MIAMI — LIV Golf’s inaugural Team Championship in Doral means more to golfers because it pays more.
The three-day competition that began Friday at Trump National Doral Miami continued with the second round on Saturday. The event features a $50 million purse, with the winning team awarded $16 million to split between four players, the second-place team coming away with $8 million to split, the third-place team getting $6 million to split and the fourth-place team earning $4 million to split.
Even the fifth through eighth-place teams that were eliminated on Saturday each got $3 million to split and the ninth through 12th-place teams that were eliminated in Friday’s first round each received $1 million to split. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund finances the controversy-marred LIV Golf league.
“I think you know what’s at stake. I think you want to make more money,” said Harold Varner III, whose team lost on Friday but still came away with a $250,000 share from the $1 million his team was awarded. “If you play well, you’re going to make more. I would love to be playing for another $500,000. That would be great.”
The four teams still alive for this weekend’s $16 million first-place prize are 4 Aces GC (Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez); Stinger GC (Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Hennie du Plessis); Smash GC (Brooks Koepka, Jason Kokrak, Peter Uihlein and Chase Koepka); and Punch GC (Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby). They will compete in twosomes with a shotgun start of 12:15 p.m. in Sunday’s final and deciding round, and all four individual scores will count toward each team’s score in stroke play.
The $50 million purse at stake in the Doral tournament is significantly bigger than the prize pool in each of the previous seven events during LIV’s first season. The first seven events included a prize pool of $20 million for individuals and $5 million for teams, with the first-place individual awarded $4 million and the winning team coming away with $3 million in those tournaments.
There is no individual prize money on the line at Doral since it’s a team competition.
“It’s big time and it’s big-time money. It’s unlimited money,” former President Donald Trump said of LIV Golf on Thursday after playing in the tournament’s pro-am held on his Doral course. “They love golf and the Saudis have done a fantastic job.”
LIV Golf’s lucrative prize pools have allowed some golfers to exceed their career earnings from the PGA Tour in just a few months.
Grace earned about $13.6 million in seven LIV events entering this weekend’s Team Championship, including an $8 million bonus for finishing in second place in the league’s season-long individual standings. He made about $12.3 million in 183 PGA Tour events dating back to 2009.
Uihlein earned about $11.3 million in seven LIV events ahead of this weekend’s competition, including a $4 million bonus for finishing in third place in the season-long individual standings. That’s more than double his earnings on the PGA Tour, where he made about $4 million in 126 PGA Tour events.
Johnson made about $75 million on the PGA Tour. He brought in about $31.6 million through the first seven LIV events, including an $18 million prize for winning the season-long individual title.
“I’m actually a little under where I thought I would be,” Johnson said when asked about his winnings during LIV’s inaugural season. “But you know, I’ve done OK. I didn’t quite reach my goal.”
Johnson will add to his total on Sunday. His team, the top-seeded 4 Aces GC, is one of four still alive for the $16 million first-place prize and is guaranteed at least $4 million just by advancing to the third and final round.
“It’s all about the competition,” Johnson said. “We want to win the first championship of LIV Golf. It’s anybody’s ballgame. Every team up here obviously is playing well. There’s no favorites in my eyes [Sunday]. It’s what four guys can play the best among the teams, obviously, because all four scores count. So everybody on your team has to play well.”
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