20 Highest Paid Golf Players in the World
In this article, we will be taking a look at the 20 highest paid golf players in the world. To skip our detailed analysis, you can go directly to see the 5 highest paid golf players in the world.
While golf may not have the same level of popularity that football, soccer and basketball may enjoy, golf players are still some of the highest paid sports athletes in the world. This has been historically true, with Tiger Woods being the first sports athlete in the world to have earned over $1 billion and is still easily the highest paid golfer of all time, and continues to remain true now. According to Forbes' list of highest paid sports athletes in the world in 2023, 7 out of the top 20 paid athletes were golf players, the biggest contribution by any sport. While the highest paid athletes in the world in 2023 are Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, golf players aren't far behind (see 15 Highest Paid Female Athletes in the World).
In the last couple of years, the world of golf has undergone major upheaval, the biggest in decades and perhaps even in its history. Historically, golf has been governed by the PGA Tour, which was founded nearly a century ago in 1929. PGA Tour is responsible for the organization of most of golf's biggest events including the Majors. However, a huge challenge was launched to the PGA by LIV Golf in 2021, which is fully financed by the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. Many top golfers including some of the highest paid golf players in the world, left the PGA Tour because of the vast earnings offered by LIV Golf's unlimited funding. The PGA Tour announced that any players going over to LIV Golf would be banned by the PGA Tour, and many former world number ones and major champions made the move, while others stayed loyal, undoubtedly impacting the earnings of some of the highest paid golf players in 2023. Phil Mickelson, who was one of the highest earning PGA golf players in 2022, also signed for LIV Golf the same year and was suspended by the PGA Tour in response. LIV Golf's incredible salaries to entice golf players has ensured they played a major part in determining the highest paid golf players in the world.
A professional golf player on the green, demonstrating the brand's quality in golf products. Editorial photo for a financial news article. 8k. --ar 16:9
In 2023, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf announced that they were going to merge, after several anti-trust lawsuits being filed against each other, with said deal resulting in all such litigations being ended. However, the merger has not yet been completed and has received severe criticism from many groups, all of which will impact the outlook of the sport. Having said that, according to the National Golf Foundation, its overall reach is nearly 120 million people in just the United States alone, the country with the highest golf players in the world. This doesn't mean that 119 million people played golf but followed it on television, read about it online or listened to a related podcast, an improvement of 12% year-on-year. Meanwhile, 25.6 million actually played golf in the nation. Golf, while having traditionally been dominated by men, has also found a growing audience in women, and in 2020, 25% of women played golf for the first time ever.
Many golf companies are popping up which are utilizing tech to improve the standards of golfing, with Arccos Golf being one such company. Arccos utilizes an app which connects with sensors in the player's grips to track shots in real time and provide immediate analysis on improvements, strengths and weaknesses, and could help more golfers penetrate the list of highest paid golfers in the world. In August 2023, Arccos announced a partnership with PGA Tour, and is now the "Official Game Tracker of the PGA Tour". The CEO and co-founder of Arccos Golf, Sal Syed, said "This strategic round, validated by participation of many prominent brands in golf, further strengthens our ability to achieve Arccos’ mission of harnessing data and A.I. for game improvement. With the support of these industry leading partners, we’ll be able to fully leverage and accelerate the growth of the game’s largest data set. Our goal is to help the game’s ecosystem, allowing golfers, coaches, club fitters and product designers make smarter decisions that are based on real performance data.” Currently, more than 750 million shots have been played in more than 160 countries by members of Arccos Golf, and raised over $20 million in a Series C round.
While sporting apparel companies are heavily invested in golf too, there are companies which are exclusively or mostly focused on the sport such as Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF), which has seen its share price jump by more than 120% in the last 5 years. In its Q2 2023 earnings call, Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) stated "Acushnet delivered another strong quarter, delivering sales of $689 million, a 6% year-over-year constant currency increase. Gains in Titleist golf balls and golf clubs drove this top line growth, which contributed to adjusted EBITDA of $132 million in the quarter, a 24% increase for the period. And for the first half, sales of $1.376 billion are up almost 12%, while adjusted EBITDA of $279 million represents a 23% gain over last year. These financial results have been supplemented by many successes across the worldwide tours and throughout the pyramid of influence and are highlighted by Titleist and FootJoy ambassadors, Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman's recent wins at the U.S. Open and Open Championships. These achievements helped to fuel positive brand momentum and validate the company's enduring commitment to product performance and quality." While the performance of Acushnet Holdings Corp. (NYSE:GOLF) has been fantastic, the future seems even brighter and Tigress Financial analyst Ivan Feinseth stated that the company is likely to benefit from its biannual new golf ball introductions and additional new product launches.
Similarly, another top company operating in the golf space is Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp. (NYSE:MODG), whose share price has been struggling in 2023, losing nearly a third in value YTD 2023. Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp. (NYSE:MODG) is the owner of Topgolf, a golf driving range game which serves over 70 locations across the world and is continuing to grow in popularity even among those not generally interested in golf. Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp. (NYSE:MODG) called out industry expectations in its Q2 2023 earnings call as well as mentioning how increased popularity for golf among women was helping , where it stated "Looking at the overall golf industry and the health of the game, the U.S. hard goods market continues to hold up quite well, down just 1.6% June year to date, consistent with our expectations. In addition, all signs point to golf participation remaining robust with U.S. rounds played up 5.5% through June year over year and strong demand for consumables in the quarter. Looking ahead, our leadership position in R&D investment and more specifically, our expertise in the use of AI in the development of product gives me continued confidence in our current and future product pipeline. Turning now to Active Lifestyle. TravisMathew had double-digit growth again this quarter. The brand continues to successfully open new retail stores, including five year to date and totaling 46 overall. The team also continues to do a tremendous job executing the new women's category expansion, which has now grown to become a mid-single-digit percent of overall sales and early sign of success."
Methodology
We consulted Forbes' latest list of the highest paid sports athletes in 2023 to determine the highest paid golf players in the world. Unsurprisingly, the list is dominated by Americans and even the lowest paid player in our list earned tens of millions of dollars in a single year, considering both on-the-field and off-the-field earnings. For Justin Thomas, we have obtained prize winnings from Golf Monthly.
20. Justin Thomas
Total earnings in 2023: $17.1 million
The American won his seconds Masters in 2022, in what turned out to be a very lucrative year,
19. Charl Schwartzel
Total earnings in 2023: $33 million
Schwartzel earned $1.4 million in his first Masters in 2011. In his first LIV even in 2022, he made triple that amount.
18. Xander Schauffele
Total earnings in 2023: $33 million
Xander Schauffele hasn't claimed a single PGA victory in 2023 but had three tournament victories in 2022.
17. Branden Grace
Total earnings in 2023: $34 million
Signing bonuses plus tournament winnings have massively increased Branden Grace's earnings in the last two years.
16. Bubba Watson
Total earnings in 2023: $39 million
One of the oldest highest paid golfers in the world, Bubba Watson has been plagued by injuries the last few years but has continued to earn well from the tournaments he has partaken in.
15. Abraham Ancer
Total earnings in 2023: $39 million
Ancer was wooed by LIV Golf with expectations that a Mexican audience will improve viewership and hence, earnings, though Ancer is still waiting for his first win.
14. Talor Gooch
Total earnings in 2023: $41 million
Talor Gooch was crowned the 2023 LIV Golf Champion in Jeddah which earned him a massive $18 million, and proclaimed himself to be "one of the best in the world."
13. Joaquin Niemann
Total earnings in 2023: $43 million
Joaquin Niemann is a Chilean golf player who is considered as one of golf's brightest prospects at the age of 24. However, his signing with LIV Golf has seen him plummet down the rankings and risking his entry at the Majors.
12. Sergio Garcia
Total earnings in 2023: $46 million
One of the very few non-Americans in our list, Garcia is a Spanish golf player and wasn't allowed to partake in the Ryder Cup after switching over to LIV Golf, despite the PGA merging with LIV Golf.
11. Scottie Scheffler
Total earnings in 2023: $47.1million
Scottie Scheffler is one of Forbes highest-paid golfers in 2023, Scottie won The Players Championship and the Phoenix Open in 2023, and is the highest ranked player in Official World Golf Rankings.
10. Jordan Spieth
Total earnings in 2023: $47.5 million
Jordan Spieth may be a top golfer and one of its highest earners, with a deal with Under Armour running to 2029, but his recent spectacular collapse at the Ryder Cup has taken away some of the shine of his recent career highs.
9. Patrick Reed
Total earnings in 2023: $52 million
The American golfer recently filed suits of more than $750 million against the media for "calculated, malicious, false and reckless attacks", which was recently dismissed by a federal judge in Florida.
8. John Rahm
Total earnings in 2023: $53 million
John Rahm is one of the few of the highest earning golfers in the world where on-course earnings are almost equal to off-the-course, with the latter $2 million lower than the former. Rahm has won several tournaments including a first major in 2023, and has sponsorship deals with Mercedes, Maestro Dobel Tequila and Callaway.
7. Bryson DeChambeau
Total earnings in 2023: $69 million
Many top companies including Bridgestone and Cobra Puma Golf dropped DeChambeau after he defected to LIV Golf, though he's still sponsored by Rolex. However, lack of sponsorship money isn't really a concern for a person whose on-field earnings were $70 million in a single year!
6. Brooks Koepka
Total earnings in 2023: $72 million
Most of the top paid golfers in the world are LIV Golf defectors as we discussed in the intro, and Koepka is no exception, having won the PGA Championship in May 2023. Like many of the more successful golfers going over to LIV, Koepka reportedly has a $100 million guarantee.
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Disclosure: None. 20 highest paid golf players in the world is originally published on Insider Monkey.
