19th Hole
Joaquin Niemann ‘doing everything possible’ to convince PGA Tour pro to join LIV

After a couple of week’ nap, golf is back and, as expected, LIV makes some news once again.
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Towards the end of 2022, LIV CEO Greg Norman released plans for a bigger and more lucrative schedule whilst confirming that the organization was seeking further “liberated” top 10 and top 20 ranked players to join the likes of major winners Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and pals for the 14-event bonanza.
Speculation continues as to the names of the potential recruits, but there was a hint in November, when Sergio Garcia posted a photograph of many of the current LIV players at a charity event, with Mito Pereira happily posing with the group.
The 27-year-old winner of three Korn Ferry Tour events had shown plenty in a heart-breaking defeat at the 2022 PGA Championship and, up till November, looked sure to continue on the PGA Tour for many years.
However, last week, fellow Chilean Joaquin Niemann told Chilean news outlet La Tercera that, “I’d love to bring him in, I’m doing my best.”
Niemann, who ended the PGA Tour season inside the top-20 of the official world rankings, finished 18th on the end-of-season LIV rankings earning over $4 million and seems to be full of enthusiasm for the tour from now on.
The two-time PGA Tour winner believes the way to grow the game is through a younger audience, and whilst he will be “always grateful for all the opportunities he [Jay Monahan, PGA Tour commissioner] gave us,” he sees much more value in the LIV model:
“LIV is trying to attract a lot of younger audiences,” said the 24-year-old. “The average age of the people who watch the PGA Tour daily is over 60 years old, and to make golf grow you have to focus more on children, under 30 and under, and the LIV platform is focused on that, on holding events on the court, playing music and DJ-ing after the tournaments, in order to attract more young people.”
“In the end, no one is going to get close to a PGA Tour if it continues like this… And there they are looking for different forms in the LIV, but the art is still on the court.”
As for persuading Pereira, there was much talk throughout their charity match at home, and Niemann continues his attempts to convince his good friend to join him on his Torque GC team for the 2023 season.
With the younger man, and best-ever Chilean golfer, believing that, “this year there will be a world ranking and for me it is not an issue,” he seems to make a convincing case. However, he fully admits, “I’m doing everything possible, but in the end, it’s his decision.”
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.