DORAL, Fla. — Dustin JohnsonAs he watched the final putt of the season roll in, he pumped and waited for it to start.
Another big celebration. Another big check.
Johnson drove the green on 16th par-4 370-yards to make an easy birdie, which gave Johnson some breathing space. Patrick ReedHe birdied the last hole to give his team the lead. 4Aces GC won the season-ending LIV Golf team championship at Trump National Doral by 1 shot Cameron SmithPunch GC.
Johnson won the title of the largest money winner in LIVs first year. Johnson earned $35,637.767, including $18 million for his win in the season-long individual title.
Johnson stated, Its been incredible. Johnson stated, It has been amazing. [are]What makes it so special. This week has been amazing. This season has been amazing and the finale is no exception.
Johnson (70), Reed (75) Talor Gooch(71) Pat Perez(70) shot a total 7 under 281 on Sundays par-72 Sunday — and split $16 millions.
I feel unbelievable, Perez said.
Reed felt even better and made birdie on the final hole to give Johnson a one-shot lead. Johnson was at the par-4 18th hole in 2 when Reed finished. Smith, the other player in Johnson’s twosome, was still waiting for a miracle. Reeds birdie gave him the lead, and Johnson made 2 more putts to make it over.
Reed said, Makes you feel great.
Johnson claimed 14% of the $255 Million in purses and bonuses won in LIVs inaugural season by all players, excluding signing bonuses which were huge and estimated to have been around $200 million. Phil Mickelson, and at least $100,000,000 per player for players like Johnson. Brooks KoepkaAnd Bryson DeChambeau.
Smith (65). Matt Jones (70), Wade Ormsby(73) Marc Leishman(74) finished at 6 over, splitting $8 million. Smash GC — Koepka 74 Peter Uihlein (75), Jason Kokrak(68) Chase Koepka(75). — Split $6 million and ended 4 over
Stinger GC is the team of Louis Oosthuizen (71), Charl Schwartzel (71), Hennie du Plessis (76) and Branden Grace(80), finished at ten over and split $4million.
Johnson stated, Coming down this stretch here, it couldnt be drawn any better with Cam and me battling it out for the team championship.
Next years payouts will be $405 million, as LIV expands from eight to fourteen events. If more players join LIV, there will be additional signing bonuses.
Next year were going to play 14 events, plus … the majors, Mickelson said during the LIV Golf broadcast on YouTube, doing the knock-on-wood-for-luck move before saying the majors. And thats a lot. Next year, I have a lot of golf ahead of me and I want to get back at the level I know I can play.
Majors are still in doubt because much of their qualifying process revolves around world ranking. For the moment, LIV players do not earn points towards their Official World Golf Ranking. They have been trying to change this.
Sundays competition saw 16 players compete with more than $2,000,000 in earnings. But most received much more.
Perez earned just over $8million in seven LIV events. This is more than he made in all five of his PGA Tour years.
Uihlein, who has never won on the PGA Tours Tour, ended his LIV season with just $12.5 million in seven events. This more than doubled his career earnings over 10 years as a professional.
Weve faced a lot of headwinds, LIV CEO & Commissioner Greg NormanDuring the live streamed broadcast, the final round was being announced. Weve survived all the storms, but were here. We have a great team and a great product, and we are off and running.
