-7:57):
Oosthuizen and Schwartzel ended up tied for second place. Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Rahm initially led after the first round but struggled in the following rounds, ending with a score of 12-under.
Phil Mickelson shared sixth place with Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri, Talor Gooch, Adrian Meronk, and Jason Kokrak. Anthony Kim returned to professional golf after 12 years but failed to impress, finishing in 53rd with a score of 16-over.
Joaquin Niemann's performances at the 2024 LIV Golf Jeddah
Joaquin Niemann got off to a smooth start at the LIV Golf Jeddah event, which started with its inaugural round on Friday, March 1.
The Chilean golfer teed it up on the third hole with a par and added a birdie on the next hole. He followed it with two back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh holes and added five more birdies and a bogey to finish with a score of 7-under par 63.
In the second round of the tournament, he played a bogey-free round with six birdies. On Day 3, Niemann started his game with a birdie on the first hole and added another on the fourth. He shot three birdies and a bogey on the back nine to score 4-under 66 and emerge victorious in the tournament.