Amateur Who Turned Down 'Crazy' LIV Money Wins First Pro Title

Pierceson Coody won his maiden professional title in just his third event on the Korn Ferry Tour this weekend and has already won $166,125 in the paid ranks. Not a bad start at all.

However, the American could be a multi-millionaire had he not turned down an approach from LIV Golf to feature in the inaugural year of Invitational Series tournaments, where $120,000 goes to the last-place finisher in each of the 48-man events.

Coody has just finished his senior year at the University of Texas, where he was offered a “multi-million-dollar” deal to join LIV Golf. He turned it down and is instead chasing his dream of becoming a fully-fledged PGA Tour player. That dream is closer now after just three starts as a pro, with his Korn Ferry Tour rank now up to 31st. The top 25 make it to the PGA Tour but either way he'll compete at the KFT Finals to attempt to make the jump to the top-tier.

“I might be sitting on my couch with millions in my bank account watching my friends play on the PGA Tour, and that would have been devastating,” Coody, the grandson of 1971 Masters champion Charles, told Golf.com.

“I had people ask me in college if I had been contacted by the LIV tour and I said, ‘No, no, no. When it actually happened, it was easier to say no than I would have imagined.”

LIV Golf told Golf.com that "We have been actively identifying next generation talent," evidence shown by the signings of US Amateur champion James Piot, Spanish amateur David Puig and newly-signed World No.2 amateur Eugenio Chacarra.

Coody won the Live and Work in Maine Open by five strokes and has jumped from 1763rd to 387th in the world in just a few weeks. He was part of the Texas team that recently sealed the NCAA Championship team title.