After the way Joaquin Niemann played in his third trip around Harbour Town Golf Links during his debut performance in the RBC Heritage, he came to this conclusion.
“I don’t know why I didn’t play here sooner,” he said of the seaside Pete Dye layout that has hosted the PGA Tour since 1969.
Niemann, 21, should be back for many years to come with his world-class talent, which he displayed for every one to see early Saturday morning. He raced out to six birdies on his opening nine and sank a putt from off the green at 16 for his eighth birdie of the day and signed for a bogey-free 63 to go from the cut line to contention for the winner’s tartan jacket on Sunday.
“The first couple of days, I didn’t score pretty good, but I think I was waiting for one low score,” said Niemann who opened with rounds of 70-69. “Now I think I’m ready for Sunday.”
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Niemann became the first Chilean to win on the PGA Tour when he won A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in September, and he said he nearly played in Hilton Head last year, but went back home for the Chilean Open instead.
Niemann was a captain’s pick for the 2019 Presidents Cup, and though he went winless in his debut, he called it one of the best experiences since turning pro.
“I shared a lot of moments with the best players in the world. I got Ernie (Els) as a captain. That is just awesome. That week was really special for me,” he said earlier this year.
When the Players was canceled due to the global pandemic, Niemann flew home to Chile and spent time with his family.
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“After two weeks, I was like, I’ve got nothing to do. I want to go back to practice. I couldn’t do anything for two months because in Chile everything was locked down. … We’re going through really hard times in Chile. There’s like 20 million people in the whole country, and last couple months we’ve been getting like 4,000 a day of the virus. So it’s pretty high,” he said. “I think it’s getting bad there because right now it’s winter, and they say that the winter is not good for the virus. So, yeah, we’re staying safe. My family’s staying safe, which is good.”
Niemann described it as “pretty easy” to receive a special visa for work or sport and return to the U.S. He said he’s been extremely careful while traveling to play golf and had found a Mexican restaurant, Java Burrito, he likes with cheap eats to grab take-out.
“I’ve been there almost every day like at 5 (p.m.) because at 7 (p.m.) it gets too packed, too many people,” he said. “It’s a good burrito, good bowls.”
It also doesn’t hurt that Harbour Town reminds Niemann of the course he grew up playing in Chile.
“When you miss a fairway here, to have a shot, you’ve got to have a lot of imagination. I like that. I like playing that golf,” he said. “Where I grew up, it’s kind of like a similar style. It’s tight, and you’ve got to move the ball.”
On Saturday, Niemann did his moving up the leaderboard to 13 under (tied with Chris Stroud, who matched Niemann’s 63) and now he can spend his afternoon eating a burrito and seeing just how good of a chance he’ll have on Sunday to earn his second Tour title.
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