LIV Golf International Series: who is leading in the individual and team format after the London event?
The inaugural event on the LIV Golf calendar has finished and the London Invitational sees Charl Schwartzel and Team Stinger GC take the top prizes.
As the controversial LIV Golf Invitational London Event is now done, South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel comes away with the $4 million top prize, staying ahead of team mate Hennie Du Plessis by one stroke.
Schwartzel plays on the Stinger GC team, who also took the the top team honors. Team mates include team captain Louis Oosthuizen, Hennie du Plessis, and Branden Grace. The top three spots on the player leaderboard were occupied by Schwartzel, Du Plessis, and Grace, with captain Oosthuizen tied for tenth.
Peter Uihlein finished in fourth and Sam Horsfield rounded out the top five. Two of the biggest names to defect from the PGA for the LIV event, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, finished in eighth and tied for 33 respectively.
The startup Greg Norman-led golf circuit has courted controversy for being backed by Saudi financing and planning two stops at Donald Trump-owned courses.
The PGA Tour announced on Thursday that it had suspended the players who are competing in the London event and that players who compete in any LIV events are ineligible to participate on the PGA Tour or any other tours it sanctions.
So far, 20 of the top 100 players in the world have signed on for the circuit, with more likely to join. This is a war that the PGA is certain to lose, with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf offering sizeable payouts, golf must move, however grudgingly, into the free-agent era. And in the end of the day, it is the big-name players that give the PGA Tour its shine, not the other way around.
LIV GOLF London Invitational
Player Leaderboard
- -7 Charl Schwartzel
- -6 Hennie Du Plessis
- -5 Branden Grace
- -5 Peter Uihlein
- -3 Sam Horsfield
- -2 Adrian Otaegui
- -2 Oliver Bekker
- -1 Dustin Johnson
- E Talor Gooch
- +1 Graeme McDowell
- +1 Justin Harding
- +1 Louis Oosthuizen
- +2 Pablo Larrazabal
- +2 Ryosuke Kinoshita
- +3 Martin Kaymer
- +3 Jinichiro Kozuma
- +4 Richard Bland
- +4 JC Ritchie
- +4 Laurie Canter
- +5 Ian Poulter
- +5 Scott Vincent
- +6 Shaun Norris
- +6 Wade Ormsby
- +6 Sergio Garcia
- +7 James Piot
- +7 Matt Jones
- +7 Ian Snyman
- +7 Phachara Khongwatmai
- +8 Lee Westwood
- +9 Hudson Swafford
- +9 Viraj Madappa
- +9 Jediah Morgan
- +10 Kevin Yuan
- +10 Phil Mickelson
- +10 Travis Smith
- +10 Kevin Na
- +10 Chase Koepka
- +11 Blake Windred
- +11 Oliver Fisher
- +11 David Puig
- +11 Kideto Tanihara
- +11 Ratchanon Chantananuwat
- +14 Bernd Wiesberger
- +14 Sihwan Kim
- +15 Turk Pettit
- +17 Sadom Kaewkanjana
- +23 Itthipat Buranatanyarat
- +24 Andy Ogletree
Team Leaderboard
- -20 Stinger GC
- -6 Crushers GC
- -5 Majesticks GC
- -3 Torque GC
- -2 4 Aces GC
- +3 Cleeks GC
- +7 Punch GC
- +8 Miblicks GC
- +10 Smash GC
- +12 Hy Flyers GC
- +13 Fireballs GC
- +16 Iron Heads GC