Putting Joaquin Niemann's LIV Golf 59 in Perspective
A deeper dive reveals how good the Chilean's round was, even on a par-71 resort course.
More Weekly Read: Is unity still happening? | New-look Pebble Beach
Joaquin Niemann’s score of 59 on Friday was accomplished on a resort course called El Camaleon at Mayakoba. It is a resort course and there wasn’t a lot of wind. It measures just over 7,100 yards and is a par-71.
And yet, Niemann’s 12-under-par score was historically good.
According to Data Golf, the score is the third-best round in terms of true strokes gained since 2004 at 11.6. Jim Furyk’s 59 at the 2013 BMW Championship is atop the list at 13.09, followed by the 62 shot by J.B. Holmes (12.02) at the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship.
Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images
Niemann's round beats the 59 shot by Scottie Scheffler (11.19) at the 2020 Northern Trust played at TPC Boston. Furyk’s 58 at the 2016 Travelers Championship rated 10.90, which was ninth on the list. So his score of 59 at Conway Farms is considered better from a true strokes-gained standpoint than his 58.
Niemann’s 59 was five strokes better than the next-best score and 11.61 better than the scoring average for the day.
According to Data Golf, the average skill in the field is around 0, so beating a field by 11.6 strokes is similar to that on the PGA Tour. For this week, Data Golf rated the average skill in the field at Pebble Beach this week at .71, with LIV at .04, a difference of 0.67. On the DP World Tour, the number was -1.19—or more than a stroke below the PGA Tour average.
These field averages should not be confused with field strength, as field size impacts that greatly. The field strength at Pebble Beach was rated higher than Mayakoba, making the argument a bit more fuzzy.
According to Golf Data’s top 25 total strokes-gained rounds, Tiger Woods has three of them and Rory McIlroy has two. Bryson DeChambeau has one, but it was not his 58 last year shot in the LIV event he won. His 60 at the 2021 BMW Championship rated eighth ahead of Furyk’s 58. Nieman’s 59 is just the fourth sub-60 score on the top 25 list.
A Few More Things …
Wyndham Clark’s course-record 60 at Pebble Beach is not statistically as good as Niemann’s 59, according to strokes-gained data (11.6 to 9.08) but it was still impressive. It broke the course record by two shots, and while it was played with preferred lies, Clark made a mile's worth of putts, including two front-nine eagles and a narrowly missed eagle at the 18th hole that would have given him 59. He also overcame a bogey. ... Had Clark been able to shoot 59, his would have been the rare 13-under 59 effort. Only Al Geiberger (1977), Chip Beck (1991), David Duval (1999) and Adam Hadwin (2017) shot 59s on a par-72 course in PGA Tour history. ... The PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open is not a signature event this year but it has still attracted a strong field, with seven of the top 10 in the OWGR, including No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who is the two-time defending champion. The only top-10 players missing are Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm (LIV Golf) and Patrick Cantlay. ... LIV Golf heads to Las Vegas, where it will play its second event of the year and conclude on Saturday. Temperatures are expected to be cold, however, with highs topping out in the 50s.