リブゴルフ、初代王者はＤ・ジョンソン　賞金２６億円獲得

【バンコクＡＦＰ＝時事】サウジアラビアが後援する男子ゴルフの新リーグ、リブゴルフ・インビテーショナルシリーズは１０日、メジャー通算２勝を誇るダスティン・ジョンソン（米国）が個人戦の年間王者になることが確定し、賞金１８００万ドル（約２６億２０００万円）を獲得したと発表した。（写真は男子ゴルフのダスティン・ジョンソン）
　３８歳のジョンソンは、劇的優勝を果たしたシリーズ第４戦の米ボストン大会を含め、ここまで６大会中５大会でトップ１０フィニッシュを記録。９日に最終日を迎えた第６戦のタイ・バンコク大会では１６位だったが、レギュラーシーズン１大会を残して年間順位で逆転不可能なリードを築いた。
　ジョンソンは「個人戦を制したのは大きい。リブゴルフの個人戦で初代王者になれて光栄だ」と喜んだ。
　元世界ランキング１位の名選手で、シリーズの最高経営責任者（ＣＥＯ）を務めるグレッグ・ノーマン氏は、「リブゴルフの歴史の第１章は、ダスティン・ジョンソンの名前なしに書くことはできない」とたたえた。
　「誰がどう見ても、ＤＪ（ジョンソン）は世界のエリートプレーヤーの一人であり、シリーズ開幕からリブゴルフの礎となっている。彼はその期待に十二分に応え、リブゴルフで最初の個人タイトル獲得したことは大きな称賛に値する」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/10/12-13:34）

Two-time major winner Dustin Johnson has pocketed $18 million after securing the inaugural LIV Golf individual championship, organisers of the breakaway tour announced on Monday.
The American has had five top-10 finishes in the opening six events of the Saudi-backed series including a dramatic win at the LIV Golf Invitational Boston.
Johnson, 38, finished 16th at the Bangkok tournament, which ended on Sunday, and now has an insurmountable lead in the individual standings with one regular season event remaining.
South Africa's Branden Grace is second in the individual standings, 42 points behind the former world number one.
Locking up the individual competition is big, said Johnson. It's an honour to be LIV's first individual season champion.
LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, a former world number one, said: The first chapter of LIV Golf's history could not be written without Dustin Johnson's name.
By any measure, DJ is among the elite players in the world. From the start, he's been a LIV Golf cornerstone. He has more than lived up to his billing and he deserves immense credit for clinching LIV's first individual season title.
LIV Golf, which offers huge prize purses, has attracted some of golf's biggest stars including Johnson, British Open champion Cameron Smith and six-time major winner Phil Mickelson.
But it has led to deep splits within the game, with no world ranking points on offer for the rebels.
LIV golfers have been banned from the US PGA Tour, ruling out American players from qualifying for the 2023 Ryder Cup.
European stars to have left for LIV, including stalwarts Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia, have all plummeted down the world rankings and seem unlikely to make Luke Donald's team for the two-yearly contest, which takes place near Rome.