Daniel Berger hits one shot, withdraws, and still collects $50k at Firestone

Daniel Berger may have pulled out of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational after hitting one tee shot in Thursday’s opening round but he won’t go home empty-handed.

The 23-year-old, third-year pro withdrew from the event with a shoulder injury and will cash a check for $50,500 — the amount that goes to the last-place finisher — for just showing up. That’s the beauty of the high-stakes, no-cut affair taking place this week at Firestone Country Club.

Daniel Berger shows up to the first tee with a ski mask on, hits his tee shot, yells "PUT THE MONEY IN THE BAG" and leaves with $50,000.

— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) June 30, 2016

Thursday marked the second WGC contest Berger, the winner of this year’s FedEx St. Jude Classic, bowed out of early. He quit the WGC-Dell Match Play in March after hurting his wrist when his club nicked a stone wall on the downswing. He was all square with Phil Mickelson on the 18th hole when the incident occurred.

This is a big reason why all these players show up to every WGC event. It's free money, ranging from a $1.62M winner's check to anywhere from $45-50k for coming in dead last. At Doral in March, Steven Bowditch was a ridiculous 37-over par through four rounds (remember, there's no cut so you're guaranteed four loops). That was 14 shots worse than the second-to-last-place finisher, but Bowditch still went home happy with a $48,000 check.

Berger takes home slightly more than that and doesn't have to suffer through the ignominy of four awful rounds.

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