Golf is often dubbed the ‘rich man’s game’. And that’s for pretty good reason. The equipment, club memberships, and course fees make golf a highly exclusive sport. To top it all off, a single round of golf.

For Jon Rahm, 2025 was a lucrative season by any standard. Across the LIV Golf season, Rahm earned $13,613,792 in prize money, and $19,400,000 came from bonuses. Rahm’s official major championship record remained a significant source of income, despite not registering a major victory in 2025. 

Ending up at T14 at the Masters Tournament, Rahm pocketed $336,000. Later in May 2025, he finished T8th in the PGA Championship and earned $454,781. The US Open marked his highest major earnings of $615,786 at T7. Lastly, at The Open, he ended up with T34 and a paycheck of $89,517. Including the major tournaments and the LIV Tour, he ultimately racked up a whopping $33,013,792.

Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler delivered one of the most profitable campaigns in modern golf history. He began the season with a T9 position at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, earning $535,000. His next big win came at The Genesis Invitational, where he finished T3rd and earned $1.2 million. Next up, at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Scheffler became the runner-up and won $845,500. After that, he won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which thickened his wallet by $1,782,000.

He also won the Memorial Tournament, bagging $4 million. Towards the end of the 2025 season, Scheffler won the BMW Championship, came in T4th at the Tour Championship, and secured a victory at the Procore Championship. All of that earned him $3,600,000, $2,616,667, and $1,080,000, respectively. 

The #1 golfer’s run in the major tournaments was also interesting. After finishing T4th at The Masters and earning $1,008,000, he went ahead and won the PGA Championship, garnering $3,420,000. Scheffler's run at the US Open wasn’t impressive as he ended up in T7, earning $615,786. However, the turnaround came quickly with a win at The Open Championship, and Scheffler earned $3,100,000. And with that, Scheffler walked away with a $50,659,550 in 2025.

That's over $15 million more than John Rahm. Nevertheless, Rahm remains one of the highest-earning athletes in golf, bolstered by guaranteed LIV compensation and strong tournament results. But in 2025, even his substantial total could not match Scheffler’s historic season.

Written by

Krushna Pattnaik

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi