With LIV Golf now deep into its third season and with the PGA Tour having significantly increased its prize money in an attempt to match its big-money rival, tournaments offering multi-million dollar prize money to their best-performing players are now commonplace.
But how do the top earners on the PGA Tour compare to those on LIV Golf so far in 2024?
The top 20 of highest earners across both circuits this season sees eight from the PGA Tour and 12 from LIV Golf, and it is players from the more established outfit that largely dominate the higher reaches of the table.
PGA Tour player Scottie Scheffler’s season has been one for the ages. Victory over Tom Kim in a playoff at the Travelers Championship gave the American his sixth win this season, while arguably his only performance that could be deemed a failure so far being a T41 at the US Open.
What’s more, Scheffler has tended to save his best form for the most lucrative events. Scheffler has claimed wins at four of the PGA Tour’s signature events this season, as well as its flagship tournament, The Players Championship, and first Major of the year, The Masters, which have helped him stand way out in front of his nearest rival on the combined money list at $27,696.858.
Directly beneath him is another PGA Tour player, Xander Schauffele, whose most significant payday so far this year came with $3.3m for his win at the PGA Championship. Schauffele has also been admirably consistent throughout this season, and, like Scheffler, has yet to miss a cut. Despite that, he has less than half of Scheffler’s earnings at $12,636,360.
In third place is the highest-earning LIV golfer of the season so far, Chilean Joaquin Niemann. The Torque GC player won $4m for each of his two wins, at Mayakoba and Jeddah, while he has five other top 10 finishes, helping him to earnings of $12,281,848 for the season so far.
Fourth on the list is another LIV golfer, Bryson DeChambeau, who has amassed his $11,359,667 largely on the back of his Major form, with T6 at The Masters, runner-up at the PGA Championship and victory at the US Open. The latter gave him the biggest payout of his career at $4.3m, and his earnings now stand at $11,359,667.
Another PGA Tour player, Rory McIlroy, makes the list in fifth. He is doubtless still hurting from his heartbreaking defeat to DeChambeau at the Pinehurst No.2 Major, but it still earned him the sizeable consolation of $2,322,000 in winnings.
Overall, McIlroy can also look back on another successful season so far, which included wins at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and Wells Fargo Championship, giving him earnings of $10,034,665 as things stand.
Other PGA Tour players in the top 10 are Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Aberg and Genesis Invitational champion Hideki Matsuyama, while LIV golfers Tyrrell Hatton and Dean Burmester also appear.
PGA Tour stars Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa then follow in slots 11 and 12, with LIV Golf players in each position to 20th, including three of its highest-profile stars, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm.
Below is the list of the combined top 20 highest earners on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf so far this season.
