MIGUEL Tabuena ended his LIV Golf campaign almost the same way he began it: right near the bottom of the pack.
But he has no regrets.
The experience and the money from this LIV stint, even as a wild card with no team affiliation, go beyond his wildest dreams.
Tabuena shot a final round even par 70 in Indianapolis Sunday (Monday in Manila), the last event of the season for LIV, and stayed at 2 under for the tournament at a tie for 45th place with three others.
His take home pay was a good $44,693 (about P2.7 million). It could have been more, but following LIV’s current predicament, prizes for the season’s final tournament had been cut in half.
That said, the difference between more prize money or less for Tabuena in this event was a matter of one stroke. One less and his prize would have been $64,893; one stroke more and his prize would have been $25,250, the minimum.
Previously, the last 10 players at the bottom of the leaderboard received a minimum prize of $50,000. It is in this category that Tabuena, 31 years old, dropped to nine times out of 12 in LIV’s 2026 schedule.
Clearly, no regrets there, too.
Because for those 12 events, Tabuena’s total payout was $935,526, or about P58 million, at an average of P4.8 million per event. This was just for seven months’ work that began in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where LIV Golf kicked off last February 4, and ended in Indianapolis, USA, this August 23.
The golfer most affected by the reduced purse at Indianapolis was Michael La Sasso, tournament winner. Instead of $4 million, the money received by each of the previous 11 winners of the 12-leg season, La Sasso took home just $2.02 million.
At 22, La Sasso is the youngest winner at LIV golf, but he definitely demonstrated grit and maturity in fending off the league’s biggest stars, among them, major winners Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Sergio Garcia.
He held a one-shot lead at the start of the round and scored a bogey-free 65 to finish at 18 under. He was clutch on the final hole where he scored an up-and-down birdie at the par-5 18th for the clincher.
“I’m completely speechless,” La Sasso said. “I knew coming into this week that something special might happen, and kind of shooting 1-over the first round and looking back at the leaderboard, I didn’t really think I’d be standing here right now. But I was able to putt it off. It’s pretty unbelievable.”
Rahm pursued La Sasso from the get-go. Starting on the second hole of the shotgun-style format, he caught La Sasso with two holes left and moved ahead with a birdie on his penultimate hole, the 18th. But a bogey on his last hole gave La Sasso the opportunity to win it on the 18th.
Rahm settled for second, but won the overall season individual title and its $6 million prize for the third time. Not quite incidentally, Rahm topped the season earnings money list with $18,855 million, followed by Bryson DeChambeau with $14,522 million while third on the list was Joaquin Nieman with $11,072 million.
Meanwhile, Rahm’s team, Legion XIII, won the title for the second straight year. The payout is $8.4 million to be divided by among four team members.
But even as LIV celebrates the conclusion of its season, dark clouds loom. The urgent question is whether there’ll be a 2027 season for the rebel league.
Its existence was placed in doubt after its benefactor, Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which had given birth to it and lavished it with more than $5 billion over the last five years, withdrew its financial backing early this year.
While there have been talks with an interested investor, no one knows what will happen next.
But, for Tabuena, LIV is history. He is not likely to be part of this league even if it survives another season. He stands nearly last in the overall season standings at 54th place among 57 players.
Still, no regrets there.
With it came a good experience and, yes, good money. Golf gave it all to Miguel and his family. It was also good fun while it lasted.
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