A rich sport must mean that the players earn quite a lot of money, right? Well, it doesn’t have to be so. In every sport, you have the worst players and they will not be earning the big dollars. This is an illusion that should be dispelled as of right now.

Golf is a sport that is seen as a rich person’s sport, meaning that only the rich people play golf. That being said, while it is relatively expensive to purchase new golfing gear, the sport could pay out lucratively, if you’re among the top 250 players in the world. Here is what the salaries from the PGA tour alone look like and how much golfers earn in general.

PGA Tour Statistics, Top and Bottom

Looking at the latest PGA tour, the 2021 edition, we can see that the top earner, Jon Rahm, earned 7,7 million dollars, which is quite a lot of money. Rahm won a lot that year, and was the number one player on the tour, consistently for most of the duration of the year. 

Yet, on the other end of the spectrum, you find Parker McLahlin, who earned a total of 6,090 dollars. Oof, that are the earnings from the PGA tour alone, for the entire year. That is far from enough to live even in most third world countries, let alone in the United States, while touring.

The average earnings are much better, somewhere around 1,7 million dollars. Though, that is the average across the entire league. The middle of the pack golfer, at least in the top 250, earns around 700,000 dollars, which is more than good enough.

What About Non PGA Tours?

The most lucrative tour next to the PGA tour is the European tour, where plenty of US players also compete, for the prestige and the money, of course. In 2011, the top golfer, named Luke Donald, won around 6,8 million dollars, while the lowest ranked player earned around 1,156 dollars. The average is around 153,000 dollars, or was in 2011. Today, it is a bit higher, though as one can see, the PGA tour has better earnings overall, and should be the league any golfer strives to reach if they want to actually earn lots of money.

Golf Is Result-Dependent

Like most professional sports, particularly individual sports, golf requires one to be at the top of their game, winning tournaments and getting spornorships if they want to actually earn money and sustain a living. 

Golf is not an easy sport and getting to the top takes lots of skill and patience, and even some luck. Winning is difficult and that is the key to earning money in a sport like golf. 

In short, golfers could earn a lot, but if they’re at the top of the PGA ladder.