Chicago Recap: Niemann narrowly misses out on Individual Championship, Torque finish T5
BOLINGBROOK, Illinois – It was a case of so close but so far for both Torque GC and their impressive captain Joaquin Niemann on Sunday after a mesmerizing final round of high-quality competition at LIV Golf Chicago.
The Spanish-speaking combination had to settle for a share of fifth place on the team leaderboard after leading the tournament with just nine holes remaining at Bolingbrook Golf Club. Consequently, Torque will be seeded fifth at the September 20-22 Team Championship in Dallas where they will seek their first team title of the year.
As for Niemann, he had to settle for joint second place with Fireballs GC's Sergio Garcia in pursuit of the 2024 Individual title, finishing three strokes behind the triumphant Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm.
Both Niemann and Rahm closed with 4-under 66s on a tough Bolingbrook layout where the greens were firm and frequent crosswinds posed all sorts of problems for the players. They were the only two players still in the running for the season-long Individual Championship and its $18 million bonus, and their duel over the three days of competition was exceptional.
"I enjoyed it a lot, obviously," said Chilean Niemann, who had led the Individual Championship race throughout the year after clinching the season-opening LIV Golf Mayakoba in a playoff before winning in Jeddah by four strokes just two tournaments later.
"I would have enjoyed it more being on top of the leaderboard and winning the season title, but I think it's going to come soon. I'm pretty happy. I gave my best and I played great on Sunday."
Torque were sixth on the team leaderboard heading into Sunday's final round but they quickly improved on that as all four players made good starts.
After parring his first three holes, Mito Pereira birdied 13, 14 and 15 to get to three under for the day, and help Torque move into a tie at the top of the team leaderboard with Crushers GC. Pereira then rolled in an 11-footer at the par-four 16th to put Torque in the solo lead at 12-under.
"I saw that we were pretty close to winning the team title," said Niemann. "It's extra motivation to play well in Dallas. We all know that we can do it, so it's going to be a fun challenge."
However, Pereira came crashing back to earth with an ugly quadruple bogey eight at the par-4 first, followed by a double bogey at the par-3 fourth, for Torque to slip back in the team race.
Pereira ended up carding a 71, as did Carlos Ortiz, while Sebastián Muñoz returned a 67.
Niemann, meanwhile, had birdied two of his first three holes to close to within just one stroke of Rahm. However, Rahm picked up two shots of his own in the first six holes to move two ahead of the chasing pack.
Niemann also birdied the par-4 11th, where he drained a 13-foot putt, and the par-4 15th, where he sank a 9-footer, to move into solo second place at 8-under - two shots behind Rahm.
Niemann did very well to save par at the 16th, where he overshot the green with his approach and then chipped 13 feet past the hole with his third, before finishing par-par to tie for second with Garcia.
"If I look back, there's probably a couple of shots that I could have done better ... and I hit the pin on two of those," said Niemann. "They could have been gimmes but they ended up on the front of the green.
"But yeah, it was a great battle today. Obviously to beat Jon Rahm you've got to do things better, and yeah, it's a good way to push myself. I want to be in that position. I want to keep improving. It's a good way to show myself that I can be there. I was just a few shots behind, which is pretty close."
Niemann ended LIV Golf's final event of the regular season ranked joint top with Rahm in birdie percentage, second for greens in regulation and third in driving distance.
"I'm pretty happy," said the 25-year-old from Santiago. "I was telling my caddie that I don't feel any disappointment. I feel like I gave it everything that I had. It didn't feel like I gave a shot away the whole season. Yeah, that for me is a win."