Niemann wins Singapore; Fireballs take third straight team title

SINGAPORE – The winning streak continues for Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC. The wins keep piling up for Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann.

Fueled by another Sunday charge, the Fireballs won LIV Golf Singapore presented by Aramco by three shots for their third consecutive team title this season. It’s the longest win streak for either a team or individual player since 4Aces GC won four straight team titles during the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series in 2022.

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The Fireballs will try to match that at next month’s LIV Golf Miami, April 4-6. “We’re the only ones that can keep the streak alive,” Garcia said. “Hopefully we’ll keep it going.”

Niemann won for the second time in the last three tournaments, shooting the day’s only bogey-free round, a 6-under 65 to win by five shots. The 26-year-old Chilean moves atop the Individual Champion points standings and will seek to maintain that status for at least the next two months in hopes of earning the LIV Golf exemption into this year’s U.S. Open.

“Today was one of those days,” said Niemann, who won by three shots in Adelaide. “Everything went my way.”

Both winning efforts capped off impressive performances at Sentosa Golf Club’s challenging 7,420-yard Serapong course.

The Fireballs won despite an ailing Garcia, last week’s individual winner in Hong Kong who came down with bronchitis and had a fever of 102.4 on the eve of the tournament. He battled to shoot even par for the week but his three teammates, led by David Puig’s solo fourth at 10 under, stepped up to rally from an eight-shot deficit to start the final round.

“This week was a tough week because I've been sick all week and haven't been able to help the team as much as I would have liked to,” Garcia said. “To see the performance that my teammates put in to be able to get this win was pretty impressive.”

Puig’s 5-under 66 was supported by Luis Masaveu’s 68 and Abraham Ancer’s 69 as the team shot 10-under on Sunday, tying for the lowest team score of the day.

“Counting four scores, eight strokes seem like a lot, but it can change in two holes,” Ancer said. “We just told ourselves that, and we just needed to take care of business and play our game.”

For the 23-year-old Puig, it’s his eighth overall LIV Golf team victory, more than any other player. He won four times with Niemann’s Torque GC in 2023 and now has won four times with Fireballs GC.

“I love team golf,” Puig said. “I think I'm a good team player. I like to be surrounded by a good group of guys, and I have them here at the Fireballs. I just have a lot of fun, and I never give up, and I just love it.”

Niemann entered the final round tied with Dustin Johnson, the 4Aces GC captain. The duel between the major hopeful and the two-time major winner never materialized.

Niemann birdied his opening hole, then added four more birdies during a five-hole stretch between hole No. 4-8, eventually finishing at 17 under. Meanwhile, Johnson suffered two bogeys on his first nine, then two more after the turn, shooting a 2-over 73 to drop into a tie for fifth at 9 under.

As it turned out, Niemann’s biggest challenger was defending Singapore champion Brooks Koepka, who birdied his first three holes and matched Niemann’s 65 to finish solo second at 12 under.

“Not really hitting it great,” Koepka said, “but kind of tried to figure out how to finish second because first was obviously out of reach.”

Out of reach because Niemann has become a dominant force in LIV Golf. He won two of the first three tournaments in 2024 and led the points standings for most of the season until being caught late by Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm. Now he’s atop the standings again with two wins in the first four events. He quicky turned his attention to LIV Golf Miami.

“There's a few things that I can improve, then go down to Miami and have a chance to win,” he said. “I feel like that for me is really exciting to become a better player and try to get better every day.”

TEAM SCORES

LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season now involves all four scores now counting in every round in the team competition. (Click here for more on the new format). Here are the final results and scores for each team after Sunday’s Rd. 3 of LIV Golf Singapore.

1. FIREBALLS GC -22 (Puig 66, Masaveu 68, Ancer 69, Garcia 71; Rd. 3: -10)

2. LEGION XIII -19 (Hatton 66, Rahm 67, McKibbin 70, Surratt 71; Rd. 3: -10)

3. 4ACES GC -18 (Reed 70, Varner III 70, Johnson 73, Pieters 73; Rd. 3: +2)

4. TORQUE GC -16 (Niemann 65, Muñoz 70, Pereira 72, Ortiz 73; Rd. 3: -4)

5. CRUSHERS GC -13 (DeChambeau 67, Lahiri 69, Casey 70, Howell III 70; Rd. 3: -8)

6. STINGER GC -12 (Oosthuizen 67, Burmester 69, Grace 70, Schwartzel 70; Rd. 3: -8)

7. HYFLYERS GC -11 (Ogletree 70, Tringale 70, Mickelson 72, Steele 76; Rd. 3: +4)

8. SMASH GC -10 (Koepka 65, Gooch 68, Kokrak 72, McDowell 74; Rd. 3: -5)

9. RANGEGOATS GC -6 (Campbell 67, Uihlein 68, Watson 71, Wolff 74; Rd. 3: -4)

10. RIPPER GC E (Jones 71, Leishman 72, Smith 72, Herbert 74; Rd. 3: +5)

11. IRON HEADS GC +2 (Na 69, Catlin 74, Jang 75, Lee 76; Rd. 3: +10)

12. CLEEKS GC +17 (Bland 67, Meronk 68, Kaymer 69, Kjettrup 77; Rd. 3: -3)

13. MAJESTICKS GC +19 (Westwood 71, Horsfield 72, Poulter 73, Stenson 73; Rd. 3: +4)

Wild Cards: Lee 70, Kim 72

ROUND 3 NOTES

SOLO SECOND FOR BROOKS: Smash GC Captain and defending LIV Golf Singapore champion Brooks Koepka made an early charge with three consecutive birdies to start his final round. He was 5 under through eight holes but a couple of bogeys midway through his round eliminated any outside hopes of catching Joaquin Niemann.

Still, it was a productive day for Koepka, who said that late in the round, he began spot aiming, which contributed to his three birdies in his last four holes.

“Kind of found some things the last couple holes, which was good momentum to build on for the next month,” Koepka said, who has a win, a second and a third at Sentosa. “The start line was off. If I don’t feel comfortable with my start line, I’ll never hit it good. So it started to feel a little better.”

8TH WIN FOR PUIG: Young Fireballs GC star David Puig had some fun after being told he was LIV Golf’s all-time leader in team tournament wins. Sunday’s victory at LIV Golf Singapore is the eighth of his career, with his first four coming as a member of Torque GC in 2023.

“It’s unbelievable,” Puig said with a sly smile during his team’s press conference. “I guess I’m just the best player in LIV Golf history. That’s what it is, right?”

His Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia, sitting nearby, was having none of it. “The best team player in LIV Golf history,” he said.

Responded Puig; “No, let’s just leave it at that.”

Puig’s fourth victory as a Fireballs member puts him one ahead of 4Aces GC captain Dustin Johnson and teammate Patrick Reed, who have six regular-season wins as well as the 2022 Team Championship. Former 4Aces-turned-LIV Golf broadcaster Pat Perez also played on those seven tournament winners.

RYDER CUP TALK? Puig is now sixth in the season-long points race after his solo fourth in Singapore. He’s won two times on the Asian Tour since the last Ryder Cup was played in 2023, and he’s proven himself to be a clutch Sunday performer.

In the first four tournaments this season, Puig is a collective 20 under. He’s shot final rounds of 65 (Riyadh), 67 (Adelaide), 67 (Hong Kong) and 66 (Singapore).

Asked if his fellow Spaniard might need to be considered for this year’s European Ryder Cup team, Garcia responded: “Why not? Obviously, he's a great player, and he's becoming an even greater player. It's nice to see him develop and grow up and find his game and what ticks him and what makes him go to the level that he's been playing.

“I'm the captain of the Fireballs; I'm not the captain of the Ryder Cup team or Team Europe. Obviously, I don't have any say there. But I would lie if I didn't think that Luke [Donald, European captain] and his team are not looking at him. I'm sure they are because they're looking at everyone that has got potential of making the team, and I feel like if David keeps playing the way he's been playing, he's got potential to be in that team.”

NIEMANN NOW NO. 1: Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann moved to the top of the Individual Championship standings with his win in Singapore. A year ago, he also moved to No. 1 after his second win of the 2024 season in Jeddah. He stayed there for nine weeks until being overtaken by Jon Rahm late in the year.

The added benefit to being No. 1 this season is that it could lead to a U.S. Open exemption, the only major Niemann is not yet qualified for. The leading LIV Golf player not otherwise exempt for the U.S. Open after LIV Golf Korea will earn a spot for Oakmont.

“Obviously it's one of the goals to qualify for the majors,” Niemann said. “Yeah, I feel like it just comes. Hopefully I can get that spot before Miami. I feel like that's not my main focus. It's obviously something that it would favor me if I play good golf, but like I said before, I'm here to make my team win, to get a good result for them and motivate them to do those good results.”

SERGIO’S HEALTH: Hong Kong winner Sergio Garcia had entered the week as No. 1 in points but dropped to third after failing to finish inside the points in Singapore (he tied for 32nd). Garcia was just happy to play all three rounds after falling ill right before the tournament and enjoy his Fireballs’ third consecutive team win.

“Tuesday night I started feeling a little bit congested,” he explained. “Wednesday it was OK. We had a nice practice round. But I could feel like I wasn't breathing as well. Thursday I was feeling quite badly, and the doctor looked at me, he told me I had bronchitis, which I still have. He gave me some medicine. Thursday afternoon I had 102.4 fever, so I wasn't feeling great.

“But then it seems like the meds kicked in at night, and my fever kind of broke. That was great. But obviously my chest, every time I cough, it hurts. The last couple of days the congestion has kind of gone to my nose.

“In these conditions, in this weather, as hot as it is, it was tough for me to keep it going throughout the whole day. Obviously as the day was going on I was getting a bit more tired because of the lack of energy because of how I was feeling. But I still tried to give it everything I have.”

RAHM BREAKS RECORD: Jon Rahm shot a 4-under 67 on Sunday, his record-breaking 21st consecutive LIV Golf round under par. Rahm had entered Sunday sharing the record with Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau.

In finishing tied for fifth, Rahm also maintained his record of top-10 tournament finishes. Rahm has now finished inside the top 10 in every LIV Golf event that he’s completed; his only non-top 10 finish was last year in Houston when he was forced to withdraw in the second round due to injury.

BIG POINTS FOR CAMPBELL: Range Goats GC’s Ben Campbell finished solo third at 11 under and moved up to 11th in the points standings. It was a big week for the New Zealand native as he chases his goal of a top-24 Lock Zone finish that will guarantee him a full-time spot in the 2026 LIV Golf League.

“It was big,” Campbell said. “I was very frustrated last week in Hong Kong to not play that great. So worked hard early on this week and made a few little changes. It was good.”

ROUND 3 STATS LEADERS

Driving accuracy: Ben Campbell, 100% (14 of 14 fairways hit)

Driving distance: Dean Burmester, 344.0 yards avg.

Longest drive: Bryson DeChambeau, 345.9 yards, 18th hole

Greens in regulation: Tyrrell Hatton, Harold Varner III, Martin Kaymer, 88.89% (16 of 18 greens)

Scrambling: Joaquin Niemann, 100% (4 of 4)

Putting: Richard Bland, 1.22 putts per hole

Bogey-free rounds: Joaquin Niemann (65)