By GolfDigestME.com
In Bangkok, two-time major winner Dustin Johnson secured the inaugural LIV Golf Individual Championship in a season which has been defined by consistency and victory, following five top-10 finishes in the opening six events, including a dramatic win at the LIV Golf Invitational Boston.
Johnson created an insurmountable lead in the individual standings with one regular season event remaining, earning three points at Stonehill to add to his 8th place finish in London, 4th in Portland, 3rd in Bedminster, victory in Boston and 3rd in Chicago.
“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,” said LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman.
“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.”
As the regular-season finale, the LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah, presented by Roshn, represented the last chance for players to move into second or third place in the season-long Individual Champion standings and claim one of the bonus prizes from the $30 million purse. Fifteen players entered Jeddah with a mathematical chance to grab one of the other spots.
Portland winner Branden Grace entered the week in second and remained there, despite a WD in Bangkok due to injury and being slowed throughout the week. Grace finished outside the top 24 and thus netted zero points in Jeddah, but his 79 overall points and victory in Portland allowed him to claim the prize for second place.
Peter Uihlein would’ve moved into second had he won the playoff against Brooks Koepka and claimed the 40 points for first place. Instead, he received 30 points for finishing second, which moved him to 79 points. He lost the season-long tiebreaker to Grace, since the South African had the better single-tournament result this year (a win) to Uihlein’s best (a runner-up). Uihlein did win the tiebreaker and the third-place prize over Patrick Reed, who also finished with 79 points after receiving three points for his 17th place in Jeddah. Uihlein’s two best results this season are two runner-ups, while Reed has one runner-up and one third-place finish.
To be eligible for the top three prizes in the season-long Individual Champion competition, players were required to compete in at least four of the seven regular-season Invitational Series events. Johnson, Grace and Uihlein will be celebrated on Sunday, October 30 at the conclusion of the Team Championship in Miami.
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