Joaquín Niemann continues to enlarge his story. And he does it tournament after tournament, with regularity and a game that doesn’t seem like a 21 year old. The Chilean made -6 in the fourth round of the CJ Cup, which was played in Las Vegas and was the third contest in which the Talaguantino participates in the 2020-2021 season of the PGA Tour, to close his total card with -13 and add another top 10 in his new career as a professional: sixth place.
A smooth start for Joaco on his Sunday walk, which started from tee from hole 1 with the Spanish John Rahm and the Japanese Hideki Matsuyama. Niemann made par on the first five holes. Perhaps he had concern in the fourth, with a first shot that was close to the trees, but in the same way he put the ball in the minimum of the court.
Joaco discounted for the first time that day on hole 6, par four, thanks to a second shot that brought him within two meters of the flag. And although his approach seemed long, the Chilean calculated so that the slope of the court in the green make the ball return and thus the birdie, the one that closed with a putt without major difficulty.
On the 7th hole, par five, Niemann would once again discount a stroke to the acclaimed Shadow Creek course, which in this edition of the CJ Cup replaced the usual tournament venue, South Korea’s Nine Bridges GC. At that time, the card of the Talagantino had him within the top ten of the tournament.
The walk of the best national golfer was solid, who did not make mistakes and closed the flags wide, as he did in the eighth and ninth. In the tenth, par four, the national would celebrate a -1 again, thanks to the birdie that closed after a approach high that evaded 121 yards and a bunker, before Niemann settled it in the green.
Joaco would again do birdie on the 11th hole, correcting a tee shot that fell outside the fairway, but that did not prohibit him to close in three strokes that par four. Niemann’s path was regular, as he finished the flags he climbed more in the classification.
The Chilean made par from hole 12 to hole 15, although not without difficulty, since on more than one occasion he had to correct shots that fell into the sand. In the 16th flag he had his great revenge of the weekend, thanks to the birdie What did he do where he did double before? bogey Y bogey. On the 18th hole he had the chance to make an eagle, but that was finally birdie.
The champion was the American Jason Kokrak (-20).
With this result, Niemann will climb about 25 places in the PGA ranking, entering the top 20 and far exceeding the 43rd ranking in which the CJ Cup began, to be 18. In addition, he is the top 10 number 13 that he achieves Joaco, in just three seasons, including the current one, as an official member of the best golf circuit on the planet. These include his title at The Greenbrier 2019 and a third place at the BMW Championship.
Niemann, whose world ranking will be 44, will compete again next week in the Zozo Championship, which will be held in California instead of Japan, a product of the pandemic.
