PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 22, 2022

Joaquin Niemann

Southern Hills Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. You've been friends with Mito for a long time; anything that he's doing this week surprise you, or is this kind of what you expect?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: No, not at all. What he's doing right now is what he's been working on all his life. He's really talented, and he's got the skills to win out here a major championship. That's what he's showing right now.

If you guys go out and see him play, see him on the range, the way he hits the ball, the way he creates shots, there's not many of them. He's an amazing player.

Q. What would it mean to Chile?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: It is going to be something huge. You look back, three, four years ago, nobody talked about golf, and now the whole country is watching TV right now seeing Mito leading the PGA Championship. It's a major, and yeah, it's going to be something huge, and I think that he's going to help a lot the game in Chile and in Latin America.

Q. Even if he doesn't win, do you think it's still huge what happened here this week with Mito?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: I cannot imagine him not winning.

Q. How old were you when you guys became friends?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Probably -- we knew each other when I was probably 10 and he was 13 maybe. But we didn't met each other like friends. We just know who was each other.

But when he retired, when he came back after he retired when he was probably 17, I think, that same year I started working also with the same coach, and that is Eduardo Miquel is the coach that we're still working. We've been together for seven, eight years, so yeah, since then we've been working together, practicing together, doing almost everything together except for the time he went into Latin America and Korn Ferry.

Q. Did he talk to you about before he moved, where he lives now? You were already there, right, and you guys --

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, he was looking at options and he had Jacksonville one of his options and also Jupiter because it was closer for everybody. We live there, also. We've got a few friends that live in Jupiter.

The only concern for him was moving to Jupiter when he just thought his car was a little too expensive, but I think he'll be all right right now.

Q. How much does it help you to all be together there, living together, being able to talk to each other, practice with each other, play with each other?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, it does help a lot. I think sometimes probably you get dismotivated pretty quick in this game, and having a big group of friends where you can be competitive, you can work hard against the other one but knowing that you're going to still be friends, it's just extra motivation. Sometimes it's easier to wake up in the morning knowing that all your buddies are going to be practicing at the same time with you.

I think it was huge for us to have Mito, there was a few other friends, Carlos Bustos, Toto, they all are now trying as professional.

Q. What part of his game impresses you the most?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: I don't think he has a weak part of his game. But I think the best is the way he hits his irons. Yeah, I mean, approach to the green, I think he's one of the best ones.

Q. You said he stepped away from the game a little bit?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, he retired. I think he went to IMG academy when he was 15, and I think he lasted there probably a couple months, and then he got like burned out, I think, or something. It's funny, he told me this story where I asked him like how was the story when you retired and came back to Chile, and he was like, yeah, I just bring my clubs, went to the garage, put my clubs in the garage, my shoes in the garage, and two years after, a friend called me, hey, do you want to come and play 18, and I was like, all right. He grabbed the same clubs that were in the same spot with the same shoes after two years. It was pretty funny.

Q. When he moved, did he store all of his trophies with you for a while or something?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, I think he sent two or three trophies from the Korn Ferry. I remember the second trophy, I was like, I only accept one more trophy and then I'm not accepting any more, because it would have been three wins on the Korn Ferry, and he won two weeks in a row, so the week after he sent another trophy, and I was like, all right, I'll accept the last one here.

Q. When you were growing up in Chile you're saying everyone there talks about football, soccer. Playing golf, does that make you -- what did your friends think of you playing a different sport?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, I remember at the beginning, obviously I skipped a big period of time when I was in eighth grade and I left my school. I went to a different school where I almost didn't study much as I do in a normal school, and I left all my friends behind.

But yeah, at that time you don't realize how far it can take you. I remember they invite me like parties on Fridays and all this kind of stuff, which I didn't go because -- it's not because I didn't want to, because I enjoy more being out there on the golf course playing, practicing.

Now that they look back, yeah, they would say how impressive it is, and they all enjoy watching on TV me and Mito, so it's pretty fun.

Q. You clearly were not intimidated when you got on Tour, you won very, very early in your career. Is Mito kind of the same way? Do you think there's any intimidation, maybe I'm too young for this or anything along those lines?

JOAQUIN NIEMANN: Yeah, he knows how to win. He's win a lot. He's win already three times on Korn Ferry. I don't think it's easy at all to win on Korn Ferry, especially three times. I don't think it matters. Obviously it's a different level of comfort on the PGA TOUR and winning majors, but a win is a win, and I think it's hard to win anywhere you are. I don't think this major is going to feel any harder than he's been through, so I think he'll manage to be in a good position.