LIV Golf League: Jon Rahm gets team win as Joaquin Niemann wins Mayakoba play-off

Joaquin Niemann sank a birdie putt on the fourth play-off hole to defeat Sergio Garcia and win LIV Golf Mayakoba in the dark on Sunday in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

After Niemann missed a birdie putt to win outright on the final hole, he and Garcia replayed the par-four 18th hole at El Camaleon Golf Course and made par three times over.

With light fading fast, Niemann asked Garcia, "Play one more?" And the 2017 Masters champion agreed.

Garcia's second shot on the fourth go-round proceeded to land near a spectator, sitting in thick rough by a sand bunker.

Niemann's approach found the green, and after Garcia's pitch out of the rough skidded past the hole, Niemann buried the winning putt.

"At the first play-off hole I didn't think it was going to get too dark," Niemann said. "I thought it was going to take a little bit, you never know what's going to happen, but I was expecting to go as fast as I could.

"Then after that I hit my driver incredible the next three holes. My ball was within probably a radius of one yard. I saw my divot from the two holes before on the last hole. So I had the same number for the last three times, and that made it a little bit easier.

"After the last hole, I saw Sergio missing it right, which is not in a good spot, and I just told myself to give myself a chance and ended up hitting a good shot and making that putt, which was awesome."

Niemann posted a final round of one-under 70 while Garcia made consecutive birdies at holes 14 and 15 to tie Niemann at 12 under and made pars the rest of the way to card a five-under 66.

Niemann, who began the season opener by shooting a 12-under 59, had a tough start to this day when he was assessed a two-stroke penalty on his second round.

A review determined Niemann took an incorrect drop on the 13th hole on Saturday, and his second-round 70 became a 72, cutting his four-shot lead in half.

"I told to myself that I don't want to let this situation beat me, and I tried to turn it around," Niemann said. "The only thing I needed to do is just play golf. I still had a good chance to win the tournament."

Rahm: We are a force to be reckoned with

Meanwhile, newcomer Jon Rahm and his team, Legion XIII, locked up the team victory in their LIV Golf debut.

Fellow LIV debutant Tyrrell Hatton posted a final-round seven-under 64, Caleb Surratt shot a four-under 67 and Zimbabwe's Kieran Vincent had a two-under 69.

Unfortunately for Rahm, the Spanish star's bogey-bogey finish knocked him out of the running for a play-off, and his 70 was the lowest Sunday score on his team. But Legion XIII still finished 24 under for the week, four shots ahead of Bryson DeChambeau's Crushers GC.

Rahm said that he jokingly told Hatton on the range it would be a nice day for him to shoot a 64, which the Englishman then proceeded to fulfill.

"This team was just assembled Monday, I believe, Sunday or Monday," Rahm said on LIV's broadcast. "We come in and made an impact and everything was meant for that. We wanted to make a mark, make an impact, and I think everybody knows we're a force to be reckoned with."

Rahm tied with South Africa's Dean Burmester for third at 10 under.

It was Rahm's first LIV Golf tournament experience since leaving the PGA Tour for the third-year league in the offseason.

"It's very nice, in a day in which in any normal tournament I probably would have been upset at my finish, to actually have something to celebrate," Rahm said.

"That is one of the big reasons why I decided to transition, to share the stage with those three guys, to share the golf course with all the other teams and compete for something else is what it's all about. It means a lot."

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