PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – After a jittery front nine on Sunday, Joaquin Niemann sucked any of the suspense out of who might win the Genesis Invitational when he chipped in from 45 feet off the green at the par-5 11th hole for eagle.
“This weekend I was just thinking about I want to win, I want to win,” Niemann said. “I think it’s going to give me a lot of confidence for what is coming next.”
The 23-year-old from Chile handled the bright lights of Los Angeles and overcame a sluggish start to shoot even-par 71 at Riviera Country Club and a two-stroke victory over Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young. Niemann’s ball-striking clinic made him the first wire-to-wire winner of the Genesis since Hall of Famer Charlie Sifford in 1969.
“Any week that he’s on is going to be like this week,” said Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz, who shared a house with the champion and kidded him that he was playing a different golf course this week.
“This course is made for him,” said Mito Pereira, a fellow Chilean Tour pro. “He’s really strong off the tee and with the irons and you have to do that in this place.”
Niemann set a torrid pace with a pair of 63s in the first two rounds and added to his lead with a 3-under 68 on Saturday to build a three-stroke advantage over Young, a 24-year-old rookie from Wake Forest University, heading into the final round in Tinseltown.
“I’m having the time of my life,” Niemann said on Saturday.
That included with the putter. Niemann, who entered the week ranked No. 154 in Strokes Gained: Putting for the season, was enjoying Riviera’s poa greens enough to rank third through three rounds.
“His speed on the greens is so good,” said Young. “I don’t think anyone did better with that this week than he did.”
Against a stacked field that included all 10 of the top 10 in the world, Niemann was 21-under par for his first 46 holes and looked to be a shoe-in to eclipse Lanny Wadkins’ 72-hole scoring record of 20-under 264 that has stood since 1985. But those final 26 holes proved to be more of a challenge than Niemann ever imagined.
“The first two days I think it was a different tournament for me,” he said. “I played my best golf on Thursday and Friday. Obviously I knew that the weekend was going to be hard, it was going to be a battle. I knew I had to be fighting myself a lot during those two days.”
On Sunday, his sense of line and speed with the short stick abandoned him early. He missed a 6-foot birdie putt at No. 6 and one hole later left a 60-foot birdie putt 17 feet short and made bogey. His lead was trimmed to one.
That’s when Niemann’s ballstriking came to the rescue. He stuck a lob wedge to 7 feet at the eighth hole and sank the putt while Young bladed his approach and made bogey. In the blink of an eye, his cushion was back to three and grew to as many as six when Niemann chipped in for the eagle at 11. Niemann had one more shaky passage to endure as he made back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15. On the day, he ranked last in putting of the 75 golfers to play the weekend, but he did enough to secure his second PGA Tour title with a 72-hole total of 19-under 265. (Lanny Wadkins can breathe easily as the longest-standing 72-hole record of any active Tour event since 1980 remains intact.)
It looked good all the way. 👏@JoacoNiemann chips in on No. 11 for his third eagle of the week.
He leads by SIX. pic.twitter.com/W1ncxPIisq
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 20, 2022
“It felt like a month,” Niemann said of playing with the lead over the weekend. “I’m so glad it’s done.”
Young closed in 1-under 70 to record his second runner-up finish in just 12 Tour starts, tying with Morikawa who holed a pitch for eagle at No. 10 en route to shooting 65.
“I’m proud of myself for staying up there for a long time,” Young said. “There are a couple shots I wish I had back today, but all in all happy with the week.”
Niemann’s star has been on the rise practically since he turned pro in 2018. The former No. 1 amateur in the world recorded top-10s in three of his first five starts to earn his playing privileges. When he won the 2019 A Military Tribute at Greenbrier by six strokes, Niemann became the first Chilean Tour winner and first under-21 international Tour winner since Rory McIlroy and Seve Ballesteros. A dominating performance such as the show Niemann put on this week suggests his talent is just beginning to blossom.
“He’s got a ton of game,” said Sergio Garcia, who has been part mentor, part big brother to Niemann. “He can do it all. He’s still very young, but he’s going to do great things.”
Garcia, Ortiz, Pereira and others waited behind the 18th green at Riviera to congratulate their pal. But first Niemann accepted the trophy from tournament host Tiger Woods.
“I haven’t seen him since probably a year,” Niemann said. “He’s one of my idols. I always watched him on TV and I still do. Having Tiger on site receiving the trophy is something special.”
So is becoming part of the history and lore of the great champions to withstand the test that is Riviera.
“Every time I come here there’s a lot of history in the clubhouse,” Niemann said. “You see pictures, you see shirts, you see gloves signed by the winners so it will be nice to have my own stuff on display.”
That included with the putter. Niemann, who entered the week ranked No. 154 in Strokes Gained: Putting for the season, was enjoying Riviera’s poa greens enough to rank third through three rounds. He was 21-under par for his first 46 holes. But on Sunday, his sense of line and speed with the short stick abandoned him early. He missed a 6-foot birdie putt at No. 6 and one hole later left a 60-foot birdie putt 17 feet short and made bogey. His lead was trimmed to one.
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