
Joaquin Niemann chalked up his third victory of the season at LIV Golf Mexico City on Sunday, tracking down major winners Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith. In the process, the Chilean superstar also ensured he would be amongst the starters at the US Open in June.
The invite to the US Open at Oakmont came courtesy of the LIV Golf exemption the Torque GC captain sealed with one tournament to go.
With one final tournament left before the US Open’s LIV Golf exemption is awarded next month, Niemann has guaranteed himself a spot for Oakmont in June regardless of the outcome at LIV Golf Korea next week. The exemption is handed to the points leader not already exempt in the top 3 of the standings as of May 19.
Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm, whose team topped their event at Mexico City’s Club de Golf Chapultepec is the only player who can mathematically overtake Niemann with a win in Korea, but he already has a spot at the US Open.
Niemann already is in the PGA Championship and Open Championship fields, so LIV’s form player of the season will play all four majors this year for the first time since 2023. He becomes the ninth LIV Golf player expected to be at Oakmont after 12 turned out for the year’s first major at Augusta National.
Sunday was, all in all, it was a pretty good day for the 26-year-old Niemann, LIV Golf’s youngest captain, who noted, “Pretty hard to make it more special than this moment right now,” after a champagne bath on the 18th green.
“My team was asking me to sign up for the qualifier and the sectional, and I wasn’t really into that,” Niemann said of Oakmont. “More than anything, I’m grateful that I’m not playing 36 holes on a Monday after the tournament.”
In the team event, Rahm’s Legion XIII prevailed in a tight battle with the all-Australian Ripper GC for their second trophy of the season and moved to the top of the standings. All four members of the squad went under par, on a day no other team had more than two players achieve the feat. “Proud of everybody here,” the burly Rahm said. “To hear that all four of us shot under par is not easy. It’s a hard golf course.”
For the league’s youngest member, Caleb Surrat, it was a rollercoaster of emotions as he also had to cope with an uneasy stomach. Surratt was a bogey-free 4-under through 10 holes but gave it all away with bogeys on his next four holes to see his team’s lead melt away.
“I guess somebody else made a bogey or two, and the next thing you know we were tied,” Surratt said. “I was like, Oh my gosh, it’s my fault. Like it was all my fault.” But Surratt finished strongly,
delivering the decisive birdies on his final two holes to break the tie with Ripper. Teammate Tom McKibbin also finished with a birdie on his last hole, as Legion XIII overcame a five-stroke deficit to start the day to record their sixth win in team history. “Really proud of Tom and Caleb for their finishing birdies,” said Rahm.
In the individual event, Niemann (68-64-65) started out on Sunday three shots behind overnight leader DeChambeau, the Crushers GC captain, and two behind Ripper skipper Smith in the final group but outperformed both as they failed to break par on the par-71 layout. Niemann took the decisive lead DeChambeau hit his tee shot out of bounds for a double bogey at the par-4 13th and then finished with birdies in two of his last three holes to total 16 under for the tournament. DeChambeau (71) was three strokes behind in a tie for second with Ripper’s Lucas Herbert, who matched Rahm’s course record with a 10 under 61. Rahm finished solo fourth on 12 under par. “Just one of those rounds where it all just clicks for you,” said Herbert, who tied the course record set five years ago at a World Golf Championships tournament. “It was a pretty cool feeling to do it at an event like this.”
“He’s a phenomenal player and someone I look up to a lot,” added Herbert of Rahm, “so to have my name next to his as a course record, that’s just really cool.”