Dustin Johnson claims 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship crown

Dustin Johnson was the hero till the end. The first Saudi Arabian-funded LIV Golf season wrapped Sunday at Trump National Doral, with the 4 Aces GC claiming the 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship crown. Led by captain Dustin Johnson, the all-American squad of Talor Gooch, Patrick Reed, and Pat Perez will split 16 million U.S. dollars in prize money, earning 4 million dollars each.

Sunday's round was stroke play, with the scores of all 16 players - four on each of the four teams - counting toward a total. As a result, Gooch added a 1-under 71 while Johnson, Perez, and Reed carded a 2-under 70, a combined 7-under 281 on the par-72, one stroke better than Cameron Smith's team, Punch GC. Although Cameron Smith, the world’s no. Three golfers, added a 7-under 65, the best score among the players; Smith’s teammates, including Marc Leishman, shot 2-over par, resulting in second place in the game.

Adding the 4-million-dollar prize money, Johnson made about 17.63 million dollars this season. And the $18 million for claiming the circuit’s season-long points title, Dustin Johnson’s on-course earnings topped 35.63 million dollars. This means he earned about half of the 74.89 million dollars in prize money his 24 PGA Tour victories got him in four months since the first match in June in London. That's 14 percent of the 255 million dollars in purses and bonuses won by all players in LIV's inaugural year. "It has been amazing," said Johnson. "The whole season has just gotten better and better and then obviously this finale has been unbelievable.”

Not only Johnson but also Peter Uihlein got rich. Uihlein made just more than 4 million dollars on the PGA Tour without winning one. He finished second twice in the Individual Champion standings in the 2022 LIV Golf season and won one 2022 invitational in the LIV Golf season, making 12.8 million dollars.

LIV Golf is expanding its series to 14 tournaments from eight on the 2023 schedule for an unprecedented 405 million dollars in purses in the LIV Golf League. LIV Golf is targeting up to four players from the world's top 15.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com