Life Joaquin Niemann

‘I didn’t think I’d make it as a professional this fast’

- Keely Levins

I come from a big family. I have three brothers and two sisters, but I’m the only golfer. They all tried, but they got bored. They like football. -- There’s a picture of me before I could walk, and I was holding a plastic golf club. I started playing golf because of my dad. He just plays for fun. We lived inside a golf community in Santiago, Chile. Every day after school, I went and played. Now I’m 20, and I’ve never stopped.

MY PARENTS ARE GREAT ATHLETES.

My mom played field hockey for Chile’s national team. It’s really popular in Chile. She jokes that she’s why I’m good at golf. My dad was a basketball player in college.

I USED TO DO TRACK AND FIELD, BUT I DIDN’T LIKE IT.

I did it because the school asked me to. I was in a normal school but then changed to a school for athletes. I was in class from 8 to 11 and then went to the golf course to practice. Because of that school, I was able to fly around the world.

ACADEMICS WERE NEVER MY THING.

I was a troublemaker as a kid, but every teacher loved me. I never did anything really bad. I’d be taken out of class because I was talking too much, things like that. I liked sports and being outside better. In Chile, you can go to the mountains and the beach in the same day. Everything is close. There are lots of lakes, and the weather is like California.

MY FAVOURITE TRIP WAS GOING TO JAPAN.