Niemann collapses at LIV in Houston after nightmare Sunday

There were no celebrations for Joaquín Niemann in Houston. The Chilean had entered the final day, but after the last 18 holes his chances of winning his third title of the year disappeared. The one who lifted the trophy was his Torque teammate, the Mexican Carlos Ortiz with a -15 card.

It was a tough Sunday for the 2022 Genesis Invitational champion, who never managed to control his game, knowing early on that his chances of finishing at the top were slim. It started from tee of one and on flag two and three he added his first bogeys of the turn. To make matters worse, on the fifth hole, everything got complicated with a double bogey.

With this unfavorable scenario, the day became a headache. Already very far from the leaders, the Talagantinos only competed not to continue to lose ground and add points with the general classification in mind. Additionally, with Ortiz on top from the start, it was important to help Torque GC win the team competition and collect the $3,000,000 check that is distributed each date to the team with the highest results. . This time they finished fourth.

The truth is that after this first period of terror, the Chilean lived a round without too many surprises, only coming out of par twice. First with a birdie at the eighth hole then with two other penalties (14 and 18) for his score, leaving him with a general record of three under par and in 32nd place, Mito Pereira, for his part, finished the weekend in the rankings. position 39 with a -1 after three rounds.

The Chileans of LIV were not the only ones present this weekend, as Cristóbal Del Solar participated in the BMW Charity Pro-Am, a tournament that Mito Pereira won in 2021 and which is part of the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Development Tour.

Del Solar finished in third place overall with a score of -19, just one stroke behind second place (Seth Reeves) and seven behind Ryan Gerard, who ultimately ended up lifting the trophy.

Even though he did not win the event held at Thornblade Court, the Chilean adds valuable points in his fight to be part of the PGA Tour next season, since every year the 25 best players obtain an invitation card to the the most important golf course in the world. Currently, Del Solar is 23rd.

One week before the closing of the qualification list for the Olympic Games, Joaquín Niemann and Cristóbal Del Solar are among the 60 players who will participate in Paris 2024. A place which seems difficult for them to lose at this stage.

Ranking can be obtained through the world rankings, allowing Chile to use the maximum two places allowed by each country. This unfortunately leaves Mito Pereira, who finished fourth at Tokyo 2020, without a chance of competing in the rings event, but who after his arrival at LIV lost ground on the planetary list, to the point that today he is found outside the top 250 of the ranking.

For Niemann, this will be his second appearance at the Olympic Games after competing in Japan three years ago. Del Solar dreams of making his debut in the most important sporting event on the planet. Everything will be defined this June 17.