Joaquin Niemann to be ‘aggressive’ to beat Jon Rahm in LIV Golf Championship

Modified Sep 14, 2024 12:16 GMT

Golf: LIV Golf Chicago - Source: Imagn — Joaquin Niemann (Credit: Melissa Tamez-Imagn)

Joaquin Niemann is competing at LIV Golf Chicago. He is trailing by just three points to claim the top spot in individual rankings. The final individual LIV events began on Friday, 13 September, and will conclude on Sunday, 15 September, at Bolingbrook Golf Club in Bolingbrook, Illinois.

Niemann scored 2-under 68 in the first round. He is currently tied for fourth with Bryson DeChambeau, Lucas Herbert, Henrik Stenson, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Ian Poulter.

Niemann is positioned second in the LIV Golf individual rankings with 192 points. He trails Jon Rahm by three points who is on the top with 195. Rahm scored 1-under 69 in the first round and is tied for 11th at Bolingbrook.

In the post-round press conference, Niemann was asked if he would still stay aggressive even if he were ahead of Rahm by several shots on Sunday. He said, via ASAP Sports:

"Yeah, obviously that's the goal, but it all depends how the weekend goes. If I'm in a position where I can win the tournament, I'm going to try to be aggressive and try to chase that."

Niemann scored five birdies on the 8th, 10th, 13th, 14th and 17th holes against a bogey on par-4 11th and a double bogey on par-4 15th. When asked if he was happy with his first round, he said:

"I think my scrambling was pretty good. I hit a lot of good chips, an amazing chip on No. 8. I get a few props for my scrambling today."

Joaquin Niemann will tee off with Jon Rahm and Peter Uihlein at 12:15 PM ET in the second round of LIV Golf Chicago on 14 September.

A look at Joaquin Niemann's performance in 2024

Joaquin Niemann has had a splendid 2024 season. In 12 starts on LIV, he has two wins and nine top-10 finishes.

He won the LIV Golf Mayakoba in playoffs against Sergio Garcia with a birdie on the fourth extra hole. He then won LIV Golf Jeddah by four strokes over Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. His other notable finishes on LIV include a T3 at both LIV Golf Adelaide and LIV Golf Nashville.

On the DP World Tour, he has played in three tournaments and has one win and three top-5 finishes. In the Olympics, he tied for ninth for his country.

Let's take a look at Joaquin Niemann's performance in the 2024 season: