PACIFIC PALISADES —  Joaquin Niemann’s play during Sunday’s final round of Genesis Open didn’t generate the kind of fireworks that his back-to-back rounds of 63 did during the first two days of the tournament, but it did produce the one thing the Chilean native wanted most, his second career PGA Tour victory.

Choosing to play conservatively over the final 18 holes and make those trying to chase him try to go low in order to catch him, the 23-year-old Niemann fired an even par 71, finishing the event at 19-under 265, good for a two-shot win over Cameron Young and La Cañada native Collin Morikawa who tied for second at 17-under.

Niemann’s four-round total of 265, left him one shot short of tying the all-time tournament mark of 20-under 264. But while he just missed the scoring record, Niemann did become just the fourth player in the history of the Genesis Invitational to go wire-to-wire for the win, and the first to do it since Charlie Sifford accomplished the feat in 1969.

“Obviously it’s the toughest tournament I think during the year. It’s got the best field, the best players are here and that proves to myself that I can compete with the top guys,” Niemann said. “I think it’s going to give me a lot of confidence for what is coming next. Coming in this week I was feeling really confident about my game and I was able to handle it during the week.”

While winning on the PGA Tour is never easy, handling the added pressure of being in the lead from the opening round and managing to come out on top is something that Niemann said will make him a better player moving forward.

“This weekend I was just thinking about I want to win, I want to win. I was deciding on myself and I had the confidence to say that because I was feeling great and I was hitting the ball great,” Niemann said. “I think some tournaments before I didn’t trust myself as much as I did this week. I think that it was something that I had to work on, and I think I did a great job this week. I proved to myself that I can have that confidence to be up here and to battle with the top players in the world. I proved myself a big thing.”

Niemann opened his final round with six straight pars but he had a small hiccup on the par-4, seventh. His tee shot ended up in a fairway bunker and after a mediocre approach shot, Niemann was 60 feet from the pin. He proceeded to three-putt for bogey and his lead fell to a single shot over Young.

But as he did all week, Niemann got back on track the very next hole, bombing a 333-yard drive and then hitting his approach shot to seven feet. Niemann converted the birdie putt. With Young making a bogey, Niemann’s three-shot lead was restored.

“After bogeying No. 7, I knew that I needed to hit a good tee shot on No. 8 because it’s not an easy tee shot,” Niemann said. “I had been hitting my wedges so good this week that I knew that if I hit in the fairway, I had a good chance to make birdie. I hit a great shot. Cameron hit it just over the green and I knew it was my opportunity to come back a little stronger.”

Niemann seemingly slammed the door on the field with chip-in on 11 for eagle, pushing his lead back to five shots with just seven holes left to play. But back-to-back bogeys on holes 14 and 15 gave those chasing Niemann a glimmer of hope and Morikawa, who fired a final round 6-under 66, nearly chased him down.

Morikawa birdied both 16 and 17, and after a great drive on 18, he hit his approach to just under 10 feet, giving him a chance to cut Niemann’s lead to a single shot by making his third straight birdie. With the crowd around the 18th green chanting “Collin, Collin,” Morikawa saw his birdie attempt burn the edge of the cup and just slide past, ending his charge and giving Niemann said two-shot cushion to play the final hole with.

“I told J.J. (his caddie) yesterday if I was within nine I thought I had a chance because you never know what’s going to happen, you really don’t,” Morikawa said. “My game felt really good coming into the week, especially after the couple of not changes but fixes and putting obviously was great. Overall, I’m happy with the way things played out. I wish I had that putt on 18 again, but it is what it is.”

Morikawa chipped in twice during the round, once for birdie on seven and then for eagle on the par-4 10th hole. Both times his shots were met with massive cheers from the large gallery of local fans who came out to support him.

“It feels nice to be back (in Los Angeles). It’s so good to hear the fans. I wish we had more events in L.A. because I definitely felt the energy from them,” Morikawa said.

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Niemann called the last two days of the tournament two of the slowest days of his life. He said everything seemed to be in slow motion, saying even his normal practice sessions seemed to take hours to complete. So, when the final putt dropped in the cup on 18, the young Chilean star felt a wave of relief wash over him.

“I had to be really focused during the round. All I wanted to think about was the next shot and trying to feel my body, how I was feeling, trying to feel the shot I was trying to do,” Niemann  said. “When I finished it was like, hell, yeah, it took forever, we’re finally done, and I can have a smile on my face and just think about it like it was a fun day.”

The feeling of excitement grew even greater for Niemann during the trophy ceremony. First, Niemann got the chance to accept the winner’s trophy and a check for $2.16 million from his idol Tiger Woods, the tournament’s host.

After getting the trophy from Woods, Niemann ran across the 18th green to a large and boisterous group of fans who had been following him all week and showering him with support, so he showed his appreciation by posing for a photo with the group, with trophy in hand.

“There was a lot of Latinos, a lot of Chileans, so you can feel the support of them,” Niemann said. “They cheer differently than the people here. It was special to have them here and spend some time with them. They followed me the whole round so I decided to take a minute with the trophy and take a picture. I think I made their day.”