Dan Rapaport has suggested how successful he believes Joaquin Niemann would be back on the PGA Tour after his eighth LIV Golf victory on Sunday.
Niemann claimed the LIV Golf Korea title in Busan after a playoff win over Talor Gooch. The victory saw the Chilean extend his lead at the top of the list for all-time wins on LIV.
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For context, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka are tied for second with five victories.
Dan Rapaport suggests how Joaquin Niemann would fare back on the PGA Tour
Joaquin Niemann has been an intriguing figure since joining LIV Golf. Clearly, the 27-year-old has been hugely successful in the league. And it is somewhat baffling that he is yet to win an individual title for the season.
However, he has been unable to take that form into the major championships. The Torque captain has registered just one top 10 at the four biggest events of the year across his career.
Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images
He was not even in the field for The Masters back in April.
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Nevertheless, speaking on Dan on Golf as he listed the players he would love to see back on the PGA Tour, Dan Rapaport insisted that Niemann would enjoy plenty of success on his former tour.
“Eight wins on LIV Golf. He’s been the breakout star on LIV, and I think he’d be a consistent force on the PGA Tour. I get that question a lot. Do you think Niemann would win PGA Tour events Yes, I do. Yes. The major championship stuff, I think, is separate. It’s pressure, it’s different golf courses,” he said.
How Joaquin Niemann has inadvertently hurt LIV Golf
As Rapaport notes, Niemann is perhaps the player who has seen his stock rise more than anyone else since deciding to leave the PGA Tour and join LIV Golf.
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While the likes of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau have had success, they were already huge names by the time they chose to make the jump.
Niemann had won twice on the PGA Tour. However, his ascension to that elite level may have caught some off-guard.
And it may have harmed Niemann in some ways, too.
Rapaport suggested that Niemann’s inability to shine in the majors has had a negative impact on LIV.
“I think Niemann has been a really interesting test case, sort of case study for LIV Golf because the guys who get a lot of attention on LIV, most of them were already stars when they went. You think of Bryson DeChambeau, you think of Jon Rahm, you think of Brooks when he was there, you think of Patrick Reed when he was there. Joaquin Niemann was the one player who really elevated himself as a player on LIV. And I think his inability to carry that over into the majors was a little bit damaging for LIV,” he said.
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“I remember last year, when he won five times early in the season, there was always talk, oh, is Joaquin Niemann actually the best player in the world? They hyped him up. Phil was saying he’s the best player in the world saying, Scottie, he’s not going to win again. It didn’t go that way. I just think Niemann not carrying it over was, in hindsight, not a great result for LIV. But he’s 27. He’s still so young. And I remember him winning this event here, Genesis at Riviera. He ran away with it as a 23 year old, so he’s a huge talent. He’s got all the game in the world. He has not shown it in the majors, but he’s not the only player who’s struggled to carry over the form from the PGA Tour into the major.”
It would be fascinating to see how Niemann would fare playing regularly on the PGA Tour once again. However, based on the way he celebrated Sunday’s win in Korea, it is difficult to make the case that he has any regrets about his decision to sign with LIV.
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