Controversial golf league LIV Golf became officially official this week with its inaugural invitation series. Charl Schwartzel was crowned the winner of the three-day series as it came to a close on Saturday.
Schwartzel is just one of 17 former PGA Tour members that were suspended from the league at the start of the LIV Golf Invitational.
He earned $4.75 million as the first champion in LIV Golf, and also became the champion of the richest tournament in golf history (per ESPN). He expressed his excitement after the win, undoubtedly shocked by the prize pool he collected.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think we could play for that much money in golf,” Schwartzel said, all quotes courtesy of ESPN.
He also addressed criticism surrounding LIV Golf. The league has become highly controversial in recent months because of its involvement with Saudi Arabia.
“Where the money comes from is not something … that I’ve ever looked at playing in my 20 years career. I think if I start digging everywhere where we played, you could find fault in anything.”
Meanwhile, five other former PGA golfers received major backlash for their involvement in the Saudi-Arabia backed league. A 9/11 group sent a scolding letter to Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Kevin Na, Dustin Johnson, and Patrick Reed. The letter accused the golfers of betraying the United States by choosing “Saudi oil money over the September 11 community.”
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