In a thrilling play-off match played in almost complete darkness on the fourth hole, Joaquin Niemann defeated Sergio Garcia to win the LIV Golf Mayakoba championship in Mexico.
The Chilean lost a birdie putt at the 18th hole to force a playoff, even though he had the opportunity to win in regulation.
On the par-four eighteenth hole, both players made par three times before Niemann birdied on his fourth try.
“On the practice grounds I saw myself making that last putt to win, so it’s freaking awesome,” Niemann stated.
Even though it was quickly getting darker, the players decided to go on even though they had been given the option to play the fourth play-off hole on Monday.
“At the first play-off hole I didn’t think it was going to get too dark,” Niemann stated.
“I had anticipated that it would take a little bit longer. Though you never know what will happen, I was prepared to move as quickly as possible.
“I just told myself to give myself a chance and ended up hitting a good shot and making that putt, which was awesome.”
On his LIV Golf debut, Jon Rahm of Spain came very close to missing a three-way play-off after finishing two strokes behind Niemann and fellow countryman Garcia with a bogey-bogey finish. He was third on 10 under.
Tyrrell Hatton of England, who also made his LIV debut, tied for seventh place on seven under.
With Hatton, Rahm, Kieran Vincent of Zimbabwe, and American Caleb Surratt, the newly formed team Legion XIII won the team title on 24 under for the week, four shots ahead of Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC.
