Joaquin Niemann Played the Fastest East Lake PGA Tour Round Ever

Niemann raced his way solo around East Lake in 1:53 to break Kevin Na's mark for the fastest PGA Tour round ever at East Lake.
Joaquin Niemann Played the Fastest East Lake PGA Tour Round Ever
Joaquin Niemann Played the Fastest East Lake PGA Tour Round Ever /

If you blinked, you might have missed Joaquin Niemann’s final round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club on Sunday.

OK, it wasn’t quite that quick. But Usain Bolt, eat your heart out … the PGA Tour has a new version of the “fastest man alive.”

With Brooks Koepka withdrawing on Saturday with a wrist injury, the final-round field became an uneven number (29). As a result, the 22-year old Niemann and his caddy Gary Mathews teed off alone to start the day at East Lake. And they decided to make the most — or should we say the least — of the opportunity.

Running from one shot to the next shot on numerous occasions, Niemann and Mathews completed the round in 1 hour, 53 minutes, establishing an unofficial record for the fastest round on the PGA Tour at East Lake.

The previous unofficial speed mark was 1 hour 59 minutes, set by Kevin Na and his caddy Kenny Harms during the final round of the 2016 Tour Championship. Na has developed a reputation as a rather slow player during his career, and perhaps a comparison of the rapid rounds underlines the fact.

Na shot a 70 during his fast-paced finish at East Lake in 2016, while Niemann sprinted to a 72. In other words, it took Na six more minutes to hit two fewer shots.

In case you were wondering, the fastest round ever on the PGA Tour (as far as we know) was when Wesley Bryan played the final round of the 2017 BMW Championship in a brisk 1:29.


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Dan O'Neill
DAN O'NEILL

Born in St. Louis, O'Neill graduated from the same high school as Tennessee Williams, Bing Devine, and Nelly. An award-winning feature writer and columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 1985 to 2017, O’Neill has had his work appear in numerous national publications. He also has written several short stories and books, and firmly believes that if you take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.