When it comes to the richest athletes, golfers are at the top of the list, so today we bring you the 11 richest golfers in the world. Since golf is among the top paid sports, people tend to believe that only the rich can enjoy this game. The truth is that golf was reserved for people with higher status because of the requirements, but times have changed, and everyone can go to a golf course today and try to give their best.
The origin of golf stays a mystery till today, but we can say that the modern game finds its roots in the 15th century in Scotland. Golf is a sport that uses different types of clubs to hit the balls into various holes on the field in as few strokes as possible. It is interesting that golf courses do not have standardized measures and their areas are often different. The course consists of nine or 18 holes that are arranged across the area. There are no concrete measures of the playing area, but there are standard versions of terrain such as rough, fairway and hazards. Since there are different types of terrain, every hole is unique.
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In today’s subject, we will try to list the richest golfers, and rank them according to their income. Throughout history, many golfers succeeded to obtain enormous sums of money by winning and playing at their top form. Our primary focus will be only on the golfers that are still active.
According to research provided by Statista, the total of the U.S golf industry is estimated around $70 billion. $43.5 billion is spent on core segments such as golf course investments and golf facility operations. If you are interested in this subject, check our previous article that we wrote about the 5 most expensive golf courses in the world.
To create our list, we found some interesting records issued by the Celebrity Net Worth, Sporteology and TSM Play that were our starting point for the task ahead of us. Golfers obtain their income by winning titles and trophies, but a much larger part of the money comes from sponsors that pay enormous sums to have the best golfers endorse them. We used the data from the Web on players’ salaries and prize money from sponsorships, to calculate their total income of the last year and rank them accordingly.
Let’s see who earns the most on our list of the 11 richest golfers in the world; the numbers will make your head spin.
11. Adam Scott – $11 million
Adam Scott is an Australian-born professional golfer who actively participates in European and PGA tours. He started to play golf at a very young age and achieved first place in the Australian Boys’ Amateur tournament in two consecutive years (1997, 1998). After high school, he went to the University of Nevada – Las Vegas and started to play professionally in 2000. Scott won 9 European Tours and 11 PGA champion titles. In 2013, he claimed first place in the Masters Tournament and T9 position on the U.S Open in 2014.
Adam Scot earned around $11 million from tournaments and sponsorship in the last year.
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10. Jim Furyk – $12 million
James Michael Furyk became a professional golfer in 1992. He was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1970. Jim started to play golf with his father and soon after became the state champion in high school. He was ranked in the Top Ten on the Official World Golf Rankings list.
In 1994, he started to participate in the PGA Tour and won every year from 1998 to 2003. After his great success, he was named The PGA Tour Player of the Year in 2010. His prosperous career proves that he is one of the best in the world. Winnings and sponsorship contracts brought him $12 million in the past year.
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9. Gary Player – $14 million
Gary Player is a South African golfer that participates mainly in the European and PGA Tours. In his active golfing career he won a total of 73 Sunshine Tour titles and 24 PGA Tour titles. He won the championship of the Masters Tournament in 1961, 1974 and 1978, and he also won the PGA Championships in 1962 and 1972. He is the golfer who became the U.S. Open champion in 1965 and earned the Open Championship in 1959, 1968 and 1974. Many companies still pay Gary to endorse them, and $14 million is the total sum of his earned money in the past year.
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8. Nick Faldo – $15 million
Nick Faldo was born on 18th July 1957 in Welwyn Garden City, England. He is most famous for winning three Masters Tournaments and three Open Championship titles. When he is not playing golf, he works as a golf analyst for CBS Sports. Faldo often says that his greatest inspiration to start playing golf was Jack Nicklaus. In 1975, he won British Youths Championship and the English Amateur title, and after that, he went pro in 1976. He mainly plays the European Tours now. Faldo was #1 for 97 weeks in a row in the Official World Golf Ranking list. He earned a total of $15 million from tournaments and endorsement contracts.
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7. Rory McIlroy – $16 million
Golfer Rory McIlroy started his professional career in 2007. His father guided him to a world of golf when he was only 18 months old, and it was love at first sight. He is the winner of many titles: nine-time champion of the PGA Tour and nine-time champion of the European Tour. He was T8 position at the Masters Tournament in 2014. At the U.S Open Championship in 2011, he claimed first place. These are just a few notable achievements from this player, but Rory has been successful throughout his career. The total sum of his last year earnings is $16 million.
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6. Henrik Stenson – $21 million
Henrik Stenson is one the most successful golfers, and he won many titles and trophies in his long career as a professional golfer. He won a total of 8 European Tours and 4 PGA titles. Henrik won the T14 position at the Masters Tournament in 2014. At the U.S Open Championship, he claimed the T14 position and became a runner-up at the Open Championship in 2013. He obtains his income by endorsing many companies and by winning titles. $21 million is his total earned sum in the last year, placing him on the 6th place of our list of the 11 richest golfers in the world.
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5. Phil Mickelson – $46 million
Phil Mickelson was born in San Diego on 16th of June, 1970. He started playing at Arizona State University where he had a full golf scholarship and won three NCAA championships. Mickelson was also selected as Outstanding College Golfer of the year and won the Haskins Award in 1990, 1991, and 1992. He mostly plays European and PGA tours with much success. An interesting fact is that he won his First PGA title while he was still an amateur in 1991.
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4. Ernie Els – $65 million
Ernie Els is South African professional golfer who mainly participated in the European and the PGA Tours. He’s won a total 19 PGA Tour titles and also 28 European Tour titles. In the year of 2000 and 2004, he became the runner-up of the Masters Tournament. Els was the T3 of the PGA Championships in 1995 and 2007. Ernie Els became the U.S. Open champion in 1994 and 1997, and he also won the Open Championship in 2002 and 2012.
Ernie Els has gained a total of $65 million from trophies and sponsorships.
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3. Vijay Singh – $72 million
Vijay Singh is a professional golf player from Fiji. He was born in February 1963, and he made his firsts steps in golf with his father who was a golf instructor. In 1984, he claimed first place in the Malaysian PGA Championship, but he was suspended for cheating. After that scandal, he was suspended for life to participate in the Asian PGA Tour. Singh tried his luck in Europe PGA Tours and achieved a first place at the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year tournament. The Official World Golf Rankings list named Singh #1 for 32 consecutive weeks in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and secured his place in the golf history. He is one of the best, and surely one of the highest paid, golfers with $72 million earned in the last year.
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2. Fred Couples – $74 million
American professional golf player, Fred Couples, has a net worth of $105 million. During his big career as a professional golfer, he has earned his net worth by winning many PGA tours and Champions tours and also the Masters Tournament. He also has many awards. He was born in 1959 in Seattle, Washington, and he is a former World No. 1 golfer. He won the biggest and the most famous tournament in golf, the Masters Tournament, in 1992.
An interesting fact about Fred Couples is that he was nicknamed “Boom Boom” for his long drives on the course. Fred Couples attracted a lot of attention during his college years while he played for University of Houston. Couples started playing the PGA Tour in 1982 and still plays the Champions tour. He has 51 professional wins including the 2010 Byron Nelson Award. Fred won the Senior British Open Championship in 2012. A total of $74 million puts Fred Couples on the second place of our list.
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1. Tiger Woods – $86 million
Tiger Woods is an American golfer who is primarily active in PGA and European Tours. He won many prizes throughout his professional career such as a total of 40 European titles and 79 PGA Tour titles. Tiger also won Masters Tournament titles in 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005, became the U.S champion in 2000, 2002, and 2008, and won three Open Championship titles in 2000, 2005, and 2006. Winning brought Tiger an enormous fortune, and tournaments are his primary source of income. But like any other modern athlete, Tiger is marked by the richest companies to endorse them. Nike, Rolex and EA Sport pay all lot of money to have him in their commercials.
In the last year, Tiger has earned a head spinning sum of $86 million from trophies and sponsorship contracts. With a total of $700 million in net worth, Tiger is No. 1 on our list of the 11 richest golfers in the world.
