'I'm Really Grateful For Them' - Joaquin Niemann Details Reason For Caddie And Coach Split After Open Championship

Joaquin Niemann, who has taken control of LIV Golf UK at JCB Golf & Country Club, has been speaking about his shock split with his long-time caddie and coach.

After racing into the lead in Staffordshire with a sparkling eight-under 63 on Saturday, the 26-year-old looks set to win for a record fifth time in the 2025 LIV Golf season.

Despite finding wins easy to come by on LIV, the Chilean has missed the cut in the last two Major Championships, and he looked frustrated with his game at Royal Portrush.

"I'd say it's been a little weird the last two, three weeks," he said after enjoying another good day in the West Midlands. "There's been obviously a few movements on my team. At the same time, it is what it is."

It's still not clear why the Torque GC captain decided to make such big changes to his team, even after he spoke about the situation.

"I'm really grateful for them, for the two people that they are not working with me anymore on the team, but it's part of it, and I feel like I was pretty frustrated at the beginning of this week after a bad result, obviously, at The Open as well and all the rest kind of going on."

Niemann is widely regarded as one of the best young players to have joined the breakaway circuit, and has been tipped for Major glory.

However, his best finish in one of the blue ribbon events to date is tied eighth, which came at this year's PGA Championship.

Niemann, who has already won six times in total on LIV and banked over $17 million in 2025 alone, had worked with golf coach Eduardo Miquel since he turned professional in 2018.

His caddie, Gary Matthews, who had been on the bag when he joined the Saudi-backed circuit in 2022, has also been replaced, with Diego Salinas, a close friend and professional on the Chilean Golf Tour, taking over the duties at JCB Golf & Country Club.

Matthews has also worked with a number of other high profile players including Tim Clark, Sergio Garcia, Trevor Immelman, Anthony Kim, Luke Donald, Charl Schwartzel, Lydia Ko and Minjee Lee.