2022 Travelers Championship: Top 10 Power Rankings at TPC River Highlands

Joaquin Niemann’s first full year as a pro in 2019 was one to remember. He won his first PGA Tour event in the fall at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier that fall, but had a slew of high finishes that paved the way for his breakthrough.

One of those was at the Travelers Championship. As a 20-year-old, he fired 69-65-69-66 to finish T-5th.

Niemann hasn’t missed a cut at TPC River Highlands.

He took 63rd (68-66-68-75) in 2020 and 36th (68-67-73-68) last year.

Niemann became a two-time PGA Tour winner this winter with a near-record-setting performance at one of the game’s iconic events, the Genesis Invitational. Niemann missed the cut the next week at the Honda Classic but has since made seven stroke-play cuts in a row.

Four of those in the streak were top-25s, including T-3rd at another big event, the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.

The next step is for Niemann to bring it to the majors. He’s yet to finish higher than T-23rd in one of the big events and settled for T-47th last week at the U.S. Open.

Fortunately, he’s still young and is good at bouncing back.

The Chilean ranks 11th on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained per round (1.552) and is eighth in SG tee to green (1.383). He creates a lot of bend and clubhead speed to crush the ball with his penetrating low ball flight. This week is more of an aerial course, but he can still get it done at a course with small greens as we saw at Riviera.