Joaquin Niemann recorded a bogey-free 65 on Sunday to win LIV Golf Singapore and soar to the top of the circuit’s individual standings.
On the team side, captain Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC turned in a sparkling 10-under par round to win its third consecutive team title. The team was eight shots behind at the start of the day.
Niemann’s win at the Sentosa Golf Club was his second tournament victory in the past three events. And the victory was a decisive one, finishing at 17-under 196, good for a five-stroke victory over defending champion Brooks Koepka (65 on Sunday).
Ben Campbell (67) was six shots back at 11 under for the tournament and alone in third place, followed by Spaniard David Puig (66).
Dustin Johnson, who held at least a share of the lead in the first two rounds, struggled to a 73 and was part of a five-player group to finish eight shots back of Niemann and in a tie for fifth place.
Five of Niemann’s birdies came on the front nine, which settled him for the rest of the round.
“Yeah, I was a little bit nervous,” Niemann said following his fourth career LIV win. “You’re always nervous before a round about what’s going to happen. It’s a game where everything could happen at any time, and starting the way I started playing, it really kind of freed me up a little bit for the rest of the round, starting with a birdie on the first hole, and then being able to birdie the third and the fourth.
“Yeah, I felt like because of the start that I had, I was able to be really, really free for the whole round.”
Campbell, promoted to LIV this season, mixed six birdies and two bogeys on the day, forging on even when he knew first place was out of reach.
“It was amazing to see him. Man, that was some impressive golf,” the New Zealander said of Niemann. “Yeah, I saw that and I knew with four or five holes to go if I could try and pick up a couple and come in and birdie 18 and that. But yeah, it was a good solid week and plenty to build on, which is nice.”
On the team side, Garcia’s Fireballs GC just keep building. It won the past two weeks in Adelaide and Hong Kong and bested Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team, which also finished 10 under for the day, by three strokes on Sunday.
The Fireballs’ victory came despite Garcia suffering from bronchitis this week. He finished at even par for the week but was lifted up by the individual performances of Puig, fellow Spaniard Luis Masaveu (68) and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer (69).
“This week was a tough week because I’ve been sick all week and haven’t been able to help the team as much as I would have liked to,” Garcia said. “To see the performance that my teammates put in to be able to get this win was pretty impressive.”
Niemann will hope to stay atop the individual leaderboard this spring. Doing so would grant him an exemption into the U.S. Open. He has qualified for the other three majors, and the leading LIV Golf player not otherwise exempt for the U.S. Open after LIV Golf Korea (May 2-4) will earn entry to the major.
“Obviously it’s one of the goals to qualify for the majors,” Niemann said. “I feel like that’s not my main focus. It’s obviously something that it would favor me if I play good golf, but like I said before, I’m here to make my team win, to get a good result for them and motivate them to do those good results.”
–Field Level Media
