Centurion — South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel banked a whopping R75.31m ($4.75m) as he won the first LIV Golf Series event by one shot from countryman Hennie du Plessis at Centurion Club in London on Saturday.
Perhaps inspired by the poor exchange rate with R15.85 to the US dollar, the South African foursome — known as team Stinger — of Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen and Hennie du Plessis also won the team event, and shared $3m (R47.56m) between the four players.
Schwartzel closed with a final round two-over 72 for a seven-under total in the 54-hole event to take first place and claim his first victory since March 2016.
“I’m just proud of how I hung in there. It’s a great feeling,” said Schwartzel after his round.
“This is a historical moment as the first LIV tournament. The amount of money they put up for us, is out of this world.”
King Charl 👑![CDATA[]]>🏆#LIVGolf | @CA_Schwartzel pic.twitter.com/2K1x3daus0
— LIV Golf (@LIVGolfInv) June 11, 2022
The 2011 Masters champion Schwartzel won R63.42m ($4m) for the individual competition and R11.89m ($750k) for the team event. That meant total earnings of R75.31 for three days work for Schwartzel.
As a matter of interest, Schwartzel earned $1.44m for his victory at The Masters 11 years ago — which was his biggest payday of his career until now. In total he has earned $20.9m or R308m on the US PGA Tour and €17.6m or R291m on the DP World Tour (DPWT).
Du Plessis was second on six-under, and earned R33.61m ($2.12m). The previous best paycheque of his career R1.65m (104k Euros) was at the at the ISPS Handa Championship in Spain in April on the DPWT. Add in his R11.89m ($750k) in the team event, and Du Plessis walked away with an incredible R45m ($2.87).
Completing the all South African 1-2-3 was Branden Grace tied for third on on five-under. Grace earned R20.21m ($1.27m) in the individual competition and R11.89m ($750k) for a total of R32.1m ($2.02m) for the week.
Oliver Bekker was sixth on two-under and earned R11.69m ($737.50). With team prize money only on offer for the top three foursomes, Bekker did not earn any extra with his side.
Justin Harding and Oosthuizen both finished in a tie for 10th on one-over, earning R8.19m ($516.66k) each. Oosthuizen’s total earnings with his R11.89m ($750k) for being part of the winning foursome was R20.07m ($1.26).
IOL Sport