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Joaquin Niemann and Talor Gooch have combined to win 11 individual LIV Golf titles. They enter Sunday’s final round of LIV Golf Korea in prime position to chase another trophy.
Niemann, the Torque GC captain, and Gooch, in his first season as OKGC captain, share the 54-hole lead at 9 under at the challenging Asiad Country Club. One stroke back is HyFlyers GC’s Scott Vincent, with Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith and Crushers GC’s Charles Howell III tied for fourth at 7 under.
Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau, winner of last year’s LIV Golf Korea when it was held outside Seoul, suffered two late bogeys to drop to a share of sixth place with 4Aces GC captain Dustin Johnson and RangeGoats GC’s Ben Campbell. Johnson produced the lowest round of the day, a 6-under 64.
In the team rankings, the Crushers – winners last season in Korea – are at 16 under, one shot ahead of OKGC, who are playing their second tournament since rebranding from their former Smash GC name. Ripper GC is solo third at 12 under.
The individual rankings are stacked with winners, as eight of the top 10 have won at least one LIV Golf title. Niemann is the league’s all-time individual wins leader with seven, including five last season. He has yet to win this season, though, but that could change if his putting remains as hot as it was on the back nine Saturday, when he rolled in three long birdie putts, including a big breaker from 34 feet at the 14th hole, to shoot a 4-under 66.
“Putters behaved a lot better today than the first two days, so pretty happy with that,” said the 27-year-old Niemann, the league’s youngest captain. “It loved me very much. I loved it very much too.”
Gooch has four career LIV Golf wins, including two at LIV Golf Andalucia, the next tournament on the 2026 schedule set for next week in Spain, where he will defend his title from last year. He entered Saturday as the solo leader after a second-round 63 that produced eight birdies, but he started his third round with 14 consecutive pars before posting his lone birdie on the par-5 15th for a bogey-free 69.
“You’ve got to be patient and just wait for your time and hope it comes and unfortunately it didn’t come much today,” Gooch said. “But that’s why we’re patient. Maybe tomorrow it will come.”
Although both Niemann and Gooch have an extensive history of playing in the final group of a LIV Golf finals round – it will be Gooch’s 16th and Niemann’s 14th – Sunday will mark the first time they have been in the same finals group in nearly four years, since LIV Golf Boston in the inaugural 2022 season.
Vincent is the third member of the final group and continues to thrive since joining HyFlyers GC as a reserve filling in for captain Phil Mickelson. The Zimbabwean shot 3-under 67 and is now in position to chase his first individual title.
“Winning out here is not easy,” said Vincent, who has finished in the top 10 in each of his first two starts with the HyFlyers after starting the season as a Wild Card player. “I think image-wise it’s great, just putting myself in this position is great for me, try to get better and develop as a player.”
Howell was the runner-up to DeChambeau last year and has given himself another chance in Korea, where he thrives on this shot-making track. He was a bogey-free 4 under through his first 13 holes before suffering a double-bogey in which he four-putted from 35 feet.
“Man, this place is tricky,” Howell said. “If you miss the fairway, it’s really hard around here. Hole placements are pretty hard here on these corners. It’s hard to make birdies.”
Johnson had six of them in his bogey-free round. LIV Golf’s first season-long individual champion in 2022 achieved at least one win in each of the league’s first three seasons before going winless last year. He is eager to get back into the winner’s circle.
So is Niemann, despite all the success he had last season.
“Last year was an exceptional year. To win five times, that was pretty cool,” he said. “… Obviously it’s a nice feeling to win and we’re out here for it. But I’m just more focused on what I’m doing now and the way I’m hitting the ball, just trying to keep chasing the pitch that I see in my head, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS
Individual top 10
T1 (-9) – Joaquin Niemann, Torque (66-69-66); Talor Gooch, OKGC (69-63-69)
3 (-8) – Scott Vincent, HyFlyers (65-70-67)
T4 (-7) – Charles Howell III, Crushers (65-70-68); Cameron Smith, Ripper (67-68-68)
T6 (-6) – Ben Campbell, RangeGoats (69-69-66); Dustin Johnson, 4 Aces (70-70-64); Bryson DeChambeau, Crushers (65-68-71)
T9 (-5) – Harold Varner III, OKGC (68-69-68); Marc Leishman, Ripper (69-68-68)
Team Top 3
1 (-16) – Crushers GC (DeChambeau 65-68-71, Howell III 65-70-68, Lahiri 68-73-70, Smyth 72-66-68; Rd. 3 total: -3)
2 (-15) – OKGC (Gooch 69-63-69, Kokrak 68-70-69, McDowell 68-71-73, Varner III 68-69-68; Rd. 3 total: -1)
3 (-12) – Ripper GC (Smith 67-68-68, Leishman 69-68-68, Herbert 71-66-69; Smylie 71-69-74; Rd. 3 total: -1)
ROUND 3 NOTES
TOP HEAVY WINNERS LEADERBOARD: Of the top 10 players after 54 holes at Asiad Country Club, eight have won 25 individual LIV Golf individual tournament titles – Joaquin Niemann (T1) with seven; Bryson DeChambeau (T6) with five; Talor Gooch (T1) with four; Cameron Smith (T4) and Dustin Johnson (T6) with three each; and Charles Howell III (T4), Harold Varner III (T9) and Marc Leishman (T9) with one win each.
The only two players in the top 10 without a LIV Golf win are Scott Vincent (solo 3rd) and Ben Campbell (T6).
While the Asiad Country Club has not been an easy course to score on, it may take an aggressive mindset on Sunday to win the title. “You’ve got to keep making birdies,” Howell said. “You have to keep pushing forward. There are too many good players up there.”
Gooch has always leaned on the “rule of 67” when it comes to golfing success – shoot 67 every round and good things happen. But will 67 be enough on Sunday? “When you see a leaderboard with guys like this,” Gooch said, “you feel like you have to do more than 67.”
NIEMANN’S BIG BREAKER: Joaquin Niemann rolled in a birdie putt on the 14th hole from 34 feet that had at least a 10-foot break from right to left. Even he knew it was a special putt.
“14 was a beautiful putt,” he said. “As soon as I hit it, I kind of knew it. Anytime you have that feeling of hitting a good shot, you can hear the sound and immediately you know it’s going to be a big chance to go in, and it was one of those, I was so into it and I hit a good putt. It was right on my line and I saw it perfect, I just went in. There was nowhere else.”
GOOCH TO WATCH THUNDER: Talor Gooch’s hometown NBA team, the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, is set for an epic Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against San Antonio, with the winner advancing to the NBA Finals.
Thanks to the time zone differences, Gooch will be able to watch the match in its entirety on television as it begins at 9 a.m. Sunday in Korea. The final round of LIV Golf Korea will not begin until 13.05 local.
“I definitely get more nervous about Thunder games, important Thunder games, than anything else,” Gooch said. “Ironically, tomorrow might be a good thing to watch the Thunder and kind of get some of my nerves out of my system before we start it. But I want to watch the whole thing.”
RAHM’S STREAK ENDS: Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm, the reigning two-time individual champion and current points leader, saw his streak of consecutive under-par rounds end at 40 after shooting a 1-over 71 on Saturday.
Rahm bogeyed his final hole, the par-5 fourth, to snap the streak. He enters the final round tied for 25th at 1 under; he has never finished lower than 11th in any LIV Golf tournament that he has completed.
SMITH’S DRIVEABILITY: Cameron Smith hit 12 of 14 fairways on Saturday to tie with Ian Poulter for the best percentage in the field at 85.71%. It’s the first time the Ripper GC captain has ever ranked first in driving accuracy after a round of LIV Golf and is another sign that his game is headed in the right direction following his recent switch to Claude Harmon III as his swing coach.
CONVERTING LEDS: Co-leader Joaquin Niemann will take the lead into the final round of a LIV Golf tournament for the sixth time; he has converted four of the previous five into wins. His co-leader Talor Gooch enters the final round with the lead for the seventh time; he has converted three of the previous six into wins.
DECHAMBEAU LEVELS FROM: Bryson DeChambeau opened the tournament Thursday by playing the first 10 holes at 6 under. He has since played the last 44 holes in even par. He has hit just 50% of the fairways and 61% of the greens in regulation through the first three rounds.
STATISTICS MANAGERS
Round 3
Driving distance: Jon Rahm, 339.4 yard avg.
Longest drive: Jon Rahm, 379.1 yards (11th hole). Official measured drives taken on holes 11 and 12 only.
Driving precision: Cameron Smith, Ian Poulter, 85.71% (12 of 14)
Greens in the regulation: Cameron Smith, Laurie Canter, Bubba Watson, 88.89% (16 of 18)
Scrambling: Nine players tied at 100%, led by Ian Poulter (8 of 8)
Fewer putts: Danny Lee, 23
Bogey-free rounds: Dustin Johnson (64), Ben Campbell (66), Abraham Ancer (66), Bubba Watson (67), Cameron Smith (68), Talor Gooch (69)
Cumulative
Driving distance: David Puig, 311.8 yard avg.
Driving precision: Ben Campbell, 80.95% (34 of 42)
Greens in the regulation: Joaquin Niemann, Laurie Canter, 79.63% (43 of 54)
Scrambling: Charl Schwartzel (15 of 18), 83.33%
Fewer putts: Bryson DeChambeau, Thomas Pieters, Ian Poulter, Yosuke Asaji, Danny Lee, 80
Lowest Rounds: Rd. 1 – Bryson DeChambeau, Charles Howell III, Scott Vincent (65); Rd 2 – Talor Gooch (63); Rd. 3 – Dustin Johnson (64)
This piece was published by Mike McAllister in association with LIFE Golf.
