[PHOTO: Courtesy of LIV Golf]
Ollie Schniederjans was the dream contender for LIV Golf in its Promotions event. The 31-year-old former All-American from Georgia, who held the No.1 spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 41 consecutive weeks 10 years ago, was in position to earn the tour’s single promotion in this week’s qualifying event in Saudi Arabia. Schniederjans was just two shots of the lead heading into the final 36 holes that were played on Saturday.
A back-nine stumble in his final round, however, knocked Schniederjans out of contention, and the lone card was earned by a little-known player from Chinese Taipei. Chieh-po “Max” Lee [pictured] shot 64-68 at Riyadh Golf Club to finish at 10-under and beat two players, former PGA Tour winner Branden Grace and Taichi Kho, by two shots.
Three-under for the final round through his first 10 holes, Schniederjans suffered three bogeys from the 11th through 14th holes and eventually shot even-par 71 to tie for fourth. His consolation, if he chooses, is that he was among the top 10 who earned full status next season on the International Series sanctioned by the Asian Tour. This year, Schniederjans played in 16 events on the Korn Ferry Tour and finished 100th in points.
The winner Lee is 30 years old and captured his first Asian Tour win in 2024 in his 138th career start. This upcoming season will be his first in LIV Golf, though it remains to be determined for which team he’ll play.
All players finishing inside the top 10 will receive exemptions to all 10 tournaments on the International Series in 2025. Six players on the final leaderboard previously did not have that status: Schniederjans plus Australians Brett Coletta and Jack Buchanan, who shared fourth at five-under; Germany’s Max Rottluff, seventh at four-under; and Korea’s Soomin Lee and England’s David Horsey, who were part of the four-way tie for eighth at three-under.
