Dustin Johnson's 4 Aces Win 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship, Earn $16M Prize

The inaugural season for the LIV Golf Invitational Series reached a dramatic denouement Sunday at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami.

Captained by Dustin Johnson, 4 Aces held off Cameron Smith and Punch GC to win the team competition and collect the $16 million prize for first place.

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LIV Golf Team Championship Standings

1. 4 Aces GC -7 
2. Punch GC -6
3. Smash GC +4
4. Stinger GC +10

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Johnson and Pat Perez both stepped up down the stretch. Perez sank a long birdie putt on No. 9 to give 4 Aces GC a two-shot cushion, and Johnson followed up with a birdie on No. 15 to widen the gap on Punch GC to three shots.

Another pair of rapid-fire birdies from Perez and Johnson maintained that advantage.

Still, Smith wasn't ready to throw in the towel. The Australian had a chance to put his team into the lead but couldn't overcome a poor tee shot on No. 18. Swinging out of the rough to the right of the fairway, he deposited his approach into the gallery surrounding the green.

As that was happening, Patrick Reed birdied No. 2 to restore 4 Aces GC's one-shot edge. Smith nailed a par putt to put the pressure squarely on Johnson. The two-time major champion is no stranger to big moments, and he was money with the tournament hanging in the balance.

Johnson, Reed and Perez were all two under for the day, with Talor Gooch doing his part by ending at one under.

The beauty of LIV Golf's team format is that collective strength is required to win the title. One or two bad showings can torpedo a squad's hopes of finishing on top.

For Stinger GC, the quest for the title was effectively over before the halfway mark after Branden Grace bogeyed No. 2 and then double-bogeyed No. 4. Double bogeys from Charl Schwartzel and Hennie du Plessis on the front nine didn't help, either.

It was largely the same story for Punch GC. Marc Leishman was sitting at three over through two holes and added another bogey on No. 6. He finished at two over, which was enough to stymie the best efforts of teammates Smith, Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby.

Smith did his best to almost single-handedly lift Punch GC to the title. He birdied the 12th hole to bring his team into a tie for the overall lead with seven holes to play.

The 2022 Open Championship winner had the lowest individual score of the round, finishing at seven under.

Early on, it looked like Sunday's final would be a two-horse race between 4 Aces and Smash GC, with the two teams creating some distance on the competition. As 4 Aces maintained a position atop the leaderboard, though, Smash GC wilted on the back nine.

Chase Koepka double-bogeyed Nos. 3 and 7. Brooks Koepka, who started the round on the 10th tee, bogeyed the ninth hole and lost three more shots on his next five holes after making the turn.

LIV Golf isn't going anywhere with its first year now in the books. The series laid out its plans for a 12-team, 14-event 2023 season, and it almost certainly isn't through attempting to poach more stars from the PGA Tour.