Joaquin Niemann Wins LIV Golf New York Wire to Wire for a Record Ninth LIV Title

Joaquin Niemann led LIV Golf New York after every round, and on Sunday the only question was whether Harold Varner III could make the Torque GC captain sweat. For about 11 holes, Varner did. Then Niemann rolled in a putt from nearly 60 feet, eagled the 15th, and turned a tense afternoon into a coronation.

Niemann closed with a 2-under 69 at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster to finish at 16-under 268 and win by three over Varner, completing a wire-to-wire victory with rounds of 64, 65, 70 and 69. It is Niemann's ninth individual LIV Golf title, extending the league record, and the second of 2026 after his playoff win at LIV Golf Korea. Niemann now has as many LIV wins as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm combined.

The team title went elsewhere. DeChambeau's Crushers GC came from eight shots back on Sunday morning to win at 6 over, while Rahm, despite a 76, clinched a third straight season-long Individual Championship.

Caught, Then Gone

Niemann began the day two clear and immediately gave a shot back with a bogey at the first. A birdie at the par-3 seventh got it back, but Varner was making his move, with two birdies through 11 holes. By the time the final group walked off the 11th green, they were tied at 14 under.

The swing came fast. Varner bogeyed the 12th, and Niemann answered at the 13th by holing a putt of almost 60 feet for birdie, a putt Niemann admitted afterward was more of a two-putt hope than a make. Two shots clear again, Niemann then hit a 5-hybrid to 26 feet at the par-5 15th and rolled in the downhill eagle putt. That was the tournament. A late dropped shot did not change anything.

"A great feeling to have, especially coming down the stretch on how tough this golf course is," Niemann said of the finish. The win is the fifth wire-to-wire title on the LIV schedule this season and Niemann's second in four starts.

Varner's Best Shot

Varner deserves more than a footnote. After Saturday's bogey-free 65, the OKGC star went toe to toe with the league's most decorated winner for most of the back nine, and the only blemish on a 70 was that bogey at the 12th. Varner parred in from there, a solid finish that simply ran into an eagle. At 13 under, the runner-up finish caps a strong run that already included top-10s in Korea and at LIV Golf UK.

Vincent and Westwood Share Third

Scott Vincent, filling in for Phil Mickelson at HyFlyers GC, shot 66, tied for the low round of the day, to jump into a share of third at 9 under, the best finish of the wild card's LIV career. Lee Westwood joined him there despite a 72. The 53-year-old Majesticks GC co-captain never got close enough to threaten history, but T3 matches his best-ever LIV finish.

Byeong Hun An closed with 69 to finish fifth at 7 under, the first top-5 of his LIV career and the best individual result for Korean Golf Club this season. Paul Casey, Thomas Pieters and Tom McKibbin shared sixth at 6 under.

The Crushers Steal the Team Title

Torque led the team race for three days and could not hold it. The Crushers opened Thursday at 11 over, tied for 11th, largely because DeChambeau shot 76, his worst LIV round relative to par. They started Sunday eight shots behind Torque.

Then the board flipped. The Crushers shot 1 under in the final round, with Casey's 68 and 71s from DeChambeau and Anirban Lahiri leading the way, while Torque collapsed to 9 over behind 76 from Abraham Ancer and 75 from Sebastian Munoz. Legion XIII shot 7 over. Lahiri's birdie on the final hole proved the difference, lifting the Crushers to 6 over and two clear of Legion XIII and Torque, who tied for second at 8 over.

"I think when you get to a Sunday afternoon and we get in with a sniff, I think all our tails go up," Lahiri said. The 6-over total is the highest winning team score in LIV history, topping the 4 over that won Ripper GC the title in Miami in 2025, and the title is the Crushers' 11th regular-season team win, the most in league history. DeChambeau credited the team's experience on hard golf courses, while calling his own week embarrassing.

HyFlyers finished fourth at 9 over, and Korean Golf Club tied for fifth at 10 over, their best team result of the year.

Rahm Clinches a Three-Peat

Rahm's week ended with the worst finish of his LIV career. A closing 76 left him tied for 41st at 8 over, his lowest result in 36 completed LIV starts. It did not matter. Rahm finished the week on 944.54 points, 218.34 clear of DeChambeau, which put the Individual Championship out of reach with one regular-season event left. That makes three straight season titles, built this year on two wins and four runner-up finishes.

"A little sour taste in my mouth because of how badly I played this week. But it's been something to be proud of," Rahm said.

What Comes Next

The season title is settled, but the rest of the podium is not. DeChambeau sits second at 726.20 points, Niemann jumped to third at 553.66, just ahead of Lucas Herbert at 541.41, and Tyrrell Hatton is fifth at 453.23. A win is worth 200 points, so the regular-season finale at Indianapolis in two weeks still has real stakes.

For Niemann, New Jersey was a reminder of what separates the best front-runner in the league from everyone else: a double bogey on Saturday and a tie on Sunday, and still nobody could get past him.

Final results are on the official LIV Golf New York leaderboard (opens in a new tab), with more in the LIV Golf final-round recap (opens in a new tab). Catch up on our Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 recaps.

Sources: LIV Golf (final-round recap, Last Look, leaderboard), Field Level Media, Golf News Net. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Montana Pritchard/LIV Golf.