April is not only Masters month for the world of golf, it's also a time to reflect on the past financial year and see which golfers have earned the most money.
With massive prize funds given out each week across the PGA Tour, the LIV Golf League and the DP World Tour, the best players in the world are racking up huge bank balances throughout the season.
Rory McIlroy has just added another $4.5m to his career earnings thanks to his incredible triumph at Augusta National. That'll give him a nice head start for next year's totals, but it doesn't help him surpass one other golfer for the 2025-26 tax year.
The data comes from Sportico, breaking down the earnings of the top-10 highest paid golfers in the world, with details as to how much they earned on the course and off it through sponsorship deals and the like.
McIlroy was in the top two, and led the way in off-course income, but it's actually Jon Rahm who earned the most in total for the last year.
Rahm benefits massively from his contract with LIV, of course. It is though the Spaniard was offered $300m to join the breakaway tour, with half paid upfront and the other $150m paid equally across the years of his contract.
Last year, Rahm is said to have earned a total of $102m, and is the only golfer to break the $100m barrier. Of that figure, $92m came from on-course earnings, with another $10m in sponsorship payments.
The 31-year-old didn't actually win an event throughout the LIV Golf season in 2025, but he still claimed enough points to come out on top in the individual leaderboard. That earned him a massive $18m, which is exactly how much he beat McIlroy by in the money charts.
McIlroy is arguably the most marketable golfer in the world, especially after his remarkable double Masters win. It speaks volumes that McIlroy's net worth was thought to be around $294m in 2023, and will be much higher now.
But, for 2025-26, he is reported to have earned $84m from golf. $29m of that comes from event payouts, while a whopping $55m comes from off-course deals. That actually makes McIlroy the leader in commercial income, narrowly beating Tiger Woods.
Still, McIlroy's closest competitor is Scottie Scheffler, who recorded $81m in earnings last year. Not surprisingly, given his dominance on the Tour, $51m of that came from winnings on the course, while he's thought to have earned a huge $30m from sponsorship deals with the likes of Turtlebox, Nike, TaylorMade, and Huntington Bank.
Looking elsewhere, there's quite a gap between that top three and the rest of the top-10 highest paid golfers. Bryson DeChambeau is next in line, but his earnings stood at around $65m, with $45m of that coming from his lucrative deal with LIV.
Woods, as we mentioned, is the second highest-earner when it comes to commercial deals. $54m of his total came from that side of the game, while only $200,000 was earned from his performances on the course.
Rounding out the rest of the top-10, Tommy Fleetwood enjoyed a successful year thanks to his Tour Championship win in August. That netted the Englishman a mega $10m payout which contributed to his $42m earnings.
Joaquin Niemann is the third and final LIV golfer in the top 10. The Chilean won five events last year, so it's not surprising that he's up there, with earnings of $41m in total.
Beyond that, we have Hideki Matsuyama sitting at $31m. That's largely thanks to his endorsement portfolio, which contributed $25m. Xander Schauffele ($30m) and Collin Morikawa ($28m) complete the list.
Highest-Paid Golfers 2025-26
Rank |
Golfer |
On-Course Earnings |
Off-Course Earnings |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Jon Rahm |
$92m |
$10m |
$102m |
2 |
Rory McIlroy |
$29m |
$55m |
$84m |
3 |
Scottie Scheffler |
$51m |
$30m |
$81m |
4 |
Bryson DeChambeau |
$45m |
$20m |
$65m |
5 |
Tiger Woods |
$0.2m |
$54m |
$54.2m |
6 |
Tommy Fleetwood |
$30m |
$12m |
$42m |
7 |
Joaquin Niemann |
$38m |
$3m |
$41m |
8 |
Hideki Matsuyama |
$6m |
$25m |
$31m |
9 |
Xander Schauffele |
$8m |
$22m |
$30m |
10 |
Collin Morikawa |
$9m |
$19m |
$28m |
