There is a new Gold Man on @pgatour @TrumpDoral pic.twitter.com/ucR4FbO9Vz

— Adam Schupak (@AdamSchupak) April 28, 2026

That is what greeted players, staff, fans and media as they arrived at Trump Doral for the Cadillac Championship this week. The new Signature Event marks the first time in a decade the PGA Tour has returned to the Donald Trump-badged course, and they received a bright (some might say blinding) welcome from the 15-foot-tall statue of the current President of the United States.

While it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that Trump commissioned the tribute to himself, it was in fact the long-running project of Patriot Token, a right-wing crypto coin that is hoping the statue will encourage the buy-in of big-money investors.

With Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies currently in freefall (BTC and ETH are down 33.39% and 44.81% respectively over the past six months), Patriot Token has an uphill climb ahead of them, especially with a giant statue of a 79-year-old man strapped to their back. Even golf fans on X, which skews broadly right due to the influence of Trump benefactor and owner Elon Musk, were split on the gaudy totem.

Loathe it or love it, the statue represents one of the primary reasons the PGA Tour stepped away from Trump Doral in the first place: Politicisation. The statue is a partisan statement designed to raise capital for an unaffiliated investment group. It’s hard to imagine tour leadership, nor its various financial partners, will be thrilled with the appearance of the literal and figurative lightning rod, but here’s hoping it won’t cast too long a shadow on golf’s much-anticipated return to the Blue Monster.

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Main Image: Adam Schupak / X

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That winner was Marc Leishman who shot four-under on Sunday in the final round to capture his first LIV Golf title. He topped Charl Schwartzel by a shot and Sergio Garcia by two. Leishman’s Ripper GC team, captained by Cameron Smith, with Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones, won the team title and will split another $3 million.

“Yeah, it was an unbelievable leaderboard,” Leishman said. “I saw all the guys right behind me and I knew the holes I had to finish off on. Played probably some of my best golf I’ve ever played today, especially coming off Singapore a couple weeks ago where I think I beat three people. Confidence wasn’t overly high. But I knew things were looking pretty good. I was playing good golf and showed that today.”

Joaquin Niemann remains in the top spot in the season standings after winning twice. Garcia and Jon Rahm are in second and third place, respectively. Garcia’s Fireballs team leads Rahm’s Legion XIII in the team standings.

The week started off by making plenty of headlines for different reasons. Phil Mickelson was in vintage Masters storytelling mode earlier in the week, Brooks Koepka said he thinks his tour should be much further along than it is now, and new CEO, Scott O’Neil admitted that this is a big week for LIV Golf after having been in his role for just three months.

Up next, of course, is the Masters, where 12 LIV Golf members will play. Seven of them—Mickelson, Garcia, Schwartzel, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Patrick Reed—are Masters champions.

Here’s the rundown of what each player earned this week.

INDIVIDUAL

WIN: Marc Leishman, -6, $4 million

2: Charl Schwartzel, -5, $2.25 million

3: Sergio Garcia, -4, $1.5 million

4: Carlos Ortiz, -3, $1 million

5: Bryson DeChambeau, -2, $800,000

6: Phil Mickelson, -1, $700,000

T-7: Harold Varner III, E, $562,500

T-7: Patrick Reed, E, $562,500

T-9: Cameron Smith, +1, $409,167

T-9: Danny Lee, +1, $409,167

T-9: Jon Rahm, +1, $409,167

T-12: Talor Gooch, +2, $350,000

T-12: Charles Howell III, +2, $350,000

T-14: David Puig, +3, $296,250

T-14: Tom McKibbin, +3, $293,750

T-14: Cameron Tringale, +3, $293,750

T-14: Dean Burmester, +3, $293,750

T-18: Anirban Lahiri, +4, $250,000

T-18: Brooks Koepka, +4, $250,000

T-18: Lucas Herbert, +4, $250,000

T-21: Matt Jones, +5, $220,000

T-21: Sebastian Munoz, +5, $220,000

T-21: Peter Uihlein, +5, $220,000

T-24: Caleb Surratt, +6, $195,000

T-24: Young-han Song, +6, $195,000

T-24: Luis Masaveu, +6, $195,000

T-27: Sam Horsfield, +7, $182,500

T-27: Dustin Johnson, +7, $182,500

T-29: Anthony Kim, +8, $167,500

T-29: Martin Kaymer, +8, $167,500

T-29: Paul Casey, +8, $167,500

T-29: Yubin Jang, +8, $167,500

T-33: Tyrrell Hatton, +9, $146,667

T-33: Brendan Steele, +9, $146,667

T-33: Bubba Watson, +9, $146,667

T-33: Ian Poulter, +9, $146,667

T-33: Joaquin Niemann, +9, $146,667

T-33: Louis Oosthuizen, +9, $146,667

T-39: Adrian Meronk, +10, $135,000

T-39: Thomas Pieters, +10, $135,000

T-39: Jason Kokrak, +10, $135,000

42: Matthew Wolff, +12, $130,000

43: Frederik Kjettrup, +13, $128,000

T-44: Graeme McDowell, +14, $126,500

T-44: Kevin Na, +14, $126,500

46: Abraham Ancer, +15, $125,000

T-47: Andy Ogletree, +16, $100,833

T-47: Richard Bland, +16, $100,833

T-47: Henrik Stenson, +16, $100,833

50: Branden Grace, +17, $60,000

51: Lee Westwood, +18, $60,000

52: Mito Pereira, +19, $50,000

T-53: Chieh-Po Lee, +21, $50,000

T-53: Ben Campbell, +21, $50,000

TEAM

WIN: Ripper GC (Smith, Herbert, Jones, Leishman), +4, $3 million

2: Crushers GC (DeChambeau, Casey, Howell III, Lahiri), +12, $1.5 million

3: 4Aces GC (Johnson, Pieters, Reed, Varner III), +17, $500,000

Main Image: Icon Sportswire

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The former PGA Tour host—the tree-lined, water-laden holes at Doral’s Blue Monster course—asked many difficult questions of the players. It’s no wonder Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods and Adam Scott are among winners here.

“This is a major championship feel,” said Phil Mickelson, who won the PGA Tour event at Doral in 2009. “It’s a major championship difficulty and certainly major championship pins. It’s been a really tough test, and you had to fight hard to make pars.”

The stroke average on Day 2 was 75.111, more than three strokes over par and the second most-difficult round since LIV Golf began in 2022. The first of LIV Golf Andalucia at Valderrama last year was the league’s most difficult at +3.519 over par while Friday’s first round at Doral was the third toughest. The final round scoring average at Doral was 73.8— almost two strokes over par.

Sunday, frankly, was carnage, with Bryson DeChambeau one of the contenders eventually demolished by the Blue Monster. He started off in the mix but his charge was crippled by two double bogeys on the front nine. The reigning U.S. Open champion shot 75 to finish fifth at two-under total for the week. Mickelson was also in the mix early but a 73 sank him to sixth place at one under, five back of Leishman.

https://twitter.com/livgolf_league/status/1909006145403969791

Leishman, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, was searching for his first LIV victory since joining in 2022 and first worldwide win in four years since the 2021 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The Aussie charged into the lead with four birdies in the first 10 holes and no dropped shots, setting up a nerve-wracking run home of eight straight gutsy pars. On the brutal par-4 18th, Leishman blocked his drive into the trees on the right and had to punch through a window and lay up short of the water. A classy, flighted wedge got him out of trouble and he drilled a 20-foot par putt to shoot four-under 68. At six-under total, Leishman earned a one-shot victory over Charl Schwartzel. Sergio Garcia was two shots behind in third place.

Garcia still had the 18th to play when Leishman finished and needed birdie to force a playoff but blocked his drive horribly into the trees. He made bogey to drop to third at four under.

“It was an unbelievable leaderboard,” Leishman said. “I saw all the guys right behind me and I knew the holes I had to finish off on. I played some of my best golf I’ve ever played today, especially coming off Singapore a couple weeks ago where I think I beat three people. Confidence wasn’t overly high. To win out here, you’re playing against top fields every week, so yeah, still just letting it sink in.”

Leishman plays on Cam Smith’s all-Australian Ripper GC, who finished four over and won the team competition over DeChambeau’s Crushers GC by eight shots. It was Ripper’s fourth team win in the league.

Lauren Sopourn

Meanwhile, the dozen LIV players headed to Augusta are by no means licking their wounds. Surviving a vicious test has former Masters champions like Garcia—who will play in his 100th career major—and three-time winner Mickelson feeling confident.

“I’m excited about it … I’m hoping that I play great and have a chance and make the cut and have a chance at winning,” Garcia said. “But even if I don’t, I want to enjoy it because I think I deserve it. It’s 100 majors, not a small feat. I want to really enjoy every single one I play.”

Added Mickelson, who at age 52 was T-2 at the 2023 Masters: “Yeah, I’m playing really well. I’m playing good golf. I’m driving it well. I’m hitting good iron shots, putting it well. I’m looking forward to competing at Augusta, a course I know very well, and feel like I have the game now and am hitting the shots to compete.”

Main Image: Lauren Sopourn

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