[Golf Topic] 'Genesis Champ' Niman "Settles in Top 20 World Ranking"... Ram 'Number 1'

[Asia Economy Golf Specialist Reporter Kim Hyun-jun] ○…"World Ranking 32nd → 20th."

‘Genesis Champ’ Joaquin Niemann (Chile·photo) jumped 12 spots from 32nd last week to 20th in the weekly official golf world rankings announced on the afternoon of the 21st (Korean time) with 4.33 points. He accumulated points by winning the PGA Tour Genesis Invitational (total prize money $12 million) held at the Riviera Golf Club in Pacific Palisades, California, USA (par 71, 7,322 yards) that ended that morning. This is his second career win after 2 years and 5 months since the Military Tribute in September 2019.

Niemann was the first Chilean PGA Tour champion who attracted the spotlight when he won the Military Tribute. Last year, he frustrated fans by finishing runner-up three times?in January at the Sentry Tournament, Sony Open, and in July at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. This time, he achieved a ‘wire-to-wire’ victory for the first time in 53 years since Charlie Sifford (both USA) in 1969, in a special match hosted by ‘Golf Emperor’ Tiger Woods (USA). He cheered, saying, "It felt like the tournament lasted about a month," and "I’m happy because I finally made it."

The ‘Top 5’ remain unchanged with Jon Rahm (Spain), Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay (both USA), Viktor Hovland (Norway), and Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland). ‘Phoenix Open Champ’ Scottie Scheffler is in 6th place, and Justin Thomas (both USA) is chasing from 7th. Korea has four players in the ‘Top 100’: ‘Shriners Champ’ Im Sung-jae (24) at 24th, Kim Si-woo (27) at 54th, Lee Kyung-hoon (31) at 77th, and ‘Asian Tour Money Leader’ Kim Joo-hyung (20) at 83rd.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.