Joaquin Niemann starts his final preparations for first lights out event at LIV Golf Riyadh 2025

Joaquin Niemann is the first LIV Golf player to post something about the first lights-out event in Riyadh, which started on February 6th. In his latest Instagram story, Niemann was seen working on his final preparations ahead of the first LIV Golf tournament of the season.

Niemann, 26, reshared the story of a putting instructor Eric Dietrich. In this story, the Chilean professional golfer can be seen successfully putting under lights at Riyadh Golf Club.

Joaquin Niemann practicing at Riyadh under floodlights (Source: Instagram/@joaco_niemann)

The tournament's officials and course setup partners have worked hard to reduce the amount of impact on the competition aspect. The Riyadh Golf Course has 300-plus permanent floodlight masts and each of these masts has two to four lights.

The Behind the Volt crew, who will handle the entire show, have installed an additional 900 to 1,000 lighting fixtures. The entire process will be very much involved for the Behind the Volt crew as there are so many parameters that come into play.

The organizers have installed a Goodyear Blimp with lighting at every hole to eliminate shadows. The players are also aware that night golf is different as floodlights can never replace natural sunlight.

Jon Rahm expressed his reservations about night golfing but sounded extremely confident when he said [via LIV Golf]:

“My biggest thing is being the 6:00 p.m. tee time. We're so used to by 6:00 p.m. we're home, almost thinking about dinner and going to bed if you're not having dinner. So, trying to shift that mentality of the schedule, it's been the most interesting part.”

Saudi is a happy hunting ground for Joaquin Niemann

The 26-year-old golfer from Chile won the LIV Golf Jeddah Individual Championship in March 2024. Before that win, Niemann also ended his previous season on a positive note by winning the PIF Saudi Invitational in December 2023.

Saudi has been a happy hunting ground for Joaquin Niemann so far and ahead of the 2025 event, the player revealed that he is looking to repeat the past success. Speaking at a press conference on February 5th in Riyadh, he said [via The Print]:

“Yeah, Saudi has been great to me lately. Last time we were here, it was a great week for me. It was a lot of fun playing that, a lot of birdies there.

“I felt like down the stretch I didn’t play my best, and sometimes those things happen—not being able to finish those last holes as good as I wanted—but being able to come back in the playoff and play well was good for me.

“Yeah, it was great. Saudi has been great, so I can’t complain. Hopefully, it keeps doing the same.”

Talking about night-time conditions this week, Joaquin Niemann showed his excitement as there is something new on offer for him. He believed that the situation in Riyadh would not be the normal one, and he had to try and adjust to all these conditions. He is also aware of the differences between playing under normal conditions and floodlights. Because floodlights give a different perspective on the feeling of distance, it will be a bit weird and a bit colder.