Charles Howell III shot a tournament-low 63 on Sunday to claim his maiden LIV Golf League title at the Mayakoba Invitational.
The 43-year-old American finished his final day at the famed El Camaleon course with a bogey-free card featuring eight birdies, highlighted by seven gains in a nine-hole span (Nos. 2-10), to reach 16-under par, four clear of Peter Uihlein (68).
For his maiden LIV Golf title, Howell took home a check for $4 million along with 40 LIV Golf ranking points. His team, Crushers GC, also earned the gold medal podium.
Winner’s Circle: LIV Golf Invitational-Mayakoba
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Charles Howell III Pro-File
Name: Charles Howell III
Nickname: “Chucky Three Sticks”
Height: 5′10″
Weight: 160 lb
Nationality: American
Birthdate: June 20, 1979 (age 43)
Native: Augusta, GA
Residence: Orlando, FL
Turned Pro: 2000
Best World Rank: 15 (2003)
LIV Golf Invitational-Mayakoba Leaderboard
Top-10 Finishers
Pos-Player-To Par (Final Rd)
1. Charles Howell III -16 (-8)
2. Peter Uihlein -12 (-3)
3. Branden Grace -10 (-4)
4. Paul Casey -7 (-1)
5. Brendan Steele -6 (-6)
5. Cam Smith -6 (-4)
7. Pat Perez -5 (-5)
7. Sebastian Munoz -5 (-3)
7. Carlos Ortiz -5 (E)
7. Matthew Wolff -5 (E)
Top-3 Teams
Pos-Team-To Par (Final Rd)
1. Crushers -26 (-12)
2. 4 Aces -17 (-5)
3. Torque -13 (-9)
Top-3 Money Makers
Pos-Player (Money)
1. Charles Howell III ($4m)
2. Peter Uihlein ($2.125m)
3. Branden Grace ($1.5m)
Charles Howell’s Winning Stats
Driving: 307.3 yds (9th)
Fairways: 29/42, 67% (T2)
Greens: 43/54, 80% (1st)
Putts/Avg: 27.0 (T10)
Birdies: 19 (1st)
Par-3 Scoring: -4 (4 Birdies, 12 Pars)
Par-4 Scoring: -5 (8 Birdies, 34 Pars, 1 Bogey, 1 Double)
Par-5 Scoring: -7 (7 Birdies, 5 Pars)
Scores: 19 Birdies, 51 Pars, 1 Bogey, 1 Double
3 Questions: Charles Howell III
1. How does it feel?
CHARLES HOWELL III: I think Mayakoba is a special place, and it showed it again today. I know all the players are thrilled to be here and families, so obviously a huge thank you to everyone that had us here and believed in LIV Golf and what we’re doing.
Yeah, and obviously I don’t think you ever see a win coming. I’ve played a lot of golf tournaments in my life, and I haven’t won a lot of them, and you have the doubts and the feelings, will you ever win again, and to do it against this competition with these guys standing up here around is more than I could ever dream of. I’m extremely thankful.
But yeah, it’s a special place, and fortunately I came out on top.
2. Charles, yesterday you told me that this course was 18 birdieable holes and 18 hard holes. It looked like you were playing a different course than Talor and Peter at times.
CHARLES HOWELL III: Yeah, you know, I said that. I obviously played a lot of other events here, and I’ve seen a lot of crazy things happen on every hole out here. I think most guys would agree, if you drive the ball well in the fairway, a lot of holes you can make birdie on. If you miss it just slightly you can make double really quick.
On the 12th tee, example, today, we had our group of three hit seven tee balls off that tee. Talor hit three drives and Peter hit three drives. I mean, that shows you how crazy it is. That can happen at any moment.
I think that goes back to the team thing, as well. You can see massive changes on a golf course like this really. I know we won by a lot, but we were still grinding there towards the end.
3. Charles, your last win game in 2018; you’re playing against an absolutely stacked field. There are 13 major champions out here of the 48 that account for 24 major champion victories. Can you put into context what this win means in that stacked field, being on the top of the leaderboard and on top of that podium?
CHARLES HOWELL III: No, I can’t. First off, extremely grateful and fortunate to do it. No, and I think the depth of the fields out here really need to be talked about and appreciated because these are 48 world class golfers up here. You just take a field sheet and you go down in every single one of them and see their accomplishments, and some of the young guys we have, Eugenio is a good example, won a golf tournament last year. Let’s not sleep on the fact that the extremely young guys out here can play and win, as well.
For me, it’s a huge deal. You’re fortunate to win anywhere, anytime, but against this field that we have, it’s awesome.
WITB: Charles Howell III
Howell secured his maiden LIV Golf title playing a mixed bag of PXG (woods and irons) and PING (driver and wedges) gear.
Charles Howell III’s Winning Golf Bag
Driver: PING G430 (10.5°)
3-wood: PXG 0311 (15°)
7-wood: PXG 0311 (21°)
Irons: PXG 0317 ST (4-PW)
Gap : PING Glide 4.0 (52°)
Sand: PING Glide 4.0 (56Ëš)
Lob: PING Glide 4.0 (60Ëš)
Putter: L.A.B. Golf LINK 1
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Credits: Getty Images, LIV Golf Media
