LIV Golf star earns second major invite having slammed 'unfair' world rankings

04 March 2024 , 18:00

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Joaquin Niemann is off to the PGA Championship (Image: Getty Images)

Joaquin Niemann has earned an invite to compete in this May's PGA Championship, his second invite in as many weeks, after being handed a spot at April's Masters late last month.

Niemann is a man in form, but his fall in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) amid his loyalties to LIV Golf has ensured he has drifted away from the top-50 in the world. It appeared as if this would see him miss major season in 2024, but the Chilean has been handed a lifeline by two of the major bodies.

At the end of February, the Chilean was given a spot in the upcoming Masters, an event he had set his sights on at the beginning of the year by venturing to the DP World Tour and Asian Tour in a bid to earn much-needed ranking points.

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And whilst he had failed to earn enough to qualify automatically, wins at the Australian Open in December and LIV Mayakoba in February, along with a tied-fourth finish at the Dubai Desert Classic, proved enough for him to be given the green light by the Augusta National bosses.

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Niemann has only kicked on since, vindicating his Masters call-up with victory at LIV Jeddah on Sunday. And in the aftermath, the Chilean has revealed he has since been given an invite to the second major of the campaign, in the PGA Championship. "Yeah, I got an invite for the PGA Championship as well. So I’m in that one," he told Golf WRX.

As well as the Masters and the PGA, Niemann will also return to British soil to compete in July's Open Championship despite his dwindling world ranking spot. The Chilean played his way into the Open at the end of last year, after his Australian Open title also came with an entry to Royal Troon later this summer.

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The Torque GC captain has been openly critical of the world rankings, who are yet to recognise LIV tournaments. A former top-20 player in the world, Niemann now finds himself out in 72nd in the list, which without invites, would have cost him a place at Augusta and Valhalla later this year.

Having turned to the DP World Tour's Dubai Desert Classic in a bid to help his major bid in January, Niemann told Mirror Sport: "It is pretty unfair right now what the world rankings shows. It says the top 100 players in the world right now, but I don’t think this is the right ranking...

"I am going to Dubai for the DP World [Tour] just because of [ranking] points, nothing else and to try and get into the Masters." Niemann also has plans to make it a clean sweep of major performances throughout 2024, having previously revealed his intention to head to U.S. Open qualifying ahead of the event in June.

Joshua Lees