LIV GOLF KOREA

May 30, 2026

Joaquin Niemann

Asiad Country Club

Torque GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome to the media center Joaquín Niemann, captain of Torque GC. Well played, 4-under. You're currently tied for the lead entering the final round tomorrow. Joaco, you had obviously an incredible 2025 season. I know you're searching for your first win this year. How much would that mean for you to get it done this week?

JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Yeah, it's been a lot of fun being here in Korea. Fans here have been awesome. Course is playing a lot tougher than we thought at the beginning of the week. So yeah, the challenge has been great. I've been enjoying it, and I'm excited for tomorrow.

Q. You mentioned that the course has played more challenging than expected. Can you share specifically what it is out there that's proven to be such a big test?

JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Yeah, I think the fairways, I feel like they're a little bit more challenging than other courses that we play because it's not a long course. So that being said, the only difficulty will be -- it's hard to put it in the fairway, in position. Yeah, I feel like that's key this week, being in the fairway, hitting those shots, hitting right to left, having good lines off the tee. There's a few holes you've got to hit it over the tree. It's fun to commit to hitting those shots.

I feel like we are pretty used to playing kind of like longer courses in America, and I don't know, just being here, it just comes to my mind, whatever -- all the stuff that they're doing to kind of shorten the distance on the ball, and I just see a course like this, and I feel like there's different stuff that you can do to kind of make it harder. It doesn't mean you've got to do a long course.

It's fun to play all over the world and play on different grasses, different courses, different setups, different greens. So yeah, it's been a good challenge playing this week, and going back to Valderrama next week is going to be fun, as well.

Q. I wanted to ask you about your putting on the back nine especially. You had three long putts. I think combined it's almost 100 feet. Can you talk about the putting and especially that big breaker on 14?

JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Yeah, 14 was a beautiful putt. 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.

My putting has been great, and my stroke is where I feel like it needs to be. I've been working hard on it.

I feel like I was trying to be a little bit too perfect the last couple days. I was trying to be perfect with my alignment, with my starting point, with my speed, with just everything, and I felt like I just needed to get out of my way, in a way. Yeah, I feel like I was able to flow a little bit better there today, just having a good routine, focusing on my routine and staying there, and I feel like it paid off today.

Q. As we mentioned, you won five times last year, incredible performance. I think at this point you'd already won three times early in the season. Do you feel like your patience has been tested in any way in terms of wanting to make sure you don't force it too much and kind of let the game come to you, and when the time comes, the time will come?

JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: 100 percent, when the time comes, it will come. Last year was an exceptional year. Winning five times, it was pretty cool. Playing also with Jon almost every Sunday was a lot of fun, as well. A lot of learning.

This year I feel like there's a lot of stuff going on, just how golf and how life works. I've just been learning every day, every week, every tournament. It's just great. I love the journey. I love the process. I love trying to get better. I think this game is always going to test your patience, like you say. It's going to test a lot of things that you've got to kind of go through and understand that it works that way, and I feel like, yeah, that process right now where I get frustrated. I got pretty frustrated yesterday, came back to my room pretty happy about it, and kind of breathed about it and thought about it, and that's not the way I would like to behave on the golf course.

I feel like for me, every day is a learning experience, trying to be better. I know when I'm trying to be better, I know my game gets better and everything else goes that way.

I just love the process of getting better, and I feel like that's the only way to live.

Q. We are very interested in how you're going to play tomorrow. Are you going to play --

JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: I'm interested, too.

Q. -- your chip shots a bit more aggressively or a bit more conservatively?

JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: I don't know, I'm just going to play the shot that it demands at the moment. Yeah, golf is a fun game. It's always different. It's always going to ask for a different shot, and just got to commit for that. Yeah, it's going to be fun tomorrow. I'm going to try to go for every fairway, every green, and try to make every putt.

Q. Today your putter was really loving you. How did you feel about your putting game today? Regardless of tomorrow's results, what is your impression about Busan, Korea --

JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Yeah, putting did behave a lot better today than the first two days, so pretty happy about that. It did love me a lot. I did love him a lot, too. Yeah, Busan has been great. We've been to a couple dinners, a couple Korean barbecues with the whole team, so we're having a really good time. I've been doing in the ocean, as well, a few mornings. Busan is treating us really well.