Joaquin Niemann left disappointed after being ineligible for the Presidents Cup- "Supposed to be the best golfers around the world"

Joaquin Niemann was ineligible to compete in the Presidents Cup, but the omission has left him frustrated. He has participated in the International side before as a Chilean, but he will no longer be eligible.

He said via Bunkered that his being left out "sucks", adding:

“I would love to be on that team. It’s supposed to be the best golfers around the world and they’re not doing that right now. I do believe we (the Internationals) have a strong team, but it could be an even stronger team. I’d love to see the Americans lose.”

Niemann would be a huge part of a team captained by Mike Weir that will look to put the struggles behind them and beat the Americans, who have a roster stacked with talent: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Keegan Bradley, Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, and more.

Niemann and other LIV Golf members, such as Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert, are ineligible to participate. It's not like the Ryder Cup, where qualifying is difficult but not impossible and captains can choose LIV members if they want.

The Presidents Cup has one eligibility criterion, and it's that they're allowed to play PGA Tour-sanctioned events. LIV Golf members do not have that privilege, so they can't be added to the roster. This was one of the first "punishments" handed down when golfers began defecting to LIV in the first place. It hasn't changed even as the merger is pending.

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Joaquin Niemann turns focus to DP World Tour after Presidents Cup omission

Joaquin Niemann will not be playing the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club at the end of the month. Instead, he's committed to playing the DP World Tour event, the Australian Open.

Joaquin Niemann will play the Australian Open (Imagn)

He said via Bunkered that a good tournament needs to have a good course, and that Australia has one. The Chilean praised the crowd as well. He continued:

“Obviously you can’t say it’s a major, but if you look around, I mean you got the US Open, then you’ve got the British Open, I don’t think there is any other Open in any other country that comes close to it."

LIV Golf has been playing in Adelaide recently, helping to continue growing golf in Australia. Niemann added:

“And I think it’s because of how powerful golf is in Australia, you have this amazing program. I remember being a junior golfer and always seeing Australia as being the hardest team to beat.”

Joaquin Niemann is the reigning champion at the Australian Open. He will try to be the first back-to-back champion since Peter Lonard in in 2003 and 2004 to win two consecutive starts in this DP World Tour event.