HIGHEST-PAID GOLFERS: TOP ON-COURSE EARNINGS SINCE 2023 MASTERS

Talor Gooch Scottie Scheffler Rory McIlroy
The top 20 golfers earned $358 million in winnings and bonuses over the last 12 months and were led by Talor Gooch at $39.5 million.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CORA VELTMAN
Scottie Scheffler enters the 2024 Masters tournament on an absolute tear with a pair of wins and a second-place finish during his last three events. It is more of the same from 2023 when he posted 14 top-five finishes, four more than any other PGA Tour player.

He is the Masters betting favorite at a prime Tiger-like +450, ahead of Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm at +1100, according to FanDuel.

Scheffler’s run has been great for his bank account with $28 million in winnings and bonuses since the 2023 Masters. Yet, the tally lags a golfer who won’t be in Augusta this week, having failed to meet any of the 20 qualifications for an invitation.

Talor Gooch has earned $39.5 million over the past 12 months on the LIV Golf tour, more than any other player in the world, ahead of Viktor Hovland ($32.4 million) and Scheffler.

Gooch, who joined LIV in May 2022 after eight years as a pro, has been the one of the biggest beneficiaries of the new league and its backing by Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion-in-assets Public Investment Fund (PIF). During his time on the PGA Tour, Gooch won a single event and $9 million in cumulative prize money. LIV pried him from the PGA Tour with a $30 million signing bonus; his career winnings on the LIV tour after just two years are an additional $55 million.

The 20 golfers with the most prize money earned over the past 12 months won $358 million from official and unofficial events across the PGA, LIV and DP World tours. The total also includes bonuses from the PGA’s FedEx and Comcast Business programs, as well as the LIV season-long points race. Gooch earned an $18 million bonus for finishing atop the LIV standings, while Hovland also made $18 million for his 2023 FedEx title.

LIV can claim 11 golfers in the top 20, although Rahm generated most of his on-course winnings on the PGA Tour before the Spaniard joined LIV in December with his nine-figure signing bonus. The PGA Tour has banned LIV golfers from its events, but the majors allow the defectors to play if they qualify. Brooks Koepka ($20.1 million) took full advantage of his invites to the four 2023 majors, tallying $5.1 million in winnings fueled by a win at the PGA Championship and runner-up finish at the Masters. Thirteen LIV golfers are in the 2024 Masters field.

The PGA Tour increased prize money last year in direct response to LIV poaching its player roster. The Tour handed out more than $560 million in prize money in 2023, including $100 million for the Player Impact Program (PIP) and $75 million for the Tour Championship, up $140 million from the prior year. The PIP money, which was not included in our on-course amounts, goes to the top 20 players who boosted engagement and publicity for the tour.

In 2023, LIV paid out $405 million over 14 events, including $115 million in team prize money. Our on-course winnings factor in the $50 million in winnings during the season-ending Doral team event but not the other $65 million paid out to teams, as much of that goes toward funding team operating expenses.

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf continue to negotiate the “framework agreement” that was announced in June to merge their commercial operations. The original end-of-year deadline was extended. Last month at his annual news conference before the Players Championship, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan reiterated on multiple occasions, “It’s going to take time.”

Endorsements and LIV Golf signing bonuses are not included in our earnings totals. Sportico’s 2023 list of the highest paid athletes factored in those revenue streams, and 10 golfers cracked the top 100, led by Rahm ($203 million), McIlroy ($77.4 million) and Tiger Woods ($77.2 million).