Two-time major winner Dustin Johnson has received $18m (£16.2m) after being announced as the winner of the inaugural LIV Golf championship.

The individual competition concludes in Jeddah from 14-16 October.

Johnson’s 16th place finish in Bangkok at the weekend left him with an insurmountable 42-point lead.

South Africa’s Branden Grace sits behind the former world number one in the individual standings going into the final event of the Saudi-backed competition.

“Locking up the individual competition is big,” said Johnson.

“It’s an honour to be LIV’s first individual season champion.”

LIV Golf chief Greg Norman said: “The first chapter of LIV Golf’s history could not be written without Dustin Johnson’s name.

“By any measure, Dustin Johnson is among the elite players in the world. From the start, he’s been a LIV Golf cornerstone.

“He has more than lived up to his billing and he deserves immense credit for clinching LIV’s first individual season title.”

The runner-up in the final individual standings will earn $8m (£7.2m), with $4m (£3.6m) awarded to third place.

Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters winner, currently sits in third, ahead of 2022 Open Champion Cameron Smith. But 14 players could yet finish immediately behind Johnson.

Johnson won $4m (3.6m) for his only victory of the series in Boston alone.

The controversial LIV Golf series, which offers a $25m purse at its events, has caused deep division in the sport.

There are currently no world ranking points on offer for those that have chosen to join the series and LIV golfers have been banned from the US PGA Tour.

Following the final individual competition in Jeddah, a season-ending team championship event will be held in Miami between 28-30 October.

That will see LIV Golf’s 12 teams compete for a $50m (£45.2m) prize.