Had the 24-year-old American been playing on the PGA Tour this week he would have been heading home after two rounds contemplating a financial loss for his efforts.

Meanwhile at the other end of the field, South African major winner Charl Schwartzel took home the US$4 million first prize after a two-over final round saw him finish at seven-under for the week. The Masters winner one shot in front of compatriot Branden Grace, with Hennie Du Plessis and Peter Uihlein a further shot in arrears.

Schwartzel, Du Plessis, Grace and Louis Oosthuizen also garnered more cash for their team Stinger Golf Club taking a dominant 14 shot win in the group competition.

“Honestly relieved. It was tough finishing there. I made a bad mistake on 12 which put me on the back foot, and I needed to just stay calm and try and get this thing in the house,” Schwartzel said. “I had it in my hands and made it a bit more difficult than it should have been but I'm just proud of how I hung in. Yeah, it's a great feeling.

American Andy Ogletree took home $120,000 for finishing in last at Centurion. PHOTO: Joe Maher/LIV Golf/Getty Images.

“The guys put up an amazing show. You know, what they have done was way beyond our expectations. The entertainment, the way they treat everybody, and the amount of money they put up for us, it's out of this world.”

With no cuts and prizemoney supercharged by the backing of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the other end of the field provided plenty of column space in the lead up to and during the event. Ogletree, the former U.S. Amateur champion, enjoyed easily his biggest pay day – no mean feat considering he was 24-over-par for his three rounds at the opening event at The Centurion near London.

According to the PGA Tour, which Ogletree joined after turning professional in 2020, he has career earnings of $US38,000.

He will no longer be able to play on the PGA Tour after the organisation on Thursday moved to suspend all the players who had jumped on board the LIV bandwagon.

"Major pressure is definitely different. You know, money is one thing but there you're playing for prestige, history. Yeah, winning a major will always top anything you do.” - Charl Schwartzel.

For a player forging a career, getting barred from the PGA Tour would usually amount to financial suicide.

Yet if Ogletree plays in the remaining six individual events this year, even finishing last in all of them, he will be looking at earnings of close to $US1 million.

Wade Ormsby was the best of the Aussies finishing T22 at six-over for US$170,000, Matt Jones next at T25 (US$163,000) with Jed Morgan T30 (US$154,000), Travis Smyth and Kevin Yuan T33 (US$146,000) and Blake Windred T38 (US$136,000) rounding out the Australians.

Smyth did earn a share in the US$1.5 million bonus for his team finishing second, while drawcards Phil Mickelson (T33) and Dustin Johnson (T8) never truly contended for the title.

Although the money dished out to players will create plenty of interest and likely attract more big names to the LIV Golf Invitational Series in the future, the inaugural winner did seem to fall into line with the thought that money isn’t everything when asked to compare winning the biggest individual prize in golf to claiming the green jacket at The Masters.

“I don't know if there's anything that will ever come to a jacket. Majors is what define our careers. Obviously, I was fortunate to win the green jacket and I'm very proud of that,” Schwartzel said. “Yeah, major pressure is definitely different. You know, money is one thing but there you're playing for prestige, history. Yeah, winning a major will always top anything you do.”

- Additional reporting, Jimmy Emanuel