LIV Golf lured countless PGA Tour talents to the Saudi-backed breakaway league with incredible tournament prizes and more lax schedules, and some stars have fared better than others
Talor Gooch has made a serious amount with LIV Golf(Image: Getty Images)
Talor Gooch bolstered his incredible bank balance by a further $4 million earlier this month by taking home the title at LIV Golf Andalucia.
The Oklahoman was in fine form on the greens and fairways of Real Club Valderrama alongside his Smash GC team-mates, pipping Jon Rahm to first place by a single stroke with an overall score of eight under par. Meanwhile, Smash GC finished the team tournament in a respectable T3 alongside Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces, with Gooch, Jason Kokrak, Graeme McDowell and team captain Brooks Koepka finishing the three-day tournament at evens when combined.
Rahm’s Legion XIII finished first in the team standings at five under, narrowly trailed by Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs at three under. And while the Smash players shared $500,000 for their placement in Spain, the sum pales when compared to the staggering $4M Gooch received for winning the individual tournament.
Known for its incredible purses and lax schedule when compared to the PGA Tour, LIV Golf has allowed some of the world’s finest players to rack up an incredible fortune since its inception. And in 2025, the LIV roster features household names like Bryson DeChambeau, Ian Poulter, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood to name but a few.
And while each of these golfers have managed to continue to carve out an impressive career under the Saudi-backed breakaway league, no one has been as handsomely rewarded as Gooch. That’s because to date, the 33-year-old has earned a mammoth $64,415,780 under the banner thus far, including an incredible $18M for finishing as LIV Golf’s Individual Champion in 2023.
Gooch has played in 45 LIV Golf events overall, winning four in total. His first came in April 2023, when he took the top spot at LIV Golf Adelaide with an impressive score of 19 under par, before doubling down just a week later at LIV Golf Singapore.
His third win came in the form of 2023’s LIV Golf Andalucia in the July, and his most recent win at the very same event earlier this month takes his total to four. For context, before making the move to LIV, Gooch had racked up just one win on the PGA Tour at the 2021 RSM Classic, as well as a 2017 win on the Korn Ferry Tour’s News Sentinel Open – with his move to a different banner clearly paying dividends.
Gooch won at LIV Golf Andalucia(Image: Getty Images)
With regards to the next best earner on the LIV roster, Johnson has made a reported $58,811,255 from 45 events to date, also including his $18M award for winning as the 2022 Individual Champion. Elsewhere, Joaquinn Niemann, Rahm and Cameron Smith make up the rest of the top five highest LIV earners with fortunes of $53,990,427, $49,576,946 and $46,179,374 respectively.
Despite a wealth of success under the LIV banner, Gooch is still searching for his first-ever major title, failing to break into the top 10 of the big four to date. His best chance came in the form of the 2022 Masters, where he secured a T14 finish alongside Min Woo Lee, Harry Higgs, Kevin Na and Tommy Fleetwood to name but a few.
As LIV players do not earn Official World Golf Ranking points, their ability to qualify for major tournaments is hampered when compared to their PGA peers, and as a result, Gooch missed out on last weekend’s Open Championship.
While a number of LIV stars managed to make it to the prestigious major which took place at Royal Portrush this year, DeChambeau was the only one to break into the top 10 of the tournament with an overall score of nine under. Tyrrell Hatton clinched a T16 finish, Johnson settled for T23 and Rahm, Garcia and Westwood finished T34 by the end of Sunday’s play with totals of three under.
Scottie Scheffler won his first Claret Jug(Image: Phil Harris)
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler ultimately reigned supreme in Northern Ireland on 17 under, four strokes ahead of Harris English in second. It was the 29-year-old’s second major of the year following his heroics at the PGA Championship back in May, and the fourth of his career overall.
While he’s in good stead to clinch the coveted Career Grand Slam at next year’s U.S. Open, he will be quick to forget his T7 at this year’s event – a tournament which many of his peers also struggled at due to the cruelly challenging conditions at Oakmont Country Club.
Subscribe to our golf newsletter for all the latest news and views from the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and beyond
