‘He’s going, but he hasn’t signed yet’: Joaquín Niemann to leave PGA to sign at LIV Golf

Joaquín Niemann reached the PGA playoffs knowing that his destiny would no longer be in the highest circuit, but in the luxurious LIV Golf , the expensive Saudi super league, which has lifted big figures on the historic circuit. Few bet that the Chilean would cross paths and join. A month and a half earlier, he had denied it. However, a message from Jock revealed the existence of an almost inalienable offer to switch sides.

After his eleventh place in the Tour Championship, the last tournament of the season, all that remained for Joaco was to formalize his determination. Without going any further, her last name appeared last Friday as a discount code for the upcoming LIV event in Boston, which kicks off September 2. , who confirmed that everything was ready, beyond the fact that after being consulted he said he was “undecided” and that he hoped to see certain things after his participation in Atlanta. Thus, it was only a matter of hours before the long-awaited decision was confirmed, which finally came after finishing his best season on the PGA. “Go, but still not signed”, revealed his manager Carlos Rodríguez, to the AP agency.

In those around them, even if they do not speak openly about the decision, they point out that “Joaquín has earned the right to make his decisions through the fruit of his labor and effort, whether those decisions are shared or not.”

According to various international publications, The figure that the team competition will earn the national athlete is around 100 million US dollars. Moreover, he will be one of the main figures (he will probably be the captain of one of the teams) and his role will highlight the attractiveness of the South American market. His figure arouses interest in being one of the emerging talents in the world, proof of this are the two titles he won at the PGA, which led him to be the best Latino in the world rankings and, at 23, the highest ranked young player (19th).

A few weeks ago, Tiger Woods made an emergency trip to Delaware to hold a meeting with all the undecided on the circuit. The meeting took place at the Hotel Du Pont and twenty of the most prestigious players took part, including Niemann. The idea of ​​the meeting was to propose new measures to stop the bleeding towards the LIV. According to US media, there was some consensus that these proposals were going in the right direction. However, that wasn’t enough to convince the Chilean and several others.

The most immediate consequence of Joaco’s departure is his resignation from the international Presidents Cup squad, where he was announced along with Mito Pereira. He will also have to play tournaments on the Asian Tour to add units to the classification, which would obviously jeopardize his qualification for the Olympic Games and his presence in the majors, since, as commissioner Jay Monahan warned, the players who resign from the PGA, they cannot return.

In the short term, there is no solution. In fact, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and some of the figureheads who left for the LIV filed a lawsuit against the circuit alleging monopolistic conduct to penalize them when they moved up to the super league. “The purpose of this action is to overturn anti-competitive PGA Tour rules and practices that prevent these independent golfers from playing when and where they want.” Said the brief they filed.

For this reason, Monahan is adamant: “Regarding one of the scenarios for LIV players and the return, I remind you that we are in a trial. we were prosecuted . I think talking about a hypothesis at this point doesn’t make a lot of sense.”