NIEMANN CLOSES IN ON TITLE
Joaquin Niemann’s five-win season has given him a commanding lead in the season-long Individual Championship race, and the Torque GC captain has an opportunity to clinch the title at LIV Golf Chicago.
Niemann has 206.80 points with two regular-season tournaments left. The only players with a mathematical chance to catch him are Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm (169.16 points) and Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau (136.24 points).
According to the latest probability percentages from LIV Golf’s data analysts, Niemann has an 84.12% chance of winning the Individual Championship this season while Rahm has a 15.70% chance. The longshot DeChambeau has a 0.18% chance.
With 40 points for an individual tournament win, Rahm – the defending LIV Golf Individual Champion – has a chance to take over the top spot after Chicago if he posts his first win this season while Niemann finishes solo 18th or worse.
Meanwhile DeChambeau’s only hope to remain in the race is to win in Chicago while Niemann finishes solo 11th or worse.
As for Niemann, if he wins in Chicago, he will clinch the Individual Championship prior to the regular-season finale next week in Indianapolis. It would be a turnaround from the regular-season finale last year at Bolingbrook, in which Rahm won the season-long race by winning the tournament over Niemann.
There are several other scenarios in which Niemann could clinch the title at Bolingbrook, as he merely needs to acquire 2.37 more points than Rahm and not have DeChambeau win. For example, if Rahm finishes solo 11th this week and Niemann finishes solo 9th, then Niemann will clinch the title.
Niemann has averaged just 1.13 points in the six tournaments that he has not won. The wide variance of his win-or-miss results has allowed the more consistent Rahm to remain in the race despite just two podiums and no wins this season. Rahm averages 15.37 points per winless start this season.
