Not Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy: Golf’s top earner in 2025 didn’t win once

Since LIV Golf arrived on the scene in 2022, money has become the sport’s hottest topic, sparking a full-blown war between tours that shows no sign of ending. The Saudi-backed league stormed into golf with huge paydays, luring several top PGA Tour stars with multi-million-dollar offers. In response, the PGA Tour boosted its prize pools year after year, even outpacing LIV in some events. For example, The Players Championship paid $4.5 million to the winner, topping LIV’s $4 million prize.

LIV dominates earnings despite PGA victories

Still, the Saudi tour continues to produce the sport’s richest players. The two golfers who earned the most in 2025 purely from tournament prize money were LIV members Jon Rahm and Joaquín Niemann, with Scottie Scheffler of the PGA Tour in third. Accounting for various bonuses outside standard prize money, Scheffler could actually surpass them in total earnings.

How much did Jon Rahm earn in 2025?

Rahm leads the list with the remarkable fact that he didn’t win a single tournament all year - a rare occurrence for Spanish native. His secret was consistency. With 12 top-10 finishes in 13 LIV events, Rahm claimed the individual season title for the second year in a row, earning $18 million in bonuses. His total earnings for 2025 reached $33.4 million, with the majority coming from LIV team and individual success. He also took home nearly $1.5 million from the four majors, including a seventh-place finish at the U.S. Open, plus roughly $170,000 from two DP World Tour appearances, including the Spanish Open. Rahm also played in the Ryder Cup, though European players do not receive prize money for participating.

In short, Rahm became one of golf’s wealthiest players without lifting a trophy. That figure represents his variable earnings. On top of that, he has a staggering fixed contract with LIV Golf estimated at $500 million over four seasons, not including sponsorships.

Niemann and Scheffler round out the top earners

Second on the list is another LIV star, Niemann, who won four regular-season events and earned $30.2 million in 2025.

Third is PGA Tour leader Scheffler, who earned $27.9 million from six wins in 20 tournaments, including The Players Championship and two majors - the PGA Championship and the British Open. Scheffler also collected bonuses like the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 award, which added $8 million, bringing his total earnings to roughly $50 million.

Rory McIlroy had a similar story: $17 million in PGA prize money, but bonuses and DP World Tour earnings pushed his total to $36 million.

Golf has officially become a high-stakes game, and in 2025, it proved that you don’t always need wins to cash in.

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