Fact Check: Joaquin Niemann to Miss Masters Cut Because of His LIV Golf Allegiance

“I know I have the game to win,” said a confident Joaquin Niemann a while back, when asked about his chances to play in the majors. But reality might not prove to be so lenient towards the Chilean golfer who aims to play in one of the four men’s major championships if not all of them. At least, it seems so for the upcoming Masters Tournament that is to be held in April.

The professional has been willing to travel to the corners of the globe in a bid to gain entry into the major championships of the sport, as can be seen from his recent tournaments and finishes. Interestingly, a tweet shared by Bob Harig, a golf writer, went ahead to shine a light on the chances he has at playing in the first major of 2024.

Joaquin Niemann and his Masters Tournament chances

LIV Golf’s struggle to earn OWGR points has caused a lot of its players’ rankings to take a dip over the past two years. Well, this time around, taking the brunt of that setback would be Niemann, who, apparently, won’t have the opportunity to play at the Augusta National this year. The reason? He would not be able to gain enough points by then.

As per the qualification criteria set by the upcoming major, the only way in which the 25-year-old would be able to qualify as a LIV Golf Pro is if he is inside the top 50 on the OWGR during the week before the Masters, i.e., by the first week of April. However, even a win at the Asian Tour’s first International Series event of the year in Oman, “15/19p,“, would not offer the current world No. 81 “enough points to get into OWGR top 50.”

But as Harig points out in his tweet, even if he does manage to get into the top 50 on the official golf rankings, the happiness wouldn’t last long. The writer points out how “he’d regress out of top 50 prior to Masters w/o playing in OWGR events” since he would be playing at three other LIV Golf events as well before the major.

Although the golfer wouldn’t be able to take part in the Masters Tournament, he would undoubtedly be hoping and aiming for the other major championships of the sport. How can we tell? Well, Niemann himself had expressed the same.

Niemann’s desire to compete in the majors

After the recent LIV Golf win in Mayakoba, the Chilean pro was asked an interesting question: “You want to play the majors?” to which he replied, “Oh Yeah!” Adding on, he conveyed his hope that his recent performance would get the attention of the relevant bodies so that he would be able to play at the same.

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Even so, he was extremely aware of the sad reality. “I’m not in the majors,” said Niemann before going ahead to express his desire as well. “I gotta get in first.” Interestingly, that yearning is very well visible if one can take a look at his recent achievements outside of LIV Golf. A T4 place at Hero Dubai Desert Classic got him 7.33284 points, a win at the ISPS Handa Australian Open with 14.79536 points, and a T5 finish at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship carded him 3.24285 points. Anyhow, one can hope he manages to place himself inside the field for the next major at Valhalla Golf Course.

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