Cameron Smith, Talor Gooch and Bryson DeChambeau battle for £18m prize
Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Talor Gooch will vie for an £18m payout in a three-way shoot-out for the LIV Golf individual championship this weekend.
The three men are the only players in contention to finish first in the standings – and bag an £14.5m bonus – in the last counting tournament in Jeddah, which starts on Friday.
Former Open champion Smith is guaranteed to claim first place if he wins at LIV Golf Jeddah, which is worth £3.25m by itself, or finishes second ahead of Gooch.
“It’s something that I’ve worked for,” Smith said in August. “Something that was a goal of mine at the start of the year was to be up there with at least a chance for the last event.”
Gooch can pip Smith if he wins the 54-hole tournament or finishes eight points better than Smith, while in-form DeChambeau is an even longer shot.
Whoever wins is likely to amass at least £30m in prize money from this season of LIV Golf, more than 2022 individual champion Dustin Johnson.
It is also a decisive weekend for the futures of some LIV Golf players, with any finishing 45th or lower relegated from the competition and those outside the top 24 at risk of being dropped or traded out by their teams.
Those in danger include England’s Paul Casey, former US Open champion Graeme MacDowell, Ryder Cup star Thomas Pieters and Masters winner Charl Schwartzel.
Seedings for the Team Championship are also set to be decided, with the top four – currently Johnson’s 4Aces, DeChambeau’s Crushers, Joaquin Niemann’s Torque and Louis Oosthuizen’s Stinger – set to gain a bye for the first round later this month in Miami.