Charles Howell III dominates first LIV Golf League event of 2023 to earn $4m

Charles Howell III cruised to victory at the first LIV Golf League event of 2023 at Mayakoba. 

The American, 43, had earned approximately approximately $2.7m for the three titles he won on the PGA Tour in more than 600 starts. 

But he picked up a winner's cheque for $4m at El Camaleón in Mexico after decimating the field on the final day with a faultless 8-under 63. 

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Howell finished four strokes clear of American Peter Uihlein and six ahead of South Africa's Branden Grace. 

The journeyman split a further $3m with the Crushers GC - led by Bryson DeChambeau - as they won the team event. 

Anirban Lahiri and England's Paul Casey also form part of DeChambeau's side. This was Howell's first win since 2018.

Once again Dustin Johnson's 4 Aces GC were in the money. They finished second but were nine strokes behind DeChambeau's team. 

Torque GC, comprising of Joaquin Niemann, Sebastian Munoz, Mito Pereira and David Puig finished third. 

The big names struggled this week. Cameron Smith, who is still the highest-ranked LIV Golf player in the world, finished in a tie for fifth at 6-under. 

Smith did, however, play an incredible shot off a cart path in his final round. 

Charles is on cloud nine after securing his first individual and team victory #LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/E7ddYsZ6XW

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) February 26, 2023

On his LIV playing debut, RangeGoats GC captain Bubba Watson finished in a tie for 40th at 6-over par. 

The aforementioned Johnson finished in a tie for 35th with fellow Masters champion Charl Schwartzel at 4-over. 

Phil Mickelson's struggles on the course continued as he finished at 1-over in a tie for 27th with Brooks Koepka, Richard Bland and Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra. 

Sergio Garcia, who this week took aim at Rory McIlroy, finished on level par. 

Sir Nick Faldo has hit back at Garcia, calling the Spaniard 'the most immature' player he has ever seen. 

Also making his debut this week was Belgian Thomas Pieters after joining the circuit last week in a $10m deal after Hudson Swafford confirmed he needed surgery, forcing him to likely miss the entire season. 

Pieters posted rounds of 5-over, 3-under and level par to finish T-32 in the 54-man field. 

This was the first of 14 events in the 2023 campaign. It was also the first time LIV had appeared on a U.S. television network. 

Final leaderboard

C. Howell III -16

P. Uihlein -12

B. Grace -10

P. Casey -7

B. Steele, C. Smith -6

P. Perez, S. Munoz, C. Ortiz, M. Wolff -5

Final team leaderboard

Crushers GC -26

4 Aces GC -17

Torque GC -13

Stinger GC -12

Ripper GC -12

Fireballs GC -11

HyFlyers GC -10

RangeGoats GC -10

Smash GC -6

Iron Heads -1

Majesticks GC -1

Cleeks GC +4

Next page: Nine players who changed their mind about LIV Golf