Xander Schauffele is looking to make his prime years count, and so is Joaquin Niemann. Last year, Schauffele had hit the form of his life, vaulting himself into World No.2 with a slew of incredible performances in the 2024 season, which included two majors. He was speaking to the press ahead of the practice rounds in Augusta when Niemann’s stunning run on LIV was brought up, and he couldn’t help but praise the Chilean golfer.
Nimeann has taken the LIV Golf by storm, winning two of the five events so far this year. He currently leads the individual points list over bigger names like Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm. “Yeah, Joaquín is unbelievable. He’s been winning at a pretty decent clip on the LIV Tour. Joaquín knows he’s been winning a lot more events than I have, but you’re always a lot closer than you think is what I tell anyone that’s been close. It’s hard to wrap your head around. It’s never anything that’s that fancy and you’re always a lot closer than you think you are,” the World No.3 stated at the pre-Masters conference.
You see, Schauffele had missed quite a lot of 2025 because of his rib injury, but he is now back on the competitive scene. Despite this, he remains one of the favorite names to take the Green Jacket this year. Schauffele’s advice would be something that the Chilean golfer keeps close to his heart as he looks to clinch his first-ever major title.
Niemann looks up to Schauffele as a ‘talented’ someone who won a major late in his career compared to the young prodigies. Schauffele had only won his first major in 2024 after he turned 30. Till then he was perilously close on several occasions registering eleven top 10 finishes in his twenty-six Major appearances but never getting over the hump to clinch the title. The San Diego State alum, however, had a breakout year in 2024, where he won two majors while also registering a top-ten finish at the other two.
Xander Schauffele’s 2024 was the 6th best Major Championship season (+57.97) since 1997.#themasters pic.twitter.com/1ztq2BKjiN
— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) April 7, 2025
This is a developing story..
The post Not Brooks Koepka or Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele Tracking ‘Unbelievable’ LIV Golf Pro as the Masters Closes In appeared first on EssentiallySports.