Joaquin Niemann Takes Control Of LIV Golf UK As He Closes In On Fifth Win Of The Season

After two days of LIV Golf UK, just 18 holes stand between Individual Championship leader Joaquin Niemann and his fifth win of the season.

The Torque GC captain began the day in a three-way tie for the lead with Adrian Meronk and Branden Grace on six under, but no one could live with the Chilean on Saturday as he threatened to turn it into a procession.

Starting on the first hole, Niemann got off to a dream start with three successive birdies and by the turn, he was five under for the day after further birdies on the fifth and seventh.

Even with that blistering beginning, he didn’t have it all his own way.

While Meronk and Grace failed to capitalize on their excellent opening rounds, Lee Westwood, who was one behind the leaders at the start of the day, did.

Also beginning on the first, albeit 11 minutes earlier than Niemann, Westwood had the lead after three holes following an even more emphatic start.

The Englishman, who hails from Worksop, around 60 miles from host venue JCB Golf and Country Club, began his round with successive birdies before a spectacular hole-out for eagle from 115 yards at the monster 610-yard par-5 third.

That briefly gave him the solo lead at nine under, but it was as good as it got for the 52-year-old, who made a bogey at the fourth, with further shots dropped at the seventh, eighth and 13^th offset somewhat by another birdie at the ninth.

However, any hope he had of keeping in touch with Niemann was dented further with a double bogey at the 15^th to leave him back at four under.

Niemann, meanwhile, simply marched on, with three more birdies at the 10^th, 11^th and 13 to give him a six-shot advantage over nearest rival Bubba Watson.

That moved him to eight under for the day and 14 under in total, but he was pegged back on the 15^th with his one bogey of the day before restoring his six-shot advantage with his ninth birdie of the day on the 18th.

Watson will begin the final round in second, no doubt wondering between now and then how to go about clawing back such a significant deficit on Niemann.

Paul Casey, Caleb Surratt and Meronk go into the final round in T3, seven behind the leader.

Further down the leaderboard, following his even-par opening round, it was a better day for defending champion Jon Rahm, who went four under on Saturday.

However, with 10 shots between him and the leader, it already looks like his bid to retain the trophy is doomed to fail.

It also looks increasingly likely that Rahm, who won the 2024 Individual Championship, will miss out to Niemann in the season-long battle.

If, as expected, Niemann wins on Sunday, that will bank him another 40 points to consolidate his position at the top of the standings.

Afterwards, Niemann reflected on his scintillating performance, explaining he was determined to bounce back after missing the cut at The Open.

He said: "Yeah, you know what, to be honest, at the beginning of the week I was not feeling bad. I was going to say another word. But I was feeling a little bit weird after a bad week at The Open.

"Obviously the expectations were pretty high, and the way I played wasn't my best. On the greens wasn't the best.

"Just positive talk, having a nice team around, that support group that I have, I love them, so it's great to have that group behind, and I'm able to go out and play golf freely and have the game of Seve and how he plays."