Top 16 Richest Golfers in the World
Who are the richest professional golfers in the world? Do they get a salary, benefits, and bonuses in millions of dollars?
Moreover, considering all sources of income, golfers are among the world’s highest-paid athletes.
Here, we have counted down our top picks for the top 16 richest golfers in the world.
Top 16 Richest Golfers in the World
16. Graeme McDowell
Graeme McDowell (Born on 30 July 1979) is a Northern Ireland professional golfer. He has a net worth of 40 million dollars.
Graeme has conquered eleven European Tours and four PGA Tours. These winnings have increased his net worth.
Also, he has appeared in the top-10 in Official World Golf Ranking with the best position as 4th.
In 2016 alone, McDowell finished 27th in 2015-16 PGA tour season and won $2,596,000.
Furthermore, he earned $611,630 from European tours in the same year.
His successful career has made him a target for many major sponsors.
According to ESPN, McDowell has earned $18,571,872.
15. Davis Love
Davis Love(Born April 13, 1964) is an American professional golfer with a net worth of 50 million dollars.
Love has conquered 21 PGA Tour. Also, he won the 1997 PGA Championship. Furthermore, he won the Players Championship in 1992 and 2003.
Similarly, in 2003 only, he earned $6,081,896 from PGA Tour by securing 3rd rank and winning 4 majors. He has been participating in the PGA tour since 1986.
According to ESPN, Davis Love has earned $44,944,195.
On top of that, he had been in the 2nd position in the Official World Golf Rankings for over 450 weeks.
14. Adam Scott
Adam Scott is an Australian professional golfer with a net worth of 50 million dollars.
2013 Masters Tournament was the biggest win of Scott. It was his first major championship and also the only Masters won by an Australian.
Currently, his salary annually is estimated to be $2,272,434. Moreover, Adam has earned a total of $56,478,281.
Scott was ranked No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking from mid-May to August 2014.
Overall, Adam Scott has won 31 professional tournaments worldwide.
13. Nick Faldo
Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo is a professional golfer from England with a net worth of 60 million dollars.
He has 41 professional wins, including 30 victories on the European Tour and six major championships.
The Major Championship consists of three Open Championships (1987, 1990, 1992) and three Masters (1989, 1990, 1996).
Nick Faldo’s total career earning is $6,167,648. Recently, Nick Faldo is covering PGA Tour for ABC Sports.
Faldo earns $9million yearly only from commentating and analysis of the game.
Nick was rated No. 1 for 97 weeks on the Official World Golf Ranking.
12. Ian Poulter
Ian Poulter (Born on 10 January 1976) is a professional golfer from England with a net worth of 60 million dollars.
Moreover, Poulter has earned $27,089,409 throughout his career.
Similarly, in PGA season 2021 alone, he earned a total of $1,292,713, including $275,271 from majors.
Till now, he had 16 professional wins. Moreover, in 2000, he was awarded the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.
Furthermore, he has been ranked 4th on the Official World Golf Ranking.
11. Sergio Garcia
Sergio Garcia (Born on 9 January 1980) is a professional golfer from Spain with a net worth of 70 million dollars.
Moreover, Garcia has earned a total of $52,954,697.
As of 19th September 2020, Garcia has won 10 PGA tours and 16 European tours.
In total, he earned $50,538,497 from the PGA and $31,189,904 from the European tour.
Garcia has spent most of his career in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
Sergio Garcia was ranked No. 2 on the Official World Golf Ranking after winning the HSBC Champions tournament in November 2008.
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10. Vijay Singh
Vijay Singh is a Fijian Professional golfer with a net worth of 75 million dollars.
Singh has won 34 PGA tours during his career, including three major championships, one Masters title (2000), and two PGA Championships (1998, 2004).
Vijay Singh has accumulated over $68 million from the PGA Tours and millions more from endorsements.
Furthermore, he has a massive sponsorship deal of $8 million annually with Stanford Financial for featuring its logo on his shirt, hat, and golf bag.
Vijay Singh has earned a total of $71,236,216.
Singh was ranked Number 1 for 32 weeks in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2004 and 2005.
In 2006, Vijay was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Also, Singh was the leading PGA Tour money winner in 2003, 2004, and 2008. He also won the FedEx Cup in 2008.
9. Ernie Els
Ernie Els (Born on 17th October of 1969) is a South African professional golfer with a net worth of 85 million dollars. He is also called “The Big Easy.”
Els’ yearly income is estimated to be $14.73 Million. Moreover, Ernie Els has earned $49,339,400 till now.
Els was the foremost career money winner on the European Tour until overtaken by Lee Westwood in 2011.
Moreover, the golfer was the first member of the tour to earn over €25,000,000 from European Tour events.
Thus, Earnie is listed as one of the richest golfers in the world.
Earnie has been ranked in the number one spot in the Official World Golf Ranking.
8. Rory Mcllroy
Rory Mcllroy (Born May 4, 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland with a net worth of 130 million dollars.
Mcllroy earns $40-50 million per year from endorsements and tournament winnings.
In 2019 alone, he earned $15 million by conquering the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup.
Likewise, according to ESPN, Rory Mcllroy has earned a total of $56,811,030.
In the PGA season 2021, he earned $3,682,855.
By the age of 25, Rory became one of the three players alongside Jack Nicklaus and Tiger woods to win 4 majors:2011 U.S Open, 2012 PGA Championship, 2014 Open Championship, and 2014 PGA Championship.
Rory was ranked number one in the Official World Golf Ranking for over 100 weeks.
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7. Jordan Spieth
Jordan Spieth (Born July 27, 1993) is an American professional golfer with a net worth of 130 million dollars.
In 2015, he was the leading PGA Tour money winner when he won more than $1.2 million, the most ever in that competition.
Moreover, Jordan Spieth was the fifth most paid golfer in 2018. He has earned $5,016,964 from the 2021 PGA season tour.
Likewise, according to ESPN, Jordan Spieth has earned $46,297,374.
Former world number one and FedEx Cup champion, Jordan’s career greatly accelerated as he conquered the US Junior Amateur tournament twice in 2009 and 2011.
Similarly, in July 2011, he was No. 1 in the AJGA Golf Rankings.
Masters Tournament 2015 was his first major win when he shot 270 (-18) and pocketed $18 million.
Additionally, he became the third-youngest player to win multiple events in PGA history.
6. Fred Couples
Fred Couples (Born October 3, 1959) is an American Professional golfer with a net worth of 150 million dollars.
He is nicknamed “Boom Boom” due to his incredible ability to hit long drives.
According to the All-Time Money Leaderboard, Fred Couples has total career earnings of $22,814,254.
However, he has earned $12,186,024 from the PGA tour until 2020.
Also, his yearly salary is estimated to be $20.2 Million.
Fred has won about 64 professional tournaments, including the 1992 Masters Tournament and the Players Championship in 1984 and 1996.
Fred Couples bought a 3,800-square-foot single-level house in 2015 in Newport Beach’s Big Canyon Country Club community for $3.47 million.
Moreover, the house features big picture windows, five-bedroom, and fireplaces in the living room.
The former world number one, Frederick Couples, was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2013.
5. Gary Player
Gary Player (Born 1 November 1935) is a South-African professional golf player with a net worth of 250 million dollars.
He was nicknamed the Black Knight, Mr. Fitness, and the International Ambassador of Golf.
In 1978, he earned $177,000 from PGA Tour alone. In total, Gary player has earned $647,400 from PGA tours.
Similarly, he won nine major championships on the regular tour and another nine on the Champions Tour.
Gary Player became the third golfer in history to win the Career Grand Slam after Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Aside from playing golf, Gary is also a golf course architect. He has completed 325 project designs on five continents. Additionally, he has co-written and authored 36 golf books.
According to Marc Player (Gary’s son), his father makes even more money from the architecture business than his golfing career.
Moreover, in 2013, Gary earned $36 million from the golf course architecture business.
Thus, Gary’s successful golfing career has made him one of the richest golfers in the world.
4. Jack Nicklaus
Jack Niklaus (Born January 21, 1940) is a retired American professional golfer. He was also called The Golden Bear.
Moreover, Jack Nicklaus has a net worth of 320 million dollars.
Jack has won 117 professional tournaments in his career until now, including 73 PGA tour victories.
Moreover, he became the first player to complete the double and triple career grand slams.
In his career, he made $5.7 million from the PGA tour.
Similarly, 1972 was his best year (in terms of money). He won 7 tournaments that year and made $317,000, which is over $2 million in 2021.
Therefore, his accomplishments led him to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974 and made him one of the richest golfers in the world.
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3. Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson (Born June 16, 1970) is an American professional golfer. He has a net worth of 400 million dollars. Mickelson is nicknamed “Lefty.”
After his win at the 2021 PGA Championship, Mickelson became the oldest major championship winner in history at 50 years, 11 months, and 7 days old.
Phil has earned $92,451,761 from PGA Tours. Phil is ranked second in all-time career tournament winnings.
In addition, he has had endorsement deals with Callaway, Rolex, KPMG, Ford, and Titleist.
Also, according to Forbes, he earned over $40 million in endorsements and $80,000 from on-course winnings.
Furthermore, Forbes estimated that he earned around $750 million from sponsorship.
Hence, all of his accomplishments are why he is among the top richest golfers in the world.
2. Greg Norman
Greg Norman (Born 10 February 1955) is a retired Australian professional golfer with a net worth of 400 million dollars.
He has won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournaments and two majors.
This Australian was the first player in tour history who earned over $10 million.
Moreover, Greg Norman’s per year income is estimated to be $51.5 Million in 2021.
Norman owns a 26,000 square foot mansion in Florida which is worth $65million.
Also, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.
The golfer became the first person to be inducted with the highest percentage of votes (80%) of any golfer to date.
Furthermore, he spent 331 weeks as the world’s Number 1 golfer in the 1980s and 1990s.
However, Greg has become an entrepreneur by opening a golf course design company, founding a clothing business, and entering the wine business in 1996.
Hence, all of these outbound businesses and successful careers made it possible for him to be in the top 2 of our richest golfers in the world list.
1. Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods (Born on 30th December of 1975) is an American professional golfer with a massive net worth of 800 million dollars.
Woods is arguably the most famous, richest, and successful golfer in the world. He turned professional in 1996.
Since then, he has earned over $1.5 billion and become the highest-earning golfer ever.
Woods was the top-ranked golfer globally from August 1999 to September 2004 (264 consecutive weeks) and again from June 2005 to October 2010 (281 consecutive weeks).
Moreover, it is highest than any other player in golf history.
His annual salary is estimated to be $59,921,407.
Woods has total earnings of $120,851,706, according to ESPN. So, he is considered the richest golfer in the world.
Currently, he is living in a $54 million huge mansion which is approximately 9,700 square.
In addition, the mansion includes a golf studio, a garage, a guesthouse, and a boathouse with two private docks that accommodate a 47-meter yacht.
During his career, Woods won 81 PGA Tours, 41 European Tours, and 5 Masters.