LIV Golf has confirmed Joaquin Niemann has been assessed a two-stroke penalty following round two at Mayakoba.
LIV Golf confirmed the decision to dock Niemann two strokes from his second round just several hours before the start of the third and final round.
Niemann fired a course-record 12-under 59 at Mayakoba on Friday to race into a five-stroke lead.
He then thought his final-round lead was going to be four shots after posting a 70 to move to 13-under par.
However, this has now been modified to a score of 72, and as a result, his lead has diminished to only two shots because he has been caught up and is now at 11-under par.
The following video shows Joaco Niemann making a poor drop during the LIV Mayakoba tournament. Failing to use a club to measure the distance is a highly unprofessional and clumsy move from a touring professional golfer. @JCotino
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) February 4, 2024
LIV Golf rules officials were informed of a potential violation of the rules by Niemann after his round on Saturday night.
It all stemmed over Niemann’s drop on the par-5 13th hole.
After more deliberation on Sunday morning, Niemann was informed he had broken the rules and was assessed a two-stroke penalty.
Here’s the statement the LIV Golf League posted on social media:
“Saturday evening, following the play of round two, the rules committee became aware of a potential rules violation pertaining to Joaquin Niemann and his drop from the cart path on the par-5 13th hole.
“After reviewing the drop with Joaquin on Sunday morning prior to the final round, it was determined that he had played from a wrong place after taking relief incorrectly. Joaquin failed to drop within his one-club length relief area. The penalty for playing the ball from a wrong place is the general penalty (2 strokes) under rules 14.7a. Under the exception in Rule 3.3b(3), the rules committee revised Joaquin’s score for round two to include the 2-stroke penalty on hole 13 from a 5 to 7.”
Niemann is currently ahead by two shots compared to Jon Rahm, who is making his debut for LIV Golf, and Dean Burmester from South Africa. “Sergio Garcia, equipped with his unfamiliar putter that is largely unknown, is currently trailing the leader by a mere four shots.”
Fans of golf have been discussing and analyzing the footwork and drop of Wyndham Clark on the 16th hole during the third round, which led to him achieving a record-breaking score of 60 at Pebble Beach.