Joaquin Niemann is one of the hottest prospects in golf, with two PGA Tour victories and two wins in the LIV Golf League.
The Chilean was the world's number one amateur golfer before turning pro in 2018 and he is already building a mighty CV. His biggest win came at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in 2022 and he has two victories in LIV Golf as well as a 59.
Get to know Joaquin Niemann better with these facts as well as his bio, list of wins and career earnings so far...
Joaquin Niemann facts:
1. Niemann was born in Santiago, Chile.
2. Like many touring professionals, he now lives in Jupiter, Florida.
3. His home club in Florida is The Dye Preserve, which is also home to a number of other pros including 2022 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick.
3. His father gave him plastic clubs at the age of 2 and learned the game at Club de Polo y Equitacion San Cristobal.
4. According to PGA Tour.com, Niemann remembers hitting a 40-yard shot with real equipment at the age of four during a family BBQ at home and striking his grandmother in the leg. She wasn't seriously hurt but he said "it was a pretty good shot."
5. In 2020 and 2021, Niemann donated large sums of his winnings on the PGA Tour to help his infant cousin get injections to treat Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a rare neuromuscular disease that leads to muscle wasting and respiratory failure.
6. He won six times on the Chilean Tour as an amateur.
7. He was ranked as the world's top male amateur golfer from May 2017 to April 2018 when he turned professional. By turning pro, he forfeited his exemptions into the US Open and The Open that he earned as an amateur.
8. He qualified for the 2017 US Open and made his Major debut at the age of 18.
9. He won the 2018 Latin America Amateur Championship to qualify for the Masters.
10. Niemann's first PGA Tour victory came in 2019 at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier. During that week he shot 65-62-68-64 to win by six strokes.
11. The biggest win of his career came with his 2nd PGA Tour title when he triumphed at the 2022 Genesis Invitational at Riviera. He opened with back-to-back 63s and won by two.
12. Aside from a Titleist Pro V1x golf ball, Niemann uses a full bag of Ping equipment and he wears adidas shoes.
13. He says one of the best decisions he ever made was hiring an English-speaking caddie so he could learn the language faster and better. His looper has been Gary Matthews since 2020.
14. Niemann's girlfriend is Christina Hellema Puga, who studied architecture at the Universidad de Desarrollo in Chile.
15. He needed just eight starts on the PGA Tour to secure his card. He achieved this at the age of 19.
16. Niemann made his Presidents Cup debut in 2019 competing for the International Team. Hosted at Royal Melbourne, he played in four matches in which he lost three and halved the other. He was ineligible to play in the 2022 or 2024 editions after joining LIV Golf and therefore being suspended by the PGA Tour.
17. His mother played field hockey for the Chilean national team and his dad played basketball at college so it is clear sport runs in the family.
18. He was recruited to play at the University of South Florida but never did because he failed an English test. Speaking to Golf Digest he said:
"I knew I was going to be there for only one year. The school asked me to take the English test. I really didn’t study. I did it fast and finished before anyone else. I was playing the US Open when I got the results. I was with Claudio Correa. He’s from Chile, too. We were looking at the scores, and we couldn’t stop laughing. He was like, “How are you so stupid?” My score was low, so I couldn’t go to school. Honestly, I was happy. I just wanted to play golf."
19. He has earned $15.25m on the PGA Tour.
20. Niemann's fee for joining LIV Golf was reported to be worth $100m.
21. He represented Chile at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
22. Niemann is the captain of Torque GC in the LIV Golf League.
23. He shot a 59 at the 2024 LIV Golf Mayakoba event.
24. He won his first LIV Golf title at LIV Golf Mayakoba and won again in his next start at LIV Golf Jeddah.
25. Niemann won the 2023 Australian Open for his first DP World Tour victory. It qualified him for the 2024 Open.
26. He receives special invites into the Masters and PGA Championship in 2024.
27. His best Major finish is a T16 at the 2023 Masters. In over 20 Majors, he has surprisingly never finished in the top 10.
*won whilst still an amateur
