By Riath Al-samarrai for The Mail on Sunday

Published: 15:40 EDT, 11 June 2022 | Updated: 16:29 EDT, 11 June 2022

When it was all done, after three uneventful rounds and a few more unconvincing interviews, they brought out the entertainment. On the big stage, there was a performance by Jessie J, a singer famous to many for one particular lyric: 'It's not about the money, money, money.'

With a half decent short game, Greg Norman would probably sign her up – she's already nailed the party line.

Time will tell what happens to this sordid circus that they call the LIV Invitational Series. And likewise its golfers and a sport they have driven into civil war. Will it flourish, as they were told to say on their leaked crib sheets? Or will it become crippled by a legal crisis that has already started, as seems far, far more likely?

All of that is yet to be resolved, but if anything can be declared with certainty, at this very point in an uncertain time, and contrary to so much guff, it was all about the money, money, money.

There giant piles of it, £20million of the stuff. Wired over by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this one tournament in St Albans, like 20million little sponges for 48 golfers to wipe away the international stains caused by the executions of 81 men in a day, or the dismemberment of one problematic journalist.

What does a giant sporting laundrette look like? It's the image of Charl Schwartzel tapping in a bogey at the last to win £3.8million, the spoils of winning the individual and team competitions, and above all a willingness to go with a questionable flow. 

Charl Schwartzel has won the first LIV Invitational Series event with a score of seven-under

The South African led by three strokes before the final day and consolidated with a round of 72

Let that figure breath with a little context – when the same golfer won the Masters in 2011, his cut was £1.1m. The Green Jacket. Augusta. Eleven years on, ranked 126 in the world and winless since 2016, the South African just tripled it for a beating a field at Centurion Club that included a teenager and 25 players outside the top 100.

It was the richest tournament on the golfing calendar and quite possibly its cheapest rolled into one. 

To see Schwartzel's muted reaction upon seeing off a moderate comeback from Hennie Du Plessis – a raised cap, a handshake for his caddie – was a snapshot of the awkwardness that came with this jolting addition to the sporting landscape. Ditto the grin of Hennie Du Plessis, a 25-year-old who came second and pocketed £2.2m on the back of career earnings beneath £400,000.

At least Schwartzel had the realism to admit, unlike a few of his colleagues, that the money had been on his mind, explaining a back-nine wobble where his lead went from five strokes down to one. 'I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't feeling anxious - there was a lot of money at stake,' he said. 

Schwartzel's compatriot Hennie du Plessis finished just one stroke back on six-under par

He also resisted any nauseating temptation there may have been to put this win on some kind of par with his Masters triumph, adding: 'Money is one thing but there you are playing for history. Winning a major will always top anything you do.'

At that point, the awkward question of human rights resurfaced, as it has all week. 'Where the money comes from is not something that I have ever looked at in my career,' he said. 'If I started you could find fault in anything.'

Of course, some faults are easier to spot than others, and no one wears them quite like this tour's commissioner, Norman. Curiously, he has shrunk from view over recent days amid mass media criticism, thereby allowing the players to take a pelting for his creation, but he took to a stage on Saturday night and raved like the leader of a cult, albeit to a small gathering of fans mostly there on freebies. 

'Was that awesome?' he asked them. 'There have been a lot of obstacles and dreams they tried to squash. They can't squash us. Golf will be a force for good.' 

The 37-year-old has claimed $4million for his victory, the biggest pay cheque in golf history

One day someone might explain what good these chips and putts will actually bring to Saudi Arabia and whose agenda it will serve. Or not.

For now, the toothpaste is out of the tube. Golf will have its period of turmoil and further big names will crossover, with no one knowing quite what the end game will be, particularly around the majors and the Ryder Cup. 

At the heart of it all is a rebel series that opened with two relatively flat rounds, and only got going when Schwartzel double bogeyed the 12th in the final loop. Collapsing in sight of the big prize would have been a fine tribute to Greg Norman, but the South African pulled up just in time. He also took the team prize with Du Plessis, Brenden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen.

They all left as rich men, or just richer. And golf? That depends on your point of view.

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