Schwartzel came in on the final day with a three-shot lead and did enough to hold on to Du Plessis despite finishing 2 out of 72 for a total of 7 under 203.
It is the first of eight events in the first year of LIV Golf, which began with the backdrop of the PGA Tour banning players from signing up. The European tour has yet to comment on any sanctions for players who jumped on the series without their approval.
Hennie Du Plessis and Charl Schwartzel celebrate after their Stinger team did the team event. Credit: AP Photo
A total of 20 players have dropped out of the PGA Tour, with Patrick Reed, the last Masters champion, confirmed on Saturday that he is signing up for LIV Golf when the final round was being completed.
However, the lucrative rewards for joining the series supported by the Public Investment Fund have not been enough to attract any player ranked in the top 10 in the world.
Reed, who has earned nearly $ 37 million in a decade on the PGA Tour, ranks 36th. The only major victory for the 31-year-old American was the 2018 Masters.
After participating in three Ryder Cups, where he has been one of the most cheeky characters on the American team, Reed’s decision could make him ineligible for selection in the future.
Reed said he would debut at the second stop of the LIV Golf Series in Portland, Oregon, June 30-July 2.
Saudi Arabia’s track record of human rights violations has drawn criticism from groups, including Amnesty International, that the country is “washing its sporting image” by investing in the registration of sports stars.
LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, who did not speak to the media at the event, described the series as “strength for good” in a speech at the victory ceremony, without addressing criticism of the Saudi project.
LIV Golf plays with financial generosity. PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan told the stage that there would be a $ 54 million prize for any player who could reach an unlikely 54 in a LIV event.
For many in the United States, Saudi Arabia will be associated forever with the sinking of World Trade Towers and the deaths of nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001. All but four of the 19 hijackers in the United States. by September they were Saudi citizens, and the Saudi kingdom was the cradle of Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda and the mastermind of the attack.
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Terry Strada, national president of 9/11 Families United, has sent a letter to representatives of LIV Golf stars asking them to reconsider their participation in the series. Her husband, Tom, died when a hijacked plane flew to the World Trade Center.
“Given the role of Saudi Arabia in the deaths of our loved ones and those injured on September 11, our fellow Americans, we are angry that you are so willing to help the Saudis cover this story in the your request for ‘respectability’ “, Strada. he wrote, accusing players of betraying US interests.
Strada’s letter was sent to Reed’s agents, as well as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Kevin Na.
“When you partner with the Saudis, you become complicit in their whitening and help them give them the reputable coverage they so long for and are willing to pay generously for manufacturing,” Strada wrote.
“Saudis don’t care about the deep-rooted sportiness of golf or its origins as a game of knights based on core values of mutual respect and personal integrity. to do so “.
The families of the victims are trying to hold Saudi Arabia accountable in New York, despite its government’s insistence that any accusation of complicity in the terrorist attacks is “categorically false.”
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