Johnson Receives £16 million For Emerging LIV Golf Inaugural Champion

Dustin Johnson, who was one of the first top-ranked players to pull out from the PGA to the LIV Golf Invitational, has been named the winner of the first LIV Golf championship. For that, he would receive a prize money of £16million. Dustin emerged as the winner after having the most points of any LIV Golf player this season. 

The American has taken part in all six events in the Saudi-backed league, finishing in the top 10 in the first five events. In the sixth event, which was held on Sunday in Bangkok, Johnson finished 16th, but he already had enough points over runner-ups Branden Grace and Patrick Reed. Runner-ups of the event at the end of the season would receive £7.2 and £3.6, respectively. 

In his speech after winning being announced as winner, Johnson expressed his gratitude to Greg Norman, the face of the LIV Golf Invitational. He said: “Locking up the individual competition is big. It’s an honour to be LIV’s first individual season champion.

“I’d like to thank Greg Norman and LIV for their confidence in me, my brother and caddie Austin, my wife Paulina, my 4 Aces team-mates Pat [Perez], Patrick [Reed], and Talor [Gooch], as well as LIV’s growing legion of fans around the world.”

In his turn, LIV Golf CEO Norman extolled Johnson for his support to the league: “the first chapter of LIV Golf’s history could not be written without Dustin Johnson’s name. By any measure, DJ is among the elite players in the world.

“From the start, he’s been a LIV Golf cornerstone. He has more than lived up to his billing, and he deserves immense credit for clinching LIV’s first individual season title. We look forward to a celebration befitting such a champion in Miami at the end of October.”

The first season of the controversial LIV Golf Tour is coming to an end, with just an event left.