The astonishing riches available to golfers who crossed to Greg Norman’s LIV Golf league have gone to another level, with Dustin Johnson pocketing a $29m bonus as the fledgling tour’s inaugural player of the year.
His staggering cash haul through the opening six events of the Saudi-backed tour has moved to $49m, which could either be on top of his reported $200m sign-on fee or taken from it.
There has been conjecture that the massive purses awarded to event winners, including the $4m secured by Australian convert Cameron Smith, comes out of their huge sign-on bonuses. That has been denied by LIV officials.
Johnson’s earnings through the six LIV events, with one more in Jeddah followed by the season-ending teams event in Miami, has already eclipsed his most lucrative season on the US PGA Tour in 2020 when he won more than $31m, which included the FedEx Cup.
It took 14 events to rake in that cash, but with two more to come in LIV’s schedule, including the $80m team championship, his earnings could rocket even further.
Norman, LIV Golf’s chief executive and commissioner, called Johnson, a former world No.1 and Masters champion, the “cornerstone” of the league.
“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,” Norman said.
“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.”
Johnson had five top-10 finishes in the first six LIV events, including a win at the LIV Golf Invitational Boston.
Having earned 121 points through the upstart tour’s point system – 42 more than second-placed Branden Grace – he cannot be caught.
“Locking up the individual competition is big. It‘s an honour to be LIV’s first individual season champion,” Johnson, 38, said.
In 15 years on the PGA Tour, Johnson earnt nearly $120m before resigning his membership to join LIV Golf.