Joaquin Niemann has cashed the biggest cheque of his career after winning the Tiger Woods-hosted Genesis Invitational at Los Angeles’ famed Riviera Country Club.

Niemann’s jaw-dropping $US2.16 million winner’s prize dwarfed any cheque Woods received from his 82 PGA Tour wins (Woods’ highest single payday on tour was $2.07 million for his 2019 Masters win).

Niemann, from Chile, bagged his second PGA Tour win by posting an even-par 71 to finish at 19-under-par and two shots ahead of Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young.

Australia’s Adam Scott finished tied fourth at 14 under.

There was every reason for Niemann to feel confident entering Sunday’s final round. For starters, the 23-year-old had picked apart Riviera the three previous days, rounds of 63-63-68 giving him the lowest 54-hole score in tournament history (19 under breaking the previous mark of 17 under).

Plus, he was three shots clear of his closest chaser, Cameron Young. And that chaser was a rookie making only his 11th career start as a pro on tour and has just two career top-25s to his credit.

OK, so the next three down the leader board were proven tour winners in Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa, but they were six, seven and eight shots back, respectively. Comebacks from them would require Niemann stumbling.

And that didn’t happen. Yes, Niemann wasn’t quite as sharp as he had been over the first 54 holes, but his 71 was still enough to pull out a two-shot win.

In the process, Niemann became the first wire-to-wire tour winner since Nick Taylor did it at the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the first to accomplish the feat at Riviera since Charlie Sifford in 1969.

With the victory, Niemann achieved two things that tournament host Tiger Woods can’t even brag about. He won a tournament at Riviera (it’s the only PGA Tour venue Woods played more than 10 times that he never won on) and they will have earned a check for $2.16 million (Woods highest single payday on tour was $2.01 million for his 2019 Masters win).

The overall prize money payout for the Genesis is a tournament record $US12 million. Here’s the breakdown of the prize money payouts for each golfer who made the cut this week.

Win: Joaquin Niemann, 265/-19, $2,160,000 ($A2.8 million)

T-2: Collin Morikawa, 267/-17, $1,068,000

T-2: Cameron Young, 267/-17, $1,068,000

T-4: Viktor Hovland, 270/-14, $540,000

T-4: Adam Scott, 270/-14, $540,000

6: Justin Thomas, 271/-13, $435,000

T-7: Maverick McNealy, 272/-12, $390,000

T-7: Scottie Scheffler, 272/-12, $390,000

9: C.T. Pan, 273/-11, $351,000

T-10: Max Homa, 274/-10, $303,000

T-10: Rory McIlroy, 274/-10, $303,000

T-10: Chez Reavie, 274/-10, $303,000

T-13: Xander Schauffele, 275/-9, $243,000

T-13: Cameron Tringale, 275/-9, $243,000

T-15: Paul Casey, 276/-8, $189,000

T-15: Matt Jones, 276/-8, $189,000

T-15: Marc Leishman, 276/-8, $189,000

T-15: Robert MacIntyre, 276/-8, $189,000

T-15: Mito Pereira, 276/-8, $189,000

T-15: Sepp Straka, 276/-8, $189,000

T-21: Emiliano Grillo, 277/-7, $125,880

T-21: Danny Lee, 277/-7, $125,880

T-21: Taylor Moore, 277/-7, $125,880

T-21: Sebastián Muñoz, 277/-7, $125,880

T-21: Jon Rahm, 277/-7, $125,880

T-26: Dylan Frittelli, 278/-6, $85,800

T-26: Jason Kokrak, 278/-6, $85,800

T-26: K.H. Lee, 278/-6, $85,800

T-26: Peter Malnati, 278/-6, $85,800

T-26: Sam Ryder, 278/-6, $85,800

T-26: Jordan Spieth, 278/-6, $85,800

T-26: Will Zalatoris, 278/-6, $85,800

T-33: Patrick Cantlay, 279/-5, $64,000

T-33: Tony Finau, 279/-5, $64,000

T-33: Russell Henley, 279/-5, $64,000

T-33: Sungjae Im, 279/-5, $64,000

T-33: Russell Knox, 279/-5, $64,000

T-33: Cameron Smith, 279/-5, $64,000

T-39: Abraham Ancer, 280/-4, $45,000

T-39: Sergio Garcia, 280/-4, $45,000

T-39: Lanto Griffin, 280/-4, $45,000

T-39: Lee Hodges, 280/-4, $45,000

T-39: Martin Laird, 280/-4, $45,000

T-39: Hideki Matsuyama, 280/-4, $45,000

T-39: Carlos Ortiz, 280/-4, $45,000

T-39: Pat Perez, 280/-4, $45,000

T-39: Erik van Rooyen, 280/-4, $45,000

T-48: Keegan Bradley, 281/-3, $30,428.58

T-48: Cam Davis, 281/-3, $30,428.57

T-48: Beau Hossler, 281/-3, $30,428.57

T-48: Alex Noren, 281/-3, $30,428.57

T-48: Andrew Putnam, 281/-3, $30,428.57

T-48: Sahith Theegala, 281/-3, $30,428.57

T-48: Kevin Tway, 281/-3, $30,428.57

T-55: Rickie Fowler, 282/-2, $27,600

T-55: Harry Higgs, 282/-2, $27,600

T-55: Francesco Molinari, 282/-2, $27,600

T-55: Matthew NeSmith, 282/-2, $27,600

T-55: Jhonattan Vegas, 282/-2, $27,600

T-55: Nick Watney, 282/-2, $27,600

T-61: James Hahn, 283/-1, $26,160

T-61: Patton Kizzire, 283/-1, $26,160

T-61: Scott Piercy, 283/-1, $26,160

T-61: Aaron Rai, 283/-1, $26,160

T-61: Doc Redman, 283/-1, $26,160

T-61: Brian Stuard, 283/-1, $26,160

T-67: Cameron Champ, 284/E, $24,960

T-67: Matt Kuchar, 284/E, $24,960

T-67: Hank Lebioda, 284/E, $24,960

T-67: Aaron Wise, 284/E, $24,960

71: Charley Hoffman, 285/+1, $24,360

72: Alex Smalley, 286/+2, $24,120

73: Si Woo Kim, 287/+3, $23,880

74: Joel Dahmen, 288/+4, $23,640

75: Adam Long, 290/+6, $23,400