Before LIV Golf Miami, Stinger GC’s Dean Burmester had been compiling a solid if unspectacular season, with one top-10 finish in his first four events.
That was reflected in the LIV Golf money list, too, with the South African in 13th with prize money of just over $2m. However, that all changed at Trump National Doral, where Burmester claimed his maiden LIV Golf victory after defeating Sergio Garcia in a playoff to claim the first prize of $4m.
That catapulted Burmester to second on the money list with total earnings of $6,051,013, and there are now only three other players in the world who have earned more than him in 2024.
Leading the way in LIV Golf prize money is Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann, who won $385,500 in Miami to take his total earnings for the season to $9,445,500, helped by victories at the season opener in Mexico and LIV Golf Jeddah.
Meanwhile, on the PGA Tour, only two players have scooped more than Burmester so far this year. Scottie Scheffler is out in front on $11,493,235 after an incredible run that included back-to-back wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.
Right behind him on the list is Wyndham Clark, whose $7,951,009 was helped by a $3.6m payday for his victory at the weather-hit Pebble Beach Pro-Am. However, for both Scheffler and Clark their totals have come after playing three more tournaments than Burmester.
While the financial rewards claimed by Burmester are spectacular, there is one thing he doesn’t have for his efforts that the PGA Tour duo have secured - a place at The Masters.
Thanks to LIV Golf’s inability to offer world ranking points, Burmester’s victory didn’t do anything to positively impact his place in the rankings, while, unlike PGA Tour events, his win also didn’t bring him an invite.
Burmester would have needed to have been in the top 50 of the world rankings heading into this week’s Augusta National event to have secured a spot, and he is well short of that target at 116th - three places lower than his position the week before his win.
Following his victory, Burmeister was measured in his response to a question asking if he deserved to be at The Masters, replying: “I can’t say that. I mean I can't say that Augusta, they make their own decisions. But I feel like I’ve played some of the best golf of my career and I feel like I’ve played against a lot of good players all over the world and won and this kind of just proves it. Do I wanna be there? For sure. I obviously wanna be there.”
For Burmester, who also had two DP World Tour wins to close out 2023, that will have to wait for at least another year. For now, he can at least take comfort from the fact that, where prize money is concerned, only three players have bettered his efforts in 2024 so far.
