Meanwhile, defending champion Rory McIlroy birdied his final two holes and shot an 8-under-par 62 Sunday to stave off a number of fellow stars and win the RBC Canadian Open at St. George's Golf and Country Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

It was a wire-to-wire win for Schwartzel, who finished at 7-under 203 in the 54-hole tournament to top fellow South African Hennie du Plessis by a stroke. For Schwartzel, it was the first win on either the PGA or European Tour since 2016.

Yet, Schwartzel's double bogey on the par-4 No. 12 made things interesting, but du Plessis could not overtake him.

"It was tough finishing there. I made a bad mistake on 12 which put me on the back foot," Schwartzel said.

"I needed to just stay calm and try and get this thing in the house. 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."

Schwartzel, 37, took home $4.75 million overall by also being on the winning group in the team competition, teaming with du Plessis, Branden Grace, and Louis Oosthuizen.

"Hennie played fantastic golf [...] 25 years old, he's got a bright future," Schwartzel said. "I'm proud of him. Proud of my teammates. This is an historic moment. First LIV League tournament, and man, it's awesome."

Among the Americans in the field, Dustin Johnson finished in eighth place at 1-under par. Phil Mickelson tied for 33rd place at 10 over.

The controversial LIV series lured players with the promises of big money, and the first paychecks did not disappoint.

Du Plessis will take home $2.125 million. Branden Grace and Peter Uihlein tied for third, with each winning $1.5 million, and fifth-place finisher Sam Horsfield pocketed $975,000.

For their efforts, Johnson earned $625,000 and Mickelson $150,000.

Du Plessis, 25, entered the weekend with about $415,000 in career earnings in 32 tournaments on the European Tour.

Also on Saturday, the series announced the signing of 2018 Masters winner Patrick Reed, who has nine PGA Tour titles and nearly $37 million in career earnings.

It was not lost on the participants that Schwartzel's earnings were roughly three times what he made for winning the 2011 Masters ($1.44 million), and much higher than the winner's share in 2022 ($2.7 million).

"Majors is what define our careers," Schwartzel said. "Obviously I was fortunate to win the green jacket and I'm very proud of that. 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."

The next event is set for June 30 to July 2 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club near Portland, Oregon. The inaugural season of the series has eight events in all, with the other six planned to be held in Bedminster, New Jersey; Bolton, Massachusetts; Sugar Grove, Illinois; Bangkok; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Miami, Florida.

 

One more

McIlroy's 19-under 261 was two shots better than Tony Finau and four ahead of Justin Thomas. McIlroy played in the final threesome of the day with Finau and Thomas, who kept it tight up until the final two holes.

The four-time major champion from Northern Ireland earned his 21st career PGA Tour win. He won the Canadian Open in 2019 at a different site, Hamilton Golf and Country Club, and in the two years since the tournament has been on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An outspoken critic of the LIV Golf Invitational Series financed by Saudi money and spearheaded by chief executive officer Greg Norman, McIlroy took time to relish his first PGA Tour victory of the calendar year. In fact, McIlroy surpassed Norman's career mark of 20 wins on tour.

When the moderator of his press conference introduced him, saying he had won for the 21st time, McIlroy interjected, "And one more than Norman."

"I feel like it's getting tougher and tougher to win on the PGA Tour," McIlroy said.

"Just look at the two guys that I played with today. I went out with a lead and had to shoot 8 under par to get the job done. So the depth of talent on this tour is really, really impressive. And going up against guys like JT and Tony and coming out on top, that's something to feel really good about.”

"And then, look, I alluded to it, I had extra motivation of what's going on across the pond," he added later. "The guy that's spearheading that tour has 20 wins on the PGA Tour and I was tied with him and I wanted to get one ahead of him. And I did. So that was really cool for me, just a little sense of pride on that one."