It’s considered common knowledge that golfers can earn massive amounts of money across a career. Moreover, their earnings are not limited to prize money alone. Someone like Tiger Woods, one of the most marketable athletes in sports history, earned 100s of millions of more through endorsements of companies like Nike.
Nonetheless, the prize money for elite tournaments is hefty. For example, the 2025 Masters has a purse of $20 million, and the winner will get $3.6 million of that. In addition, we now have the advent of LIV Golf, which pays players even more significant sums. The Saudi Public Investment Fund backs it, offering contracts worth several hundred million to top stars like Jon Rahm.
Yet, the most straightforward metric to look at tournament earnings as a gauge of success is the PGA all-time money list. Below, we will discuss the top five earners. You can probably guess the player in the number one spot:
1. Tiger Woods – $120,999,166
As mentioned, Woods is seen as synonymous with golf’s largess. His career is not officially over, so he could still add to his tally, but serious injuries have blighted him over the last decade, so the majority of these earnings came in his golden era of the late 1990s and 2000s.
Woods won 15 majors in his career and 82 PGA Tour events overall. He spent more time as world number one than any other player. What more can be said? He is golf’s biggest phenom. Who knows how much more he could have won had injuries not shortened his career?
2. Rory McIlroy – $100 046,906
Rory McIlroy is still very much an active player. Indeed, he and Scottie Scheffler (see below) are the favorites in the Masters 2025 odds for the upcoming tournament, so both players will likely increase their totals here significantly. Nonetheless, McIlroy is a good bet to overhaul Woods in the next few years.
He still has many more seasons at his peak and can add to his record of 43 professional wins. While he has had ill luck in golf’s Majors (he famously hasn’t won since 2014), he’s been consistently winning elsewhere. If he stays injury-free, he will catch Tiger.
3. Scottie Scheffler $75,134,784
Scottie Scheffler’s inclusion in third place is essential: players’ money has risen dramatically. We know that because Scheffler is relatively new to the upper echelons of golf. His career has taken off in the 2020s, though. He is the current world number one and already has two Majors. He is seven years younger than McIlroy, so there is a fair chance that Scheffler overtakes him and Woods at some point.
4. Jim Furyk $71,507,269
Technically, Furyk has not retired from the PGA Tour. You will still see him popping up here and there; for example, he has played the US Open as a former winner.
That said, he is viewed as a senior, having started his pro career before Scottie Scheffler was born. Furyk did not have a spectacular job, but he did have a consistently good one, winning the US Open and reaching world number two.
5. Vijay Singh $71,281,286
Vijay Singh’s inclusion on this list might surprise some, especially those who expected to see Phil Mickelson in the top 5 (we will explain that below). Nonetheless, the Fijian Singh was a money-making machine across the late 90s and 2000s, gaining the world number one spot during the peak Tiger Woods era of the 2000s. Singh has three majors and 38 PGA Tour wins overall.
*Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson moved off the PGA Tour two years ago to join LIV Golf. As such, the PGA stopped ranking him on their active earning lists. He is measured to have earned around $95 million from PGA Tour events, putting him third on our list above. There is still a chance that some arrangement is agreed between LIV and the PGA, so Mickelson could technically come back and earn more before his career winds down.
