LIV Golf New York Round 2: Joaquin Niemann Stays Bogey-Free and Stretches His Lead to Five

Thirty-six holes into LIV Golf New York, Joaquin Niemann still has not made a bogey, and the rest of the field is starting to look like it is playing a different golf course.

The Torque GC captain followed Thursday's 64 with a bogey-free 6-under 65 on Friday at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, reaching 13 under and stretching a two-shot overnight lead to five. Lee Westwood, 53 years old and leading the field in strokes gained putting, is alone in second at 8 under after a 65 of his own. Sergio Garcia sits third at 7 under, and Torque GC leads the team race by five as well.

The Same Front Nine, Twice

Niemann's two rounds have a pattern. For the second straight day, he went out in 5-under 30, then played the back nine at even par without dropping a shot. The ball-striking that carried Thursday held up on Friday, with 16 of 18 greens hit, tied for the best mark of the round, and the cumulative numbers are just as tidy: 86 percent of greens through two days and five of five scrambling.

The lead now is the kind that changes how everyone else plays the weekend. Niemann arrived in New Jersey as the all-time wins leader in LIV Golf with eight titles, five of them during a dominant 2025 season, but has no interest in simply trying to duplicate that year. "I feel like I'm never going to be the same as I was in 2025," Niemann said, adding that players are always changing and evolving and that he feels he is a better player now than he was then.

Niemann also knows from experience how much a halfway board can change. At LIV Golf Korea in May, he was three shots off the lead at the halfway mark and won anyway.

Westwood and Garcia Give Chase

Westwood has history at this course, good and bad. He tied for sixth in LIV's first visit to Bedminster in 2022 and finished last of 48 a year later. Friday looked a lot more like 2022. The Englishman putted the lights out and now has the best seat in the house to watch Niemann, with a long-shot chance at a 45th professional title if the leader blinks.

Westwood also called Niemann a top-20 player in the world. "When he's on his game, he can run away with a tournament," Westwood said.

Garcia, another 65 shooter, put it more bluntly. "If Joaco keeps shooting 5- or 6-under every day, it's going to be very difficult to catch him; it's as simple as that," the Fireballs GC captain said. Garcia, who has been in a playoff with Niemann before, added that he would happily take another one on Sunday.

Tom McKibbin of Legion XIII and Harold Varner III of OKGC are tied for fourth at 6 under, seven back.

Bland's Day, Herbert's Wobble

The low round of the day belonged to Richard Bland. The Cleeks GC veteran, one of several 50-somethings thriving in the heat on a 7,600-yard course, posted a bogey-free 64 with five birdies on par 4s and jumped into a tie for sixth at 5 under. "Drove the ball pretty well, hit some good irons," Bland said, which is about all there is to it on a day like that.

Lucas Herbert went the other way. The Ripper GC star birdied three of the first five holes and looked ready to press Niemann, then gave it all back: a bogey at the seventh, a double at the par-4 11th after an approach rolled off the green and needed three chips, and another bogey at 14. A 71 left Herbert in the group at 5 under with Bland, Paul Casey and Scott Vincent, eight shots back. Ian Poulter, Thursday's other runner-up, shot 72 and slid to a tie for 10th with Thomas Pieters at 4 under.

HyFlyers Chase History

Torque leads the team competition at 9 under after a 5-under Friday. Niemann's 65 did most of the work, backed by 71s from Carlos Ortiz and Sebastian Munoz and a 72 from Abraham Ancer.

The surprise is in second. HyFlyers GC, playing without Phil Mickelson, sit at 4 under after a 3-under round in which Vincent, Michael La Sasso and Cameron Tringale combined to go 6 under and cover for Brendan Steele's 74. The team has finished third three times in its history, so holding this spot or catching Torque would be the best result HyFlyers have ever had. Ripper sit third at 2 under.

Lower down, the Crushers posted the best team score of the day at 7 under, with 67s from Casey and Anirban Lahiri, to climb back to 4 over after a rough Thursday.

The Points Race Tightens Its Grip

Jon Rahm's even-par 71 left him tied for 27th at 1 over, 14 shots behind Niemann, but the Individual Championship math barely moved. Rahm projected at 947.54 points after Friday. Bryson DeChambeau shot 74 and sits 50th at 8 over, projected at 722.50, and needs to get within 200 points of Rahm by Sunday night to stay mathematically alive before the regular-season finale in Indianapolis. Right now that gap is well beyond 200.

Two Days Left

Niemann is the only player in the field without a bogey, holds a five-shot cushion, and his team leads by the same margin. The chasers need help on the weekend, and so far Niemann has offered none.

Full second-round details are in the LIV Golf Round 2 recap (opens in a new tab) and on the official LIV Golf New York leaderboard (opens in a new tab). Catch up on the opening day in our Round 1 recap.

Sources: LIV Golf (Round 2 recap, leaderboard), FOX Sports, Golf News Net. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Charles Laberge/LIV Golf.