Joaquin Niemann granted special invitation to compete in PGA Championship
Joaquin Niemann has secured his second special invitation to a Major championship, this time being welcomed into the PGA Championship. With that, he can now participate in three of the four Majors this year. The LIV Golf star has been in incredible form and has been going around trying all sorts of tournaments to earn places in the Majors, and it's paid off.
The PGA Championship typically invites the top 100 OWGR ranked golfers to the event, which means that as of now, Niemann would qualify. He's ranked 72nd. However, with plenty of time between now and the cutoff date, and no OWGR points available for LIV events (of which Niemann has already won two this year), he would possibly slip out of range.
Thus, the tournament offered him a special invitation. The Masters did the same a while back. He also qualified for the Open Championship by winning the Australian Open in December.
He recently joked about his odds of winning a Major this year, but with spots in three of the four, he stands a very good chance of doing that. He will likely continue working and may end up getting an invitation to the US Open as well, but that remains to be seen.
Joaquin Niemann playing in three of the four Majors this year
Much of his qualification is a product of his effort. He can't get qualification from LIV events, nor can he get points to get high enough to be considered. Therefore, Joaquin Niemann has gone around the world playing in tournaments he's allowed to in an effort to prove his mettle for the Major championships.
In all three circumstances, that has paid dividends. The golfer's win in Australia secured him a spot, and his other performances have gotten the attention of the deciding bodies and they have offered him an invite.
With some LIV Golf members complaining about the lack of qualification options, Niemann went out of his way to achieve his expressed goal. He said he wanted to win LIV events (and he has) and to compete in the Majors (and he will).
It even drew praise from Rory McIlroy, who said:
"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 [Gooch]."
Talor Gooch had said that McIlroy theoretically winning would come with an asterisk if he and other LIV members couldn't play the Masters, and McIlroy name-dropped Niemann as evidence that there's a path to qualification for everyone.
The 25-year-old golfer is playing really well this year, capturing 67% of the LIV titles and leading the league in points. He is playing as well as anyone in the world, and he'll get a shot to prove that in the Majors.