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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 the 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 into a share of sixth with 4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson and RangeGoats GC’s Ben Campbell. Johnson produced the lowest round of the day, a 6-under 64.
On the team leaderboard, the Crushers – winners last season in Korea– are at 16 under, one shot ahead of OKGC, which is playing just its second tournament since rebranding from their previous Smash GC name. Ripper GC is solo third at 12 under.
The individual leaderboard is 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’s yet to win this season, though, but that might change if his putter 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.
“Putter did behave a lot better today than the first two days, so pretty happy about that,” said the 27-year-old Niemann, the league’s youngest captain. “It did love me a lot. I did love it a lot, 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 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 he started his third round with 14 consecutive pars before posting his lone birdie at the par-5 15th for a bogey-free 69.
“You’ve got to stay patient and just wait for your time and hope that it comes, and it unfortunately didn’t come much today,” Gooch said. “But that’s why we stay patient. Maybe tomorrow it’ll come.”
Although both Niemann and Gooch have extensive history playing in the final group in a LIV Golf final round – this will be Gooch’s 16th time and Niemann’s 14th – Sunday will be the first time they’ve 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 he continues to thrive since joining HyFlyers GC as a reserve filling in for captain Phil Mickelson. The Zimbabwean shot a 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 top 10 in each of his first two starts with the HyFlyers after starting the season as a Wild Card player. “I think just big picture-wise, just putting myself in this position is just great for me, try and get better and develop as a player.”
Howell was the runner-up to DeChambeau last year, and he’s given himself another chance in Korea, thriving on this shot-maker’s course. 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 is really hard around here. Hole locations are quite difficult here on these corners. It’s tough to make birdies.”
Johnson had six of them in his bogey-free round. LIV Golf’s first season-long Individual Champion in 2022 posted at least one win in each of the league’s first three seasons before going winless last year. He’s anxious 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. Winning five times, it was pretty cool,” he said. “… It’s obviously a nice feeling to win, and we’re out here for that. 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 that trajectory that I’m seeing in my head, so that’s what I need 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, 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) – 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 a cumulative 25 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 inside the top 10 without a LIV Golf win are Scott Vincent (solo 3rd) and Ben Campbell (T6).
Although Asiad Country Club has not been an easy course to score on, it may take an aggressive mindset Sunday to win the title. “You’ve got to keep making birdies,” Howell said. “You’ve got 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 golf success – shoot 67 each 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’ve got to do more than 67.”
NIEMANN’S BIG BREAKER: Joaquin Niemann rolled in a birdie putt at the 14th hole from 34 feet that had at least 10 feet of right-to-left break. 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. Every time you’ve got that feeling of hitting a great stroke, 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 that I was so into it, and I hit a good putt. It was right on my line, and I saw it perfectly, I was just walking it in. There was nowhere else to go.”
GOOCH TO WATCH THUNDER: Talor Gooch’s hometown NBA team, the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, are set for an epic Game 7 in the Western Conference finals against San Antonio, with the winner moving on to the NBA Finals.
Thanks to the time zone differences, Gooch will be able to watch the game in its entirety on TV, since it begins at 9 a.m. Sunday in Korea. The final round of LIV Golf Korea does not begin until 1:05 p.m. locally.
“I definitely get more nervous for Thunder games, important Thunder games, than about 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 tee it off. But I will be watching all of it.”
RAHM’S STREAK ENDS: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm, the reigning two-time Individual Champion and current points leader, saw his streak of consecutive rounds under par end at 40 after shooting a 1-over 71 on Saturday.
Rahm suffered a bogey on his final hole, the par-5 fourth, to break 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’s completed.
SMITH’S DRIVING ACCURACY: Cameron Smith hit 12 of 14 fairways on Saturday, tying 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 any LIV Golf round and is another sign that his game is headed in the right direction after his recent switch to Claude Harmon III as his swing coach.
CONVERTING LEADS: 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 fellow co-leader Talor Gooch enters the final round with the lead for the seventh time; he’s converted three of the previous six into wins.
DECHAMBEAU LEVELS OFF: Bryson DeChambeau opened the tournament on Thursday by playing the first 10 holes in 6 under. He has since played the last 44 holes at even par. He has found just 50% of fairways and 61% of greens in regulation through the first three rounds.
STATS LEADERS
Round 3
Driving Distance: Jon Rahm, 339.4-yard avg.
Longest Drive: Jon Rahm, 379.1 yards (11th hole). Official measured drives taken only on holes 11 and 12.
Driving Accuracy: Cameron Smith, Ian Poulter, 85.71% (12 of 14)
Greens in 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)
Fewest 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 Accuracy: Ben Campbell, 80.95% (34 of 42)
Greens in Regulation: Joaquin Niemann, Laurie Canter, 79.63% (43 of 54)
Scrambling: Charl Schwartzel (15 of 18), 83.33%
Fewest 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 is courtesy of Mike McAllister in partnership with LIV Golf.
