Joaquin Niemann disproves Jon Rahm, goes nuclear with 59 at LIV Golf Mayakoba

LIV Golf began its 2024 season Friday at Mayakaoba in Mexico. What a way to start the year for Joaquin Niemann, as the Torque GC captain fired off a bogey-free 59.

He leads individually by five shots at 12-under, while his Torque GC team also has a five-stroke advantage after the first round.

Niemann made 10 birdies and a hole-out eagle on Friday. He had a chance to go even lower as he was sitting at 12-under with two holes to go, but parred out.

He began his day on the second hole with a par. Then, the 25-year-old blacked out. Niemann made five birdies in a row before making his second par of the day on the par-3 8th.

Back-to-back birdies followed on 9 and 10 before he holed out for an eagle on the par-4 11th. Niemann dunked the shot and couldn’t believe that it went into the hole.

That shot moved him to 9-under through 10 holes. With eight to play, the Chilean made three more birdies at 13, 15 and 17.

Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm told the media before the tournament he’d bet money that no one would shoot a 59 on this track.

“He owes me money then,” Neimann said after his round. “I think the fairways are playing a lot tighter than they used to be. It’s a little longer, and you’ve got a lot of different lies, which is tricky. But man, I played amazing golf. Whenever I was hitting the ball, sometimes I was getting good lies, good bounces into the fairways, good numbers, so everything came out pretty good during the whole day.”

It’s the second time in LIV’s short history that someone has posted a historic sub-60 round. Bryson DeChambeau carded an epic 58 at LIV Golf Greenbrier last year.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.