As he holed out his final putt on 18, 23 year old Joaquin Niemann was mobbed by fellow PGA Tour pros Sergio Garcia, Carlos Ortiz, and Mito Pereira. The Chilean golfer captured the 2022 Genesis Invitational in impressive fashion, beating the best in the world as he led from wire to wire this past weekend.
Niemann seemed to be etching his name into the Riviera scoring record book everyday he teed up at the famous course. Opening with back to back rounds of 63, the slenderly built 4 year pro finished at -19 for the tournament, good for a two shot victory over Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young.
Each of the Top 10 golfers in the world took part in this year’s event making it the most competitive field on the PGA schedule thus far. The competition however didn’t seem to phase Niemann as he cruised through the first three rounds, and was able to shoot an even par 71 on the final day to earn the win.
“It’s the toughest tournament I think during the year. It’s got the best field, the best players are here and that proves [to] myself that I can be competing with the top guys, I can be up there in the world ranking,” Niemann said. “I think it’s going to give me a lot of confidence for what is coming next.”
The only blips on the former amateur World Number 1 ranked golfer’s weekend were a pair of bogeys on the back nine Sunday which caused him to fall one shot shy of Lanny Watkins tournament record score, set back in 1985. Aside from that, it was a masterclass in poise and shot selection as Niemann rarely found himself in any kind of precarious situations all weekend long.
Reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa gave Niemann his only scare of the tournament as he had an opportunity to put some pressure on the leader at 18. However he narrowly missed his 10ft birdie attempt and had to settle for par, meaning the Chilean could bogey the final hole and still win the tournament. Niemann didn’t need the extra stroke and finished with a par to seal the victory.
Niemann earned $2.16M in winnings from the tournament purse to go along with his 2nd career PGA Tour victory. Young and Morikawa took home just shy of $1.1M apiece for their 2nd place tie at Riviera.
The Tour now heads down to Palm Beach, Florida this week for the Honda Classic at the PGA National Resort & Spa – Championship Course.