Torque come together on the golf course, and off it as well

From a Correspondent

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico: Torque members Carlos Ortiz, Joaquin Niemann, Sebastián Muñoz and Mito Pereira not only enjoy hanging out together, they even share vacations.

During the leadup to the 2024 LIV Golf League season, they went to the Patagonia region of Chile to tour some of the glaciers.

So, it seems fitting that they’ll finally be able to compete together starting with this week’s season opener at Mayakoba.

Ortiz, the 32-year-old from Mexico, has spent the first two LIV Golf seasons playing for Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC.

But with a chance to join his buddies on Torque GC, Ortiz rejected the contract offer extended to him by the Fireballs for finishing in the top 24 Lock Zone last season.

Instead, he became a free agent and signed with Torque, taking over the spot held by David Puig, who then jumped to Fireballs to become the third Spaniard on that roster.

Ortiz’s move is not surprising. He’s very tight with his fellow Latin Americans – Niemann and Pereira are from Chile, Muñoz from Colombia.

Inevitable step

When Pereira and Muñoz joined LIV Golf before last season, it only seemed a matter of time before Ortiz would join them.

“It was meant to happen,” said Ortiz, who was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco. “These guys are my friends. We’ve been traveling together since the other tours. I just felt it was time.”

Ortiz and Muñoz have known each other the longest. They were teammates on the University of North Texas golf team for two seasons between 2011-13, winning two Sun Belt Conference titles during that time.

They remained close after that. Muñoz is the godfather to one of Ortiz’s daughters.

“We’ve been friends for a long time, and we’re always pushing each other to be better,” Muñoz said. “We’re like family.”

Ortiz first met Pereira in the developmental tours and Niemann on the PGA Tour. It was then they all became travel partners.

With the creation of LIV Golf and its team component, the four had visions of playing together.

Ortiz joined first and became a key contributor for the Fireballs; it was his clutch birdie putt on the final hole of his debut in Portland in 2022 that vaulted the team to its first podium result where he also finished second individually.

Niemann joined LIV Golf two tournaments later in Boston, becoming the Torque captain. Muñoz and Pereira followed for 2023.

Those three, along with Puig, became the surprise team of 2023. Torque won four times in the regular season – the most tournament victories of any team.

Aggressive approach

As the league’s youngest lineup, they took an aggressive approach, leading in driving distance average (311.3 yards) and tying RangeGoats GC for best scoring average (69.1).

In winning their fourth title of the season at LIV Golf Greenbrier, they set a league record with a cumulative counting score of 49 under. Eventually they finished a disappointing third at the Team Championship.

Running it back with the same lineup would’ve been fine – Puig, the league’s youngest player, is just hitting his stride – but signing Ortiz was a no-brainer.

“David is a great, great player and we had a great relationship with him,” Pereira said. “But I think the idea from the beginning was to be the four of us. We’re really happy to be playing together.”

Said Ortiz: “We always wanted to be together. Honestly, it was not forced. It just happened now and it’s perfect.”

Perhaps the only trouble spot for Torque last year was lack of consistency that included nine non-winning finishes and just one other podium heading into the team championship in Miami.

There, Torque advanced to the top tier. Niemann shot a 6-under 66 but the other three combined to shoot level par, as the team took third place, five strokes behind the winning Crushers GC.

“We were just talking about it, how it was funny during the whole season, they played great, and I didn’t play my best,” Niemann said.

“And then on the last tournament, I played well, and they were there, you know? We were laughing at it because there’s not much we can do. Good golf comes when you least suspect it.”

Seeking consistency

By adding Ortiz, who becomes the oldest player on the team, Torque hope to be more consistent. In 19 starts, he’s finished with individual points 14 times, and he has six top-10 points finishes. He’s been a runner-up twice.

Pereira also had two podium results last year while Muñoz was the runner-up last year in Orlando. Niemann had two third-place finishes in his first four starts in 2022.

“If we can get a little bit more consistency,” Pereira said, “we’re going to be really good.”

“Each of us knows what we have to do,” Niemann said. “So, we’re going to be fighting against each other, trying to make sure our rounds count.”

Four good friends, battling each other and also the other LIV Golf teams. They won plenty of trophies last year but came up short on the final day of the season in Miami.

There’s a new face in the lineup but the same determination.

“We intend to take the whole thing down,” Muñoz said. “We intend to get our hands on a lot of trophies.” (courtesy livgolf.com)

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