THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Joaquín Niemann, captain of Torque GC. You arrive here in Chicago leading the individual standings and coming off your fifth win of the season at LIV Golf UK. How are you planning to carry on that momentum heading into this week?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: I mean, I don't know if it's momentum or not. I feel like I've just got to keep doing what I've been doing. I feel like the golf game, there's a lot of room for error, and I think everything I can just focus on is just commit to my shots, go through them with my caddie, give my 100 percent on the practice rounds, and just get ready, get in the right mindset into the tournament.
I know it's going to be tough. Obviously Jon has been playing amazing golf. I know how good of a player he is.
I was in a similar situation last year, and I feel like I don't want to finish it the same way. I'm trying my best to be the other way, but at the end of the day, I can't force things to happen the way I want to, so I've just got to go and play golf, which I love to.
Q. You finished runner-up here last year at Bolingbrook. How much confidence does that give you heading into this week, especially considering the form you are in right now?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Yeah, I played great golf last year. I remember the course was a lot of fun to play. It was playing really firm. It was windy. Yeah, the conditions were unbelievable, and I feel like it's going to be similar this year.
I don't know about the conditions maybe on Sunday. It might be a little bit different having an early tee time.
I guess the weather is going to help to make the course get firmer, get more narrow, and it's going to be a tough course, which I think everybody likes that. Everybody likes that challenge.
I'm looking forward to that.
Q. Joaco, what lessons, if any, did you learn last year that you might be able to apply this year in terms of the battle with Jon and how that all unfolded, especially late in the season? Anything in particular?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: No. I mean, if I look back into last year, the way I finished, I was pretty happy with my performance. I gave it everything that I had. I feel like that was the best I could do, and it wasn't enough.
I feel like it doesn't change much. I feel like obviously it's going to be a tough battle, but all I can do is just worry about what I can do, and that is only give my best on every shot, have the right mindset, don't give up for the whole this week or next week.
I'm pretty clear on what I have to do. I have no idea if I'm going to play good or bad. I don't know. But I'm just going to do the right thing that I know I have to do. So I'm just going to focus on that.
Q. You've won five times this year. He hasn't won at all. Are you surprised that you even have to hold him off?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Yeah, I mean, a little bit, yes. Obviously Jon has been playing -- he's probably the most consistent player in the world. He's been in the top 10, I think, every week that he's been playing on LIV.
Obviously he has the consistency. Every week that he plays he has a chance to win on Sunday, which is really impressive. But I feel like it's just the way the point system is right now. I feel like they probably should have more points into winning. That would be awesome in my way. But it could be the other way next year, which I'm probably not going to win, I don't know, and I can still have a chance to win on the last two tournaments, I will take that.
It all depends. In the situation that I am right now, obviously I would love to see more points for winning, but it's just the way it's set up.
Q. Speaking of his consistency, is that something that you will strive to do as you move forward in your career? You're still only 26, really young. Is that kind of a goal going forward for you?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Yeah, 100 percent. I feel like golf is a game of -- the hardest thing about this game is being consistent. I feel like everybody could go and win, but to be consistently there, having a chance on Sunday of winning, is something really impressive, and it shows how strong your game has to be in every aspect. Whenever your driving is off, you've got your short game there to back you up. Same way if your irons are not the best, you've got to have the whole piece together, your whole game. You've got to be in shape.
It's tough to be consistent, and it's something that I'm always working on, and I feel like I've been getting more and more consistent every time.
If I look back to last year, it was probably more consistent than my year now, but I won more times this year. I mean, it's hard to decide which one is better or not, but it's obviously definitely harder to be consistent all year-round.
Q. You've won on four continents this year. One of them was one of our new markets. We end the season with two more new markets. As LIV Golf goes to these new markets, what is your objective, goal, not just obviously to win but to kind of bring the LIV narrative to these new fans?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: It's pretty special. I feel like being now on LIV and traveling all over the world and representing obviously my flag, Chile, and obviously Team Torque is pretty special. I can go out and do what I love for a living and play in front of different crowds for different cultures, different countries. It would be awesome to win on every continent. I feel like I'm pretty close to it. So yeah, it's a goal I would definitely love to achieve.
Q. You said earlier you love the game. Why?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Why I love it? I mean, it's just everything. Whenever I'm playing bad, I feel like I figure out something that it makes me enjoy that in a way because I know when I'm not at my best or I have a tough week, I know there's something there to learn, and I feel like it just builds a lot of -- it builds a character out of you playing this game. I feel like it gives you a lot of values that is going to help you out in whatever situation you've got in front of your life.
In this game, you're going to feel uncomfortable probably 90 percent of the time, and to trust yourself and to have that commitment of knowing that what you're doing is right and commit to that in a situation that is really uncomfortable, I feel like it really talks good about yourself.
In a way, it's a lot of self love. I feel like it's something that I've got to keep working on it. I feel like sometimes I get in my own way as well. Something that I'm working on.
Yeah, also, when you're playing your best game and your best golf, it's also a lot of fun. You're able to hit the shots that you're seeing. I really love playing with the trajectories and being able to see it in my head first and then go there and deliver the shot. Whenever it's really close to -- whenever it's the same shot that I hit that I see it before, I don't think there's anything more satisfying than that feeling.
Q. What do you like about this golf course?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: It's that. It's trying to hit those shots. It demands a lot from you off the tee. It's that. I feel like I'm able to -- there are some tough tee shots there, some uncomfortable tee shots that if you hit the right shot you're going to be gaining positions.
I've got to really commit to what I'm seeing. I've got to really free up and just swing the ball the way I want it and trust that it's going to go where I want it to go.
I feel like that's my goal right now these couple weeks. Try to see the shot that I'm trying to hit and try to commit to do that. I feel like that's another fun part of the game.
Q. Obviously next week going to Indianapolis. Your thoughts on a new city and going to Indy?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Yeah, I'm excited. I've never been to Indianapolis. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to what will be a new week, new crowds. I can't wait to see that energy there.
Q. You said there's nothing more satisfying than when you see a shot and then you actually make that shot. How often does it happen for you?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Not too often. I think that's why it's really satisfying. Obviously you can get picky, and I feel like that's the goal. I feel like if I can go out there on the course and say I'm going to hit a draw to the green. You're going to hit a draw and hit it on the green, that's the shot I'm trying to do, but I feel like I try to get really intense on what I really want to see and be more precise on what I want to see. Yeah, I want to see it starting at that tree or that cloud that I see there going up in the air, that window that I'm seeing, going down where I want to see it coming down, and judge the wind that it's going to affect the same amount of curve that I'm seeing in my head.
There's so many factors, and then land it in the same spot that I want it. I feel like you're never going to hit that shot but almost trying to chase that shot.
Q. You've played like one of the best golfers on the planet this year. For a long time there was a ranking system that would tell you where you ranked, but right now we don't quite have that. Is there a different ranking or a different statistic or a different method that you've used to tell yourself where you are in the greater scheme of world golf?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: No, not really. It's not something that I think about to tell myself in the mirror, Joaco, you are No. 5 -- no, I don't do that. That's not my job. I feel like I'm just here to do my best and try to make as many birdies as possible and to make the crowd enjoy us playing golf around the world.
I feel like the ranking system is not up to me, it's up to them. I'm expecting that they're going to do the right thing for golf.
Q. Are you planning to go to Australia again this year?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: Yeah, there's a few tournaments that I would love to play. We'll see what's going to happen with everything else, but yeah, I would love to go back to Australia. One of my favorite golf courses that I've played. Also I think Australian golf has probably the best courses in the world, and I feel like more than just the tournament, it's just I really enjoy going there and playing golf in Australia in front of those people. It's a lot of fun.
Q. On LIV you're sometimes sharing a house with your teammates and your friends. Do you think that closeness and the ability to be with friends is part of the reason why you've been so successful specifically on LIV?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: I can say yes. I feel like it's good fun to be around people that you like. Mito, Sebastian and Carlos, the four of us, we are pretty good friends, and to be able to stay in houses together, sometimes it takes tension out of you. I feel like there's a lot of situations that I feel the pressure of the golf tournament, of having a chance to win. Whenever you go back to your room by yourself, you start going and going and doing games with yourself, and it's not fun.
Yeah, to be able to spend time with them and kind of refresh your mind and not think about what's going on, it kind of helped me out to flow better for the week.
Q. When you started the season, do you set goals for yourself? Did you put down a number of I want to win these many events, that type of thing? Five seems like a pretty high number. You're almost winning at a 50 percent clip out here.
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: I do put goals for myself. I write them down. It's not about results. It's more about the way I want to -- the way I'm behaving, for example, on the golf course, about having the right mindset. If I give my 100 percent on that week -- if I go back to last year, I feel like I didn't lose the tournament, the season on the last event. I feel like I lost it, if I go back to Houston, I didn't play my best when I had a chance on Sunday to win, and I didn't have the right mindset. I wasn't in the right place. I was a little bit more angry. My attitude wasn't the best. I feel like that kind of affected my result.
I feel like if I judge myself, I will judge the way I behaved there and the way I prepared for that Sunday.
I feel like my goals are to just give the absolute best that I can into preparing myself and having the right mindset into the golf tournaments. I know if I do that, good things will come. That's all my focus on.
Q. Do you get the sense that everybody else is kind of tired of you winning, all your competitors? Have they said anything to you?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: I don't mind. I would love to keep doing it.
Q. You recently changed your coach and caddie. Was there anything specific you were looking for with that change?
JOAQUÍN NIEMANN: I don't know, those are tough questions. I just felt like -- I don't know 100 percent if I really want to talk about it. Thank you.
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