Former PGA Tour star Dustin Johnson received a ton of criticism for jumping ship to LIV Golf, but it appears that it was certainly the correct financial move for him and his family.
Johnson was able to clinch the inaugural LIV Golf Individual Championship on Sunday, which netted him $18 million according to the Associated Press.
This only adds to the rest of his earnings in his six events thus far for LIV. Before that, he had already earned $12,758,600 across team and individual LIV competitions.
In total, this means that Johnson has earned over $30 million with the Saudi-backed golf league. And that has certainly raised some eyebrows from some on social media.
https://twitter.com/aaarrow0921/status/1579587167743279104
Absolutely Wild! https://t.co/VFJJZKfje2
— Langston Frazier, PGA (@LangstonFrazier) October 10, 2022
Really sucks that he can’t participate in the ZOZO Championship this weekend though. Bet it’ll be keeping him up all night https://t.co/PeCHDtVP2n
— King Caruso (@RBtakes) October 10, 2022
People will pay you a lot of money to make you forget they bone sawed a guy. https://t.co/fvuLYIpwvZ
— Timothy Simons (@timothycsimons) October 10, 2022
This is just insane. https://t.co/kXYTDTZP2d
— Cody Elliott (@VTCody) October 10, 2022
This money is on top of an even more lucrative contract that Johnson (seen above in a Sept. 18 event) signed with LIV Golf when he joined, which was reportedly about $125 million over four years.
While there are certainly questions that arise morally about joining LIV, there appears to be no doubt that it is the correct decision financially for top golfers to join LIV Golf instead of staying with the PGA Tour.
Aside from FedEx Cup bonuses, Dustin Johnson earned nearly $75 million during his 15 years on the PGA Tour.
Earning nearly half of that in six events for LIV is absolutely absurd, and it certainly makes it more clear why some of the top golfers decided to join the infamous golf league.
Some top PGA Tour players have cited the lack of competition and complaints with their format as a reason for staying away from LIV.
While that is noble, if any player looks at golf strictly as their profession, LIV Golf is clearly the most lucrative golf league in the world right now.
[ESPN.com; photo from Jamie Sabau/USA Today Sports]
