Payday in Mexico
Here's the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2024 LIV Golf League Mayakoba
Jon Rahm prepares to make his LIV Golf debut this week at the league's season-opener in Mexico.
Manuel Velasquez
A 13th team. Wildcard players. A new scoring system. No, the LIV Golf League didn't undergo a complete rebuild to start its 2024 season at Mayakoba Resort in Mexico. But they did do a little remodeling.
However, that didn't stop two of the bigger names from doing battle in a playoff to determine the champion. Only minutes from complete darkness, Joaquin Niemann made birdie on the fourth playoff hole against Sergio Garcia to claim his first LIV Golf individual title and take home the $4 million prize. The two traded pars on each of the first three before Niemann delivered the final blow.
It was a topsy-turvy week for Niemann, 25, who shot 59 in Round 1 and then, after a second-round 70, went to sleep Saturday with a four-shot lead. But when he woke up Sunday for the final round he was assessed a two-stroke penalty for taking an improper drop on the par-5 13th hole. So his lead over new LIV convert Jon Rahm and Dean Burmester was cut in half and down to two.
He actually lost the lead with a few holes remaining, and it looked like it was going to be a dream debut performance with Rahm out in front. Moments later, Garcia joined him and it appeared as it one of the two Spaniards would walk away with the spoils. But Rahm bogeyed his final two holes, Garcia added one himself and ultimately it was Garcia and Niemann in a sudden-death playoff. Niemann lost in a playoff to Dustin Johnson at the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational in Boston in the league's inaugural season.
Niemann and Garcia both shot 12-under-par total. Rahm and Burmester tied for third place at 10 under par. Dustin Johnson, Charles Howell III and Brooks Koepka tied for fifth place.
As for the aforementioned changes.
The most notable were the additions of European Ryder Cup teammates Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. Rahm, the reigning Masters champion, is captain of the “expansion” Legion XIII team, with Hatton joining the squad along with hot-shot amateur-turned-pro Caleb Surratt and LIV Promotions grad Kieran Vincent. They did take home the team title, splitting $3 million between them. The low three scores counted for each team in the first and second rounds, but all four scores counted in the final round.
A 13th team means 52 players in the no-cut 54-hole events. To help then with tournament logistics (keeping threesomes for all three rounds with 54 players), LIV Golf added two spots in the shotgun-start format for golfers competing solely as individuals. Hudson Swafford had one while the other spot will rotate. Laurie Canter, however, has the spot for the first two events.
With additional players came a new prize money payout structure for individual finishes. There is still $20 million on the line overall, the winner still earning a first-place prize money payout of $4 million and finishing 48th still earns $120,000.
Here's the prize money payout break down for every golfer at El Camaleón Golf Course.
INDIVIDUAL
Win: Joaquin Niemann, -12/201, $4,000,000
2: Sergio Garcia, -12/201, $2,250,000
T-3: Jon Rahm, -10/203, $1,250,000
T-3: Dean Burmester, -10/203, $1,250,000
T-5: Dustin Johnson, -8/205, $700,000
T-5: Charles Howell III, -8/205, $700,000
T-5: Brooks Koepka, -8/205, $700,000
T-8: Tyrrell Hatton, -7/206, $457,500
T-8: Louis Oosthuizen, -7/206, $457,500
T-8: Cam Smith, -7/206, $457,500
T-11: Richard Bland, -6/207, $370,000
T-11: Paul Casey, -6/207, $370,000
T-13: Caleb Surratt, -5/208, $330,000
T-13: Sebastian Munoz, -5/208, $330,000
T-15: Talor Gooch, -4/209, $292,500
T-15: Laurie Canter, -4/209, $292,500
T-17: Sam Horsefield, -3/210, $255,000
T-17: Kevin Na, -3/210, $255,000
T-17: Cameron Tringale, -3/210, $255,000
T-17: Patrick Reed, -3/210, $255,000
T-21: Anirban Lahiri, -2/211, $215,000
T-21: Brendan Steele, -2/211, $215,000
T-21: Lucas Herbert, -2/211, $215,000
T-21: Bubba Watson, -2/211, $215,000
T-25: Matt Jones, -1/212, $190,000
T-25: Bryson DeChambeau, -1/212, $190,000
T-25: Marc Leishman, -1/212, $190,000
T-28: Abraham Ancer, E/213, $180,000
T-28: Martin Kaymer, E/213, $170,000
T-28: Matthew Wolff, E/213, $170,000
T-28: Ian Poulter, E/213, $170,000
T-32: Lee Westwood, +1/214, $153,250
T-32: Kalle Samooja, +1/214, $153,250
T-32: Eugenio Chacarra, +1/214, $153,250
T-32: Jason Kokrak, +1/214, $153,250
T-36: Hudson Swafford, +2/215, $144,000
T-36: Henrik Stenson, +2/215, $144,000
T-38: Kieran Vincent, +3/216, $135,200
T-38: Charl Schwartzel, +3/216, $135,200
T-38: Jinichiro Kozuma, +3/216, $135,200
T-38: David Puig, +3/216, $135,200
T-38: Scott Vincent, +3/216, $135,200
T-43: Carlos Ortiz, +4/217, $126,500
T-43: Mito Pereira, +4/217, $126,500
T-43: Graeme McDowell, +4/217, $126,500
T-43: Thomas Pieters, +4/217, $126,500
47: Adrian Meronk, +5/218, $123,000
48: Danny Lee, +6/219, $120,000
49: Brendan Grace, +7/220, $60,000
50: Andy Ogletree, +8/221, $60,000
T-51: Pat Perez, +11/224, $53,333
T-51: Phil Mickelson, +11/224, $53,333
T-51: Peter Uihlein, +11/224, $53,333
54: Harold Varner, +14/227, $50,000
TEAM
Win: Legion XIII (Rahm, Hatton, Vinent, Surratt), -24, $3,000,000
2: Crushers (DeChambeau, Casey, Howell III, Lahiri), -20, $1,500,000
3: Torque (Niemann, Munoz, Pereira, Ortiz), -17, $500,000