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Dustin Johnson confirmed as LIV Golf Individual Champion, takes home an additional $18 million — with two more events to go!

Matt Smith — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 12:57:05 +0000

By Matt Smith
Sometimes you just realise you are in the wrong job. Even more so if you spend a lot of your working life on or near a golf course.

Two-time major winner Dustin Johnson woke up $18 million richer on Monday morning after his 9-under, 16th-place finish and a fortuitous/cruel twist of fate confirmed him as the inaugural LIV Golf Individual Championship, well, champ.

Despite already having banked $12.75 million and change after six events in the lucrative new series that offers total purses of $25 million for each event, DJ has pocketed an individual extra $18 million. His performance at Stonehill in Thailand was enough to take him out of reach of his competitors in the LIV Golf individual points standings.

With a consistent season so far that has seen two third-place finishes and a brilliant win in Boston over six events, Johnson has accumulated 121 points (40 points are awarded for a win and decline respectively as you go down the leaderboard).

His nearest challenger was South African Branden Grace, who was leading in Bangkok and had a chance of overtaking the American at the top of the standings, before a muscle injury forced him to withdraw in Bangkok and forgo his potential points total. He earned zero points, zero dollars and is a major doubt for this week’s event in Jeddah.

All of which meant Johnson’s total was insurmountable ahead of the finale in Saudi Arabia.

“Locking up the individual competition is big. It’s an honour to be LIV’s first individual season champion,” said Johnson. “I’d like to thank Greg Norman and LIV for their confidence in me, my brother and caddie Austin, my wife Paulina, my Four Aces teammates Pat (Perez), Patrick (Reed) and Talor (Gooch), as well as LIV’s growing legion of fans around the world.

Introducing your 2022 LIV Golf Individual Champion ???#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/WCNHcBX7cK

— LIV Golf (@LIVGolfInv) October 10, 2022

While Johnson can boost his season earnings further in Jeddah, the team format allows his bank manager to rub his hands with glee ahead of the money-spinning $50 million Team Championship in Miami at the end of the month.

Johnson’s 4 Aces also lead the way in the team standings and are guaranteed No. 1 seeding and a Day 1 bye.

“Our team is in a really good position with two events to go and I’m looking forward to further contributing to LIV Golf’s exciting story and continued growth.”

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman added: “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.”

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Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 13:17:08 +0000

By GolfDigestME.com
The plan was both creative and audacious at the same time. By partnering with the developmental MENA Tour, already approved by the Official World Golf Ranking, LIV Golf seemed to have identified a credible path to have its Invitational Series events finally receive the World Ranking status circuit have craved. But with the OWGR not quite ready to sign off on a deal just yet, the focus once again turns to the fairways as LIV Golf’s sixth event takes place at Stonehill, Bangkok — without any points on offer.

Just as they have in the five previous events on LIV’s inaugural 2022 schedule, they will be earning some very large prize money payouts.

Eugenio Chacarra, Sunday’s three-shot winner of the 54-hole individual competition, earned $4 million for his victory from an overall purse of $20 million. The 22-year-old Spaniard, an All-American at Oklahoma State who gave up his senior season to turn pro this summer and sign with LIV, shot a final-round 69 to cruise to the title after starting the day at Stonehill Golf Club with a five-shot edge.Along with the individual event, there is a team competition that paid out $5 million overall. The Fireballs (Sergio Garcia, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz and Lopez-Chacarra) ended the 4 Aces run of four straight team wins, shooting a collective 45 under.Here are the prize money payouts for the entire field at Stonehill.

INDIVIDUAL
Win: Eugenio Chacarra, -19, $4,000,000
2: Patrick Reed, -16, $2,125,000
T-3: Paul Casey, -15, $1,175,000
T-3: Richard Bland, -15, $1,175,000
T-3: Sihwan Kim, -15, $1,175,000
T-6: James Piot, -14, $737,500
T-6: Harold Varner III, -14, $737,500
T-8: Charles Howell III, -13, $602,500
T-8: Brooks Koepka, -13, $602,500
T-10: Abraham Ancer, -11, $477,500
T-10: Laurie Canter, -11, $477,500
T-10: Ian Poulter, -11, $477,500
T-10: Marc Leishman, -11, $477,500
14: Bryson DeChambeau, -10, $270,000
T-15: Matt Jones, -9, $233,600
T-15: Dustin Johnson, -9, $233,600
T-15: Phil Mickelson, -9, $233,600
T-15: Carlos Ortiz, -9, $233,600
T-15: Lee Westwood, -9, $233,600
T-20: Joaquin Niemann, -8, $174,285
T-20: Sergio Garcia, -8, $174,285
T-20: Sadom Kaewkaniana, -8, $174,285
T-20: Peter Uihlein, -8, $174,285
T-20: Talor Gooch, -8, $174,285
T-20: Jediah Morgan, -8, $174,285
T-20: Kevin Na, -8, $174,285
T-27: Charl Schwartzel, -7, $157,000
T-27: Phachara Khongwatmai, -7, $157,000
T-27: Shaun Norris, -7, $157,000
T-27: Jason Kokrak, -7, $157,000
T-27: Turk Pettit, -7, $157,000
T-27: Wade Ormsby, -7, $157,000
T-33: Chase Koepka, -6, $144,000
T-33: Sam Horsfield, -6, $144,000
T-33: Bernd Wiesberger, -6, $144,000
T-33: Henrik Stenson, -6, $144,000
T-33: Martin Kaymer, -6, $144,000
T-33: Hudson Swafford, -6, $144,000
T-33: Cameron Tringale, -6, $144,000
40: Pat Perez, -5, $136,000
T-41: Anirban Lahiri, -4, $131,000
T-41: Cameron Smith, -4, $131,000
T-41: Graeme McDowell, -4, $131,000
T-41: Matthew Wolff, -4, $131,000
T-45: Louis Oosthuizen, E, $125,000
T-45: Scott Vincent, E, $125,000
47: Hideto Tanihara, +1, $122,000
48: Branden Grace, WD, $120,000
TEAM
Win: Fireballs (Sergio Garcia, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra), $3,000,000, -45
2: Crushers (Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Casey, Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri) $1,500,000, -38
3: Cleeks (Richard Bland, Laurie Canter, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell), $500,000, -37

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Eugenio Chacarra claims wire-to-wire victory at LIV Golf Bangkok for first pro crown and $4.75m

Matt Smith — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 08:32:54 +0000

By Matt Smith
Spanish youngster Eugenio Chacarra held his nerve and held off Patrick Reed to claim his first professional title of his young career at LIV Golf Bangkok on Sunday.

The 22-year-old had a response every time Reed, the two-time major winner, closed the gap and — following a 90-minute rainstorm delay — when the American dropped a shot by finding the water on 16, Chacarra never looked back to pick up the $4million winner’s cheque in Thailand, only a few months after turning pro in time for the LIVE Golf Portland event in July.

As if that was not enough, Chacarra’s Fireballs, captained by Sergio Garcia, also won the team event, meaning the foursome will pick up a share of an extra $3 million.

The post Eugenio Chacarra claims wire-to-wire victory at LIV Golf Bangkok for first pro crown and $4.75m appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

LOOK: LIV Golf Bangkok final-round pairings revealed

Matt Smith — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 16:19:46 +0000

By Matt Smith
Eugenio Chacarra will have the honour on Sunday as he leads off the LIV Golf Bangkok final-round shotgun start from hole 1.

The Spaniard has a five-stroke lead over a bunch of players including Harold Varner III, Patrick Reed, Sihwan Kim and Chicarra’s fellow first-round leader Richard Bland.

One player missing from the final field at Stonehill is Branden Grace. The South African had to withdraw from the lead on Saturday with a side muscle injury.

Here’s the full field for Sunday:

LIV Golf pairings for round 3 in Bangkok

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Watch: Day 2 highlights from LIV Golf Bangkok

Matt Smith — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 10:32:05 +0000

By Matt Smith
Catch up with the highlights from Round 2 of the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok as Spanish Youngster Eugenio Chacarra stretched his lead to five strokes at Stonehill in Thailand. Watch below…

[parone_video_player content-key=”fe2Fb1Eb62BDEdCaAd91″ campaign=”fe2Fb1Eb62BDEdCaAd91″ defaultlang=”en” feed=”51-all-videos”/]

This was after co-leader Branden Grace was forced to withdraw after three holes due to a side muscle injury.

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Day 2 pairings revealed for LIV Golf Bangkok

Matt Smith — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 12:39:48 +0000

By Matt Smith
Following a dazzling display from young and old(er) as the likes of Eugenio Chacarra, Branden Grace and Richard Bland led the way after day 1 of the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok on Friday, the pairings have been reveals for Saturday’s second round.

Take a look to make sure you follow your favourites from 10.15am local time (7.15am UAE time) early on Saturday at Stonehill.

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Get to know Stonehill, the new ‘Pride of the Nation’ course hosting LIV Golf Bangkok

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 06:17:27 +0000

By Mike McAllister, Contributing Writer
When the 48 players in this week’s LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok tee off on Friday morning, they will be playing a new course. Stonehill, in fact, is essentially brand-new, having just opened in August.

“I think they said there were only 15 rounds played before we got here,” said Dustin Johnson, the 4 Aces GC captain and individual points leader this season.

It’s not often that world-class golfers get the opportunity to compete on a course this early in its existence, untrodden for the most part. They will be hitting shots from places that had not seen a golf ball prior to tournament week.

“In terms of the conditions, it’s pristine. It’s holy ground,” said India’s Anirban Lahiri. “It’s so pure out there. I would say this is the closest you’d come to maybe compare to conditions in Augusta [National], just in terms of the pure turf conditions. It’s phenomenal.”

Phil Mickelson, making his first trip to Thailand, said Stonehill was “in incredible shape. I don’t know if I’ve seen a golf course in this good a condition”.

The founders of Stonehill are Sarath Ratanavadi, the CEO of Golf Energy Development Group, and his son Ing, the club’s executive director. Golf course architect Kyle Phillips, whose CV includes top courses such as Kingsbarns in Scotland and South Cape in Korea, designed the 7,815-yard par-72 layout.

LIV Golf Chief Events Officer Ron Cross has known both Sarath and Ing for more than a decade, their paths first crossing at the Asian Amateur Championship, and they’ve continued to stay in touch. When Cross was initially made aware of the course several years ago, it was through artist renderings. Earlier this year, as LIV Golf officials were determining course selection for the inaugural season, Cross made a site visit and saw those renderings turned into reality.

He knew Stonehill was going to be special.

“Just the attention to detail and the way they were thinking of the design,” Cross said. “It’s spectacular.”

While Thai golfers Phachara Khongwatmai and Sadom Kaewkanjana will enjoy the advantage of home support, they won’t have local knowledge advantage, as neither player had seen it until this week. Still, they understand the significance of it hosting LIV Golf’s first event in Asia.

“The pride of the nation,” Khongwatmai said of Stonehill.

“One of the best I’ve ever played in Asia,” added Kaewkanjana.

As for how the course will play and which golfers it may favour, well … it is more than 7,800 yards, with three par 5s over 600 yards and five par 4s over 490 yards. With rain a possibility this week, there may not be much run out. Bombers should have an advantage, especially on the wide fairways.

“Think I need to eat a lot of curry and pad Thai maybe and help my distance, find another 30 yards before I tee off,” said Kevin Na, captain of the Iron Heads team that includes both Thai players. “It’s a very, very long golf course.”

“Obviously the rain doesn’t make it any shorter,” said Majesticks captain Lee Westwood. “I think it’ll favour the longer hitters, and I think the scoring will be pretty good out there.”

The course’s defences are the green complexes. Lahiri considers Stonehill a second-shot course because ball placement will be key.

“The biggest defence on this golf course are definitely the greens,” he said. “How you manage the greens, how you putt, where you leave yourself is key.”

Westwood and his Majesticks teammate Ian Poulter concur.

“Positional play into the greens, distance control … is paramount,” Poulter said. “We’ve all got new green complexes this week, so nobody is going to be at the advantage of having the reads on some of the putts.

“From that aspect, level playing field, and it should give every team an opportunity, do their homework before we play on Friday and hopefully Majesticks can have a really strong week.”

As for the key stretch of holes? Look to the traditional closing holes – the 171-yard par-3 16th, 603-yard par-5 17th and 495-yard par-4 18th. The greens are all guarded by water hazards.

Putting a target score on an unknown course is a futile exercise, and the course set-up and wind will be factors in determining the winning number.

“If you’re hitting your irons good, you can score,” Johnson said. “But if you get out of position, it’s going to be really tough to get up and down. I don’t think you’re going to see low numbers. If you’re not controlling the ball, it’s going to be a long day.”

“You have no clue,” Na said. “I can shoot 2 under and feel like I didn’t play that great, and it could be a good score, or I could shoot 5 under and feel like I played amazing and I could be four back of the lead. You just don’t know.”

The unknown will be part of the fun this week at Stonehill, as well as the opportunity to compete on golf’s latest gem. As Lahiri, no stranger to golf in Asia, said, “It’s ridiculous how good it is.”

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Perez set to bring LIV Golf party to Asia for Thailand and Saudi Arabia events

Matt Smith — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 08:59:33 +0000

By Matt Smith
Following Cameron Smith’s sensational triumph at Rich Harvest Farms outside Chicago, LIV Golf has truly brought the party to the golfing world.

The 54-hole, no-cut, shotgun extravaganza heads to Asia for the final two main-season events in Thailand and Saudi Arabia in October.

First up to the stop at Stonehill Golf Course in Bangkok on October 7-9 before the inaugural series wraps up its individual season at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Jeddah from October 14-16. The Team Championship concludes at Trump National Doral Miami at the end of the month.

Dustin Johnson leads the individual standings and his 4 Aces team of Patrick Reed, Pat Perez and Talor Gooch has thrived in the upbeat atmosphere. In Chicago, the team earned its fourth consecutive team trophy thanks to Reed’s final-round 68 — including two chip-ins for eagle and birdie — a 69 from Perez, and a birdie putt for 70 from captain Johnson on the last hole. Their final score of 24-under overall placed them one ahead of the Smash team of Peter Uihlein, four-time major winner Brooks Koepka, his brother Chase and Jason Kokrak.

The 4 Aces praised the fans for the atmosphere they have brought to the tournaments throughout the season, with Johnson labelling the supporters ‘unbelievable’.

“The fans have been amazing at every event,” added Perez. They are behind us, they’re for it. They get to see top players every day. You’re getting top players to compete every day. It is incredible, and the fan support has been amazing out there every week.”

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Ladies European Tour: Aramco Series team champ Hillier joins hole-in-one party at Jabra Ladies Open in France

Matt Smith — Sat, 21 May 2022 08:13:36 +0000

By Matt Smith
Whitney Hillier joined the hole-in-one party at the eighth hole of the Evian Resort Club to take the lead in the Jabra Ladies Open.

The Australian became the fourth player in two days to ace the hole, and is now in the driving seat to follow up her Aramco Team Series — Bangkok success with another victory, this time in France.

Hillier, who led her side to the team title in Bangkok last week, used her 8-iron to hole out from 140 yards on a warm and windy afternoon in Evian-Les-Bains.

Earlier, Amy Boulden, Felicity Johnson and Aditi Ashok all holed hrom the tee on the eighth in the same tournament.

Hillier held on to post a level-par round of 71 for a 36-hole total of four-under-par and takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the tournament, where the winner will earn a place in The Amundi Evian Championship.

The recent South African Women’s Open champion Lee-Anne Pace and the first-round leader Carmen Alonso share second position.

A stroke further back in a tie for fourth, Maggie Simmermacher had the round of the day – a five-under-par 66 – to sit alongside Tiia Koivisto and Johanna Gustavsson.

.@WhitneyHillier aced the par-three eighth hole at the Jabra Ladies Open today, which gives us an excellent excuse to wheel out this old gem ?

Mike Dean certainly enjoyed that one! ?#RaiseOurGame | #JabraLadiesOpen pic.twitter.com/ja8Dfvo19B

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) May 20, 2022

But Hillier was all smiles on the second day.

She said: “I’ve just been laughing all day long with George, my caddie.

“This was my fifth hole-in-one, so it was pretty special. I saw that two players had already made hole in ones this morning so it was in my head and then it just happened.

“I’ve had two holes-in-one this year already, one in Melbourne: crazy.

Hillier won the Team element of the Aramco Team Series — Bangkok at the weekend, but is yet to taste an individual victory on the LET.

While former Order of Merit winner Pace has 11 LET titles on her resume, Alonso is also gunning for her first win on Tour.

She said: “The beginning was OK, it wasn’t windy and the sun was out, but the last ten holes were hard with the wind, and on this course it’s really tough.”

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Watch: ‘One of the best pars in history’ — LET pro Chloe Williams takes a tumble at Aramco Team Series, and her reaction is worth a prize

Matt Smith — Sun, 15 May 2022 07:13:13 +0000

By Matt Smith
Amid all the high drama and $1 million on the line, there was a comedy moment at the Aramco Team Series — Bangkok.

It was something out of a slapstick ‘Carry On’ flick, and after seeing it, we’re not sure which was funnier on Saturday: the hilarious way Ladies European Tour star Chloe Williams flipped backward over a sign, or her reaction upon seeing replays of it. Call it a dead heat, because Chloe was a great sport about it.

The setup: Wales star Williams was lining up her tee shot on the par-3 sixth in the LET’s Aramco Team Series — Bangkok, and in the background were on-course billboards advertising the Saudi Arabian destination of Diriyah. The red sand and colours are right behind her and there was a small piece of wooden ‘rock’ behind the tee that gave the ads a 3D quality. As Williams backed up to visualise her shot, the facade clipped her at the knees, and she tumbled backwards, her legs flying up in the air.

Final day fail for @ChloeWills95 ??#RaiseOurGame | #BringTheEnergy pic.twitter.com/NnADMIi2lU

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) May 14, 2022

The LET players are so accessible that an on-course reporter caught up to Williams later in the round — while she was still competing — to share the video with her. Williams got quite the kick out of it.

“I’m sorry, I’ve only just seen this,” Williams said as she watched the video on the reporter’s phone “Honestly, it’s just brilliant. I’m just glad I could contribute some fun for the group.”

The hardest part, Williams confessed, was that she still had the shot to hit while her partners were in hysterics. She smoothed a nice iron on to the green and made par. “I said to the girls, that was one of my best pars in history,” Williams said, still laughing.

In the 54-hole tournament, Williams closed with a 76 and tied for 52nd. The winner was Belgium’s Manon De Roey, who shot 66 to overtake overnight leader Patty Tavatanakit.

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