BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — LIV Golf chugs on, this week stopping in Chicagoland for its 12th event of the season. Similar to last year, there’s already an overwhelming favorite for the season-long crown, thanks to Joaquin Niemann’s five victories in 11 starts.
Win that much and you’ll get a press conference or two, but Niemann doesn’t exactly love going deep about his form or what he needs to do in specific any week. He did, however, give a fantastic answer to a very simple question:
Why do you love golf?
Niemann was slightly taken aback. “Why I love it? I mean, it’s just everything,” he said.
Golf means just about everything in his life, of course, but for Niemann it seems like what he enjoys most are the positive outputs that follow a long line of particular inputs. They can be literal results on a scorecard, or more theoretical traits developed over time.
“Whenever I’m playing bad, I feel like I figure out something that 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,” Niemann said Wednesday. “And I feel like it just 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. I feel like sometimes I get in my own way as well. It’s something that I’m working on.”
It’s comforting knowing that even a 5-time winner this year needs improvement in the self-love department. Most golfers do.
“Yeah, also, when you’re playing your best game and your best golf, it’s also a lot of fun,” he continued. “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 the same shot that I hit that I saw before, I don’t think there’s anything more satisfying than that feeling.”
There is nothing more relatable in this sport than that — sizing up a shot, imagining the path to a target and then pulling it off. The infrequency with which it all works out means you’re all the more jubilant when it actually does. Even for a world-beater like Niemann.
