MASSIVE pay day for 4 South Africans at LIV Golf Australia event
It was a lucrative three rounds for the four South Africans in action at the LIV Golf event in Adelaide in Australia.
American Talor Gooch clung on to score a three-stroke victory on Sunday at LIV Golf’s maiden stop in Australia as Chase Koepka sparked wild scenes with a hole-in-one to culminate the rebel tour’s most successful event to date.
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Gooch, who has won once on the PGA Tour, at the RSM Classic last year, hit back-to-back 62s to open up a huge 10-stroke lead heading into the final round at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide.
But he nearly blew it with bogeys at seven and eight followed by a double bogey on 10, reducing his lead to just two from India’s Anirban Lahiri.
He held his nerve to birdie the 11th and 13th, claiming not only the title but a whopping $4 million at the 54-hole, no-cut tournament, the third stop on the circuit’s 14-event schedule.
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Lahiri came second ahead of four players tied for third four shots adrift, including Patrick Reed and British Open champion Cameron Smith.
Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, joint runners up to Spain’s Jon Rahm at the Masters this month, ended seven shots off the pace.
75 000 fans watched LIV Golf event in Australia
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Chase Koepka wrote his name into the history books with an ace at the so-called “watering hole” – the rowdy par-three 12th – celebrating with animated chest bumps as the crowd erupted and rained beer down on him.
In a country starved of top quality golf, it was a sell-out, with some 75 000 people watching the action over three days.
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Large crowds followed Smith, in particular, while bars, pumping music and even a tattoo parlour kept the crowds amused.
Adelaide is locked in to host a LIV event for at least another four years, with players this week voicing support for another one in Australia next year.
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It was a lucrative three rounds for the four South Africans in action.
Dean Burmester and Charl Schwartzel finished in joint-seventh place, earning $533 333 (R9.6 million) each.
Louis Oosthuizen ended tied for 11th which was good enough for $310 000 (R5.6 million), while Branden Grace finished T40 which saw him take home $138 750 (R2.5 million).
But that’s not all!
The quartet combined to finish third in the team competition – playing as the Stinger outfit – which was good enough for another $125 000 each (R2.3 million).
Not bad!
LIV GOLF PAY OUTS
Win: Talor Gooch, 197/-19, $4,000,000
2: Anirban Lahiri, 200/-16, $2,250,000
T-3: Patrick Reed, 201/-15, $1,000,000
T-3: Cameron Smith, 201/-15, $1,000,000
T-3: Cameron Tringale, 201/-15, $1,000,000
T-3: Pat Perez, 201/-15, $1,000,000
T-7: Peter Uihlein, 202/-14, $533,333
T-7: Dean Burmester, 202/-14, $533,333
T-7: Charl Schwartzel, 202/-14, $533,333
10: Dustin Johnson, 203/-13, $415,000
T-11: Jason Kokrak, 204/-12, $310,000
T-11: Bubba Watson, 204/-12, $310,000
T-11: Kevin Na, 204/-12, $310,000
T-11: Sergio Garcia, 204/-12, $310,000
T-11: Henrik Stenson, 204/-12, $310,000
T-11: Phil Mickelson, 204/-12, $310,000
T-11: Harold Varner III, 204/-12, $310,000
T-11: Louis Oosthuizen, 204/-12, $310,000
T-11: Brooks Koepka, 204/-12, $310,000
T-11: Abraham Ancer, 204/-12, $310,000
T-21: Marc Leishman, 205/-11, $230,000
T-21: Charles Howell III, 205/-11, $230,000
T-21: Sebastian Munoz, 205/-11, $230,000
T-24: Chase Koepka, 206/-10, $207,500
T-24: Danny Lee, 206/-10, $207,500
T-26: Ian Poulter, 207/-9, $192,500
T-26: Mito Pereira, 207/-9, $192,500
T-26: Bryson DeChambeau, 207/-9, $192,500
T-26: Brendan Steele, 207/-9, $192,500
T-30: Joaquin Niemann, 208/-8, $177,500
T-30: Bernd Wiesberger, 208/-8, $177,500
T-32: James Piot, 209/-7, $162,500
T-32: Thomas Pieters, 209/-7, $162,500
T-32: David Puig, 209/-7, $162,500
T-32: Richard Bland, 209/-7, $162,500
T-36: Lee Westwood, 210/-6, $147,500
T-36: Carlos Ortiz, 210/-6, $147,500
T-36: Graeme McDowell, 210/-6, $147,500
39: Paul Casey, 212/-4, $142,500
T-40: Scott Vincent, 213/-3, $138,750
T-40: Branden Grace, 213/-3, $138,750
42: Matt Jones, 214/-2, $135,000
43: Jediah Morgan, 215/-1, $132,500
T-44: Matthew Wolff, 216/E, $128,750
T-44: Eugenio Chacarra, 216/E, $128,750
46: Martin Kaymer, 223/+7, $125,000
47: Sihwan Kim, 230/+14, $122,500
WD: Sam Horsfield: $80,000
ALT: Laurie Canter: $40,000
TEAM
Win: 4 Aces (Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Pat Perez, Peter Uihlein) – $3,000,000 ($750 000 each)
2: RangeGoats (Bubba Watson, Harold Varner III, Talor Gooch, Thomas Pieters), $1,500,000 ($375 000 each)
3: Stinger (Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Dean Burmester, Branden Grace) $500,000 ($125 000 each)