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Joaquin Niemann and Talor Gooch have combined to win 11 LIV Golf individual titles. They enter Sunday’s final round of LIV Golf Korea in the best 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 par at the challenging Asiad Country Club. One shot 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 par.
Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau, winner of last year’s LIV Golf Korea when it was held outside Seoul, suffered two late bogeys to share sixth place with 4Aces overall captain Dustin Johnson and RangeGoats overall captain Ben Campbell. Johnson produced the lowest round of the day, a six-under 64.
In the team standings, the Crushers, winners last season in Korea, are at 16 under par, one shot ahead of OKGC, which is playing in just its second tournament since changing its previous name Smash GC. Ripper GC is solo third at 12 under par.
The individual standings are loaded 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. However, he is yet to win this season, but that could change if his putter stays as hot as it was on the back nine on Saturday when he rolled three long birdie putts, including a big breaker from 34 feet on the 14th hole, to shoot a 4-under 66.
“Putter behaved much better today than the first two days, and I’m very happy about that,” said Niemann, 27, the league’s youngest captain. “He loved me very much. I loved him very much too.”
Gooch has four career LIV Golf victories, including two at LIV Golf Andalucía, the next tournament on the 2026 calendar scheduled for next week in Spain, when he will defend his title from last year. He entered Saturday as the solo leader after a second-round 63 in which he produced eight birdies, but began his third round with 14 straight pars before recording his only birdie on the par-5 15th for a bogey-free 69.
“You have to be patient and just bide your time and wait for it to come, and unfortunately it didn’t come much today,” Gooch said. “But that’s why we’re patient. Maybe tomorrow will come.”
Although both Niemann and Gooch have extensive history playing in the final group in a LIV Golf final round (this will be the 16th time for Gooch and the 14th for Niemann), Sunday will be the first time they have been in the same final group in nearly four years, since LIV Golf Boston in the inaugural season in 2022.
Vincent is the third member of the final group and continues to thrive since joining HyFlyers GC as a reserve replacing captain Phil Mickelson. The Zimbabwean shot a 3-under 67 and is now in position to chase his first singles title.
“Winning here is not easy,” said Vincent, who 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 overall putting myself in this position is great for me to try to improve and develop as a player.”
Howell was runner-up to DeChambeau last year and has given himself another chance in Korea, thriving at this shooting range. He was 4 under par without a bogey through his first 13 holes before suffering a double bogey in which he four-putted from 35 feet.
“Man, this place is tough,” Howell said. “If you miss the fairway, it’s pretty tough around here. Hole placement is pretty tough here on these turns. It’s tough to make birdies.”
Johnson had six of them in his bogey-free round. LIV Golf’s first single-season individual champion in 2022 recorded at least one victory in each of the league’s first three seasons before going winless last year. He’s eager to get back into the winner’s circle.
Niemann is too, despite all the success he had last season.
“Last year was an exceptional year. Winning five times was great,” he said. “… Obviously it’s a nice feeling to win, and that’s what we’re here for. But I’m more focused on what I’m doing right now and the way I’m hitting the ball, just trying to follow that trajectory that I’m seeing in my head, so that’s what I need to do.”
TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS
Top 10 singles
T1 (-9) – Joaquín 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, 4Aces (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) – GC Crushers (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
LEADERBOARD OF THE HEAVIEST WINNERS: Of the top 10 players after 54 holes at Asiad Country Club, eight have won a cumulative total of 25 LIV Golf individual tournament titles: Joaquín 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 victory each.
The only two players inside the top 10 without a win in LIV Golf are Scott Vincent (solo third) and Ben Campbell (T6).
Although 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 have to keep making birdies,” Howell said. “We have to keep moving forward. There are too many good players up there.”
Gooch has always relied on the “rule of 67” when it comes to golf success: Shoot 67 every round and good things will 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 make more than 67.”
NIEMANN’S GREAT BREAK: Joaquin Niemann made a birdie putt on the 14th hole from 34 feet that had at least 10 feet of break from right to left. Even he knew it was a special putt.
“The 14th was a beautiful putt,” he said. “As soon as I hit it, I knew. Every time you have that feeling of hitting a big shot, you can hear the sound, and you immediately know it’s going to be a great opportunity to get in, and it was one of those that I was so interested in, and I hit a good putt. It was right on my line, and I saw it perfectly, I was just walking in. There was nowhere else to go.”
GOOCH TO SEE THE THUNDER: Talor Gooch’s hometown NBA team, the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, is set for an epic Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals against San Antonio, with the winner advancing to the NBA Finals.
Thanks to time differences, Gooch will be able to watch the entire game on television as it kicks off at 9 a.m. Sunday in Korea. The final round of LIV Golf Korea doesn’t start until 1:05 pm locally.
“I definitely get more nervous about Thunder games, big Thunder games, than anything else,” Gooch said. “Ironically, tomorrow might be nice to watch the Thunder and get some of my nerves out before playing. But I’ll be watching everything.”
RAHM’S STREAK ENDS: Legion
Rahm bogeyed his final hole, the par-5 fourth, to break the streak. He enters the final round tied for 25th at 1 under par; He has never finished lower than 11th in any LIV Golf tournament he has completed.
SMITH DRIVING ACCURACY: Cameron Smith hit 12 of 14 fairways on Saturday, tying Ian Poulter for the best percentage in the field at 85.71%. It’s the first time the Ripper GC captain has ranked first in driving accuracy after any round of LIV Golf and is another sign that his game is heading in the right direction after his recent switch to Claude Harmon III as his swing coach.
LEAD CONVERSION: Co-leader Joaquín Niemann will take the lead in the final round of a LIV Golf tournament for the sixth time; He has converted four of the previous five into victories. Fellow co-leader Talor Gooch enters the final round with the lead for the seventh time; He has converted three of the previous six into victories.
DECHAMBEAU LEVELS UP: Bryson DeChambeau opened the tournament Thursday by playing the first 10 holes in 6 under par. Since then he has played the last 44 holes with par. He has found only 50% of the fairways and 61% of the greens in regulation during the first three rounds.
STATISTICS LEADERS
Round 3
Driving distance: Jon Rahm, average 339.4 yards.
Longest trip: Jon Rahm, 379.1 yards (11th hole). Officially measured drives taken on the 11th and 12th holes 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)
Fight: Nine players tied at 100%, led by Ian Poulter (8 of 8)
Fewer putts: Danny Lee, 23 years old
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, average of 311.8 yards.
Driving precision: Ben Campbell, 80.95% (34 of 42)
Greens in the Regulation: Joaquín Niemann, Laurie Canter, 79.63% (43 of 54)
Fight: Charl Schwartzel (15 of 18), 83.33%
Fewer putts: Bryson DeChambeau, Thomas Pieters, Ian Poulter, Yosuke Asaji, Danny Lee, 80
Lowest rounds: Street. 1 – Bryson DeChambeau, Charles Howell III, Scott Vincent (65); Route 2 – Talor Gooch (63); Street. 3 – Dustin Johnson (64)
This piece is courtesy of Mike McAllister in association with LIV Golf.
