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LIV Golf prize money: How much will the players earn in latest event?
LIV Golf hosts a first event in Saudi Arabia this week with Dustin Johnson already emerging victorious in the individual points race.
Now Jeddah welcomes its creation with Phil Mickelson and all poised to showcase the product for the final time before it switches to the team event finale.
It was Spain’s youngster Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra who pulled off a shock win, even for a 48-man field, when he triumphed in Bangkok following his surprise move to join the Saudis over the PGA Tour after leaving college.
There has been more headlines created by Mickelson as he reflects on his controversial comments from earlier this year when he labelled the Saudis as “scary motherf***ers to get involved with. We know they killed Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights.”
But Mickelson now denies doing an interview with journalist Alan Shipnuck: “I will reiterate, I never did an interview with Alan Shipnuck, and I find that my experience with everybody associated with LIV Golf has been nothing but incredibly positive, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for everybody that I’ve been involved with.”
What is LIV Golf?
Reports of a new breakaway league first emerged in 2019 but gathered pace last year as two-time Open champion Greg Norman became the face of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series as its chief executive.
With Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund financing the series, there is a clear link to the Saudi Arabia government, whose record on human rights has been criticised by groups such as Amnesty International.
But what for a long time was considered to be a bargaining threat to the traditional PGA and DP World Tours and nothing more, took shape as the LIV Golf Series, which also features new competition rules and what tournament organisers say is an “exciting” new format.
What are the rules?
LIV Golf Series events will be played over three days and 54 holes, rather than the traditional four-day events with 72 holes. There won’t be a cut, either, so the 48 players who start the week will play all three rounds.
There will also be individual and team competitions within the same event. The individual competition will be won by the player who shoots the lowest score over 54 holes, as normal.
The team competition, however, will be made up of 12 teams of four players, with team captains selecting the teams using a ‘snake draft’ ahead of each event. Teams will also have their own unique names and logos.
In terms of scoring, the best two individual scores will count towards the team’s overall total across the opening two rounds, with the best three scores combining on the third and final round. The team with the lowest overall score at the end of the third round will be the winner.
How will the season work and where is the next event?
Jeddah will be the seventh of the seven ‘regular’ events this year with the team championship forming the final event of the season at Doral in Miami in October.
The team championship will see all 12 teams seeded and a four-day knockout tournament will be played using match play scoring to determine the winner, with a championship match taking place on the final day.
Dustin Johnson was crowned as the individual champion for points accumulated over the ‘regular season’ events.
LIV Golf Bangkok, Stonehill - October 7-9
LIV Golf Jeddah, Royal Greens - October 14-16
LIV Golf Miami, Trump National Doral - October 27-30
When is the Jeddah event?
The 54-hole tournament will begin on Friday 14 October and run through to Sunday 16 October. The first round starts at 10:00am BST) at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in the King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia.
Who is playing?
The biggest names initially included Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia, Charl Schwartzel and Kevin Na. However, after its first event, LIV Golf added major champions Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed to its ranks, before tempting 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson across ahead of Bedminster - at which point the Swede was stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy. Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann were the headline names from the final round of recruitment for this season and make their second appearances in Chicago.
What are the teams and who is in the field?
4 Aces | Dustin Johnson | Pat Perez, Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch |
Cleeks | Martin Kaymer | Graeme McDowell, Richard Bland, Laurie Canter |
Crushers | Bryson DeChambeau | Paul Casey, Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri |
Fireballs | Sergio Garcia | Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra |
Hy Flyers | Phil Mickelson | Bernd Wiesberger, Matthew Wolff, Cameron Tringale |
Iron Heads | Kevin Na | Sadom Kaewkanjana, Phacara Khongwatmai, Sihwan Kim |
Majesticks | Lee Westwood | Ian Poulter, Sam Horsfield, Henrik Stenson |
Niblicks | Bubba Watson (non-playing) | Harold Varner III, Hudson Swafford, James Piot, Turk Petit |
Punch | Cameron Smith | Marc Leishman, Matt Jones, Wade Ormsby |
Smash | Brooks Koepka | Jason Kokrak, Peter Uihlein, Chase Koepka |
Stinger | Louis Oosthuizen | Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Shaun Norris |
Torque | Joaquin Niemann | Scott Vincent, Hideto Tanihara, Jediah Morgan |
Is it on TV?
LIV Golf has yet to be picked up by a major broadcaster in the UK.
However, the action is live streamed for free on the LIV Golf YouTube channel and Facebook page.
How much is the prize money?
Each regular season event will have a prize fund of $25m - every player in the field receives a cut, with a guaranteed $4m for first and $120,000 for last place. Of the $25m, $5m will be split between the top three teams.
The top three players in the overall individual championship will receive a split of $30m, with the overall champion taking $18m, the runner-up receiving $8m and third place getting $4m.
The season-ending team championship has a prize fund of $50m, with the winning team splitting $16m and the team who finishes last receiving $1m. Each player receives a 25 per cent cut.
By comparison, the winner of the PGA Championship, one of golf’s four majors, receives $3m out of a total prize fund of $15m.
Individual prize money
$4,000,000
$2,125,000
$1,500,000
$1,050,000
$975,000
$800,000
$675,000
$625,000
$580,000
$560,000
$540,000
$450,000
$360,000
$270,000
$250,000
$240,000
$232,000
$226,000
$220,000
$200,000
$180,000
$172,000
$170,000
$168,000
$166,000
$164,000
$162,000
$160,000
$158,000
$156,000
$154,000
$152,000
$150,000
$148,000
$146,000
$144,000
$142,000
$140,000
$138,000
$136,000
$134,000
$132,000
$130,000
$128,000
$126,000
$124,000
$122,000
$120,000
Team prize money
$3,000,00
$1,500,000
$500,000
Regular season standings
1 | Dustin Johnson | 121 |
2 | Branden Grace | 79 |
3 | Patrick Reed | 76 |
4 | Cameron Smith | 56 |
5 | Charl Schwartzel | 55 |
6 | Carlos Ortiz | 50 |
7 | Matthew Wolff | 50 |
8 | Peter Uihlein | 49 |
9 | Louis Oosthuizen | 49 |
10 | Talor Gooch | 49 |
11 | Sergio Garcia | 44 |
12 | Joaquin Niemann | 42 |
13 | Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra | 41 |
14 | Henrik Stenson | 40 |
15 | Paul Casey | 40 |
Regular season team standings
RANK | TEAM | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
1 | 4 Aces | 140 |
2 | Crushers | 80 |
3 | Stinger | 72 |
4 | Fireballs | 69 |
5 | Majesticks | 59 |
6 | Torque | 34 |
7 | Iron Heads | 32 |
8 | Smash | 30 |
9 | Hy Flyers | 29 |
10 | Cleeks | 20 |
11 | Punch | 16 |
12 | Niblicks | 13 |
A bye for the top four teams is available for Day 1 of the Team Championship at Trump National Doral.
