09 March 2024 , 14:43
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Joaquin Niemann is in agreement with Rory McIlroy over the future of professional golf and the LIV Golf setup, with the Chilean keen to see a future global tour.
Niemann has been arguably golf's most talked about star in recent months, with the Chilean bursting into form on the LIV setup and further afield, which proved enough to earn him an invite into April's Masters. Ahead of this week's Saudi-funded league event in Hong Kong, the Torque GC captain became the latest star to discuss what comes next in pro golf, with a proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV still yet to be signed off.
Rory McIlroy - who has been vocal as anyone in regard to the sport's ongoing feud - hopes to see a more 'global' tour, moving forward, encouraging those in charge to adopt a ' Champions League ' style model into professional golf.
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The Northern Irishman said at last month's Genesis Invitational: “I would think it would be one tour. I think you would just create a tour for the top 80 players in the world. Then I think everything sort of feeds up in that one. The way I look at it, it would be like [the] Champions League in European football.
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“It sort of sits above the rest of the leagues and then all those leagues sort of feed up into that and the best of the best play against each other in the Champions League is how I would think about it.” And one man who agrees is Niemann, highlighting the importance of national Opens - most notably Australia, an event in which he won last December.
"I agree with Rory that big national championships like the Australian Open should be a bigger part of the worldwide schedule," the Chilean told Golf Monthly. Niemann and McIlroy were reunited in January, after the LIV star returned to the DP World Tour to compete in the Dubai Desert Classic.
Joaquin Niemann has received a special invitation to compete in The Masters (Getty Images)The duo were paired together in the third round of the event in the Middle East, before McIlroy went on to be crowned champion a day later. It was also an impressive week for Niemann, who finished in a tie for fourth to earn some much-needed world ranking points with major season approaching.
When it comes to next month's Masters though, the Chilean no longer needs to worry after he was offered his exemption invite by Augusta National bosses in February. McIlroy discussed Niemann's invitation last week, claiming the Chilean is much more deserving of an Augusta spot than his fellow LIV star Talor Gooch.
Joaquin Niemann got an invite and I played with Joaquin in Dubai a few weeks ago and he went down to Australia and won," said McIlroy. "He was in Oman last week. He’s been chasing his tail around the world to play his way into Augusta or show enough form to warrant an invite and I don’t know if the same can be said for Talor [Gooch]."
The four-time major winner's comments came after Gooch had claimed a victory for McIlroy at this year's Masters would come with an 'asterisk' due to the lack of LIV Golf involvement.