Entering Sunday with an increasingly better score, LIV Golf star Paul Casey looked like the favorite to win his first DP World Tour title since 2021 in Crans-sur-Sierre. To sweeten the deal on a rather emotional week, the Swiss native pledged to donate all of his prize money from the event to charities working for the Crans-Montana fire victims from New Year’s Day. But while he saved his day to force a four-hole playoff, the tides turned against him.

Casey was vying to win at home to guarantee DP World Tour status for the next two years. But he lost the Omega European Masters to Thriston Lawrence. As it turns out, though, Casey is a man of his word, win or lose, as he showed just how much the tiny Alpine town has won his heart by keeping his promise.

“Despite losing in a sudden-death playoff today at The Omega European Masters, LIV Golf’s Paul Casey will donate his entire tournament winnings ($412,500) to victims impacted by the Crans-Montana fires. Casey now calls Switzerland home and resides there,” reported NUCLR Golf on X.

The Englishman had a three-shot lead heading into the final round after a third-round 63. He is chasing his first DPWT title since 2021, the Dubai Desert Classic. But that cushion slipped away from him in an agonizing fashion.

Casey was leading the round by one on the 72nd hole when his approach shot from the rough bounced off a rock and went over a creek before settling in thick grass. Naturally, it was a critical situation for him, and it led to a bogey, dropping him into a playoff. From there, Casey missed four putts across his final regulation hole and the first three playoff holes.

He had a 30-foot birdie putt to win on the first extra hole. He missed. Then, he had a 10-footer for birdie to win the second time, but he missed right. He then had an 8-foot birdie to win and lipped out again on the right.

That opportunity was taken by South Africa’s Lawrence, who sank a 20-foot birdie on the fourth extra hole to win his third European Masters title. With that, Lawrence matched Seve Ballesteros’s record at the event.

While Casey’s second-place check came to $412,500, he had already decided where the money would go.

Casey had already pledged his entire prize money to a bigger cause

After his third round in the tournament, Casey was rather emotional about how the week had unfolded. But what he remained determined about was, win or lose, his prize money would go where it is most needed.

“I now live in Switzerland, so it would mean an awful lot. It feels like a home week for me,” he said after his third round. “And tomorrow, whatever happens, I hope I win, but I’ll be playing really hard. But I’ll make sure that all my prize money as well is going to the charity and victims of the fire here in Crans-Montana.”

The fire he was referring to broke out at a bar in Crans-Montana in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing 41 people and injuring 115 others. Casey relocated to Switzerland and calls the tournament his home event, which made the tragedy personal. The gesture also came at a low point of his season, a stretch that makes the decision carry more weight.

A golfer with little recent form to lean on still gave away the biggest paycheck of his year. A wrist injury had forced him out of LIV Golf Korea in May and kept him sidelined for stretches after, leaving this week as his only DP World Tour start of the year, played on a sponsor’s invite. Moreover, he hasn’t cracked a DP World Tour top-ten since 2024 and hasn’t played in a major since the 2022 Open Championship.

“This is probably the most emotional [I’ve been on a golf course],” Lawrence said after his win. “I just fought so hard today. I gave it my everything. I feel for Paul; he played great golf and it looked like it was his all day. It’s just the best feeling in the world.

“It’s amazing to play a golf tournament that’s the longest ever [54 years] hosted at the same course [on the DP World Tour]. I never met Seve it’s unbelievable to share that with him.”

But Casey won’t be the last one to look at the bigger picture.

Pro golfers who took the initiative to help others

Casey’s decision isn’t the first time a golfer has redirected winnings toward victims of a crisis. In 2020, South Korean golfer So Yeon Ryu donated her entire winnings from the Korean Women’s Open, roughly $200,000, to COVID-19 relief efforts, becoming one of several golfers who opened their wallets during the pandemic alongside Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau.

The connection to wildfire relief, especially, has also been a recent precedent on tour. Following the Los Angeles fires in January 2025, LPGA sponsors committed $6.5 million toward relief efforts tied to the JM Eagle LA Championship, offering free admission to residents affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires across the tournament’s four competition days.