Purses across the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have reached mind-blowing numbers. But which tour is the most lucrative to play? We’ve combined the two season-long standings for both and here’s who came out on top…
The PGA Tour vs LIV Golf prize money has been a hot topic since the PIF-funded league’s first season in 2022.
With a $25 million prize pot at each event, $4 million of which is reserved for the player topping the individual leaderboard, LIV Golf’s seemingly bottomless pit not only attracted a number of high-profile names but scores of journeymen looking for a guaranteed payday.
It triggered the PGA Tour to respond in kind. Now, the likes of the Players Championship carry a $4.5 million first prize – a whopping 130% increase on what was dished out barely a decade ago – while the FedEx Cup bonus pot has now been split in an attempt to avoid one player taking the lot.
And that proved to the case this year, with Tommy Fleetwood picking up not only his first PGA Tour title at the season-ending Tour Championship, but the $10 million first prize, too.
So, with prize money at the top end of the game higher than ever, which is the more lucrative tour to ply your trade? We’ve merged the two money lists for the 2025 season to try and work it out.
For this exercise, we’ve kept it to the players who earned more than $5 million across the two tours – of which there were 56.
The PGA Tour earnings include official prize money from all sanctioned events, as well as FedEx Cup and Comcast Business Top 10 bonuses.
The LIV Golf earnings include all official prize money for individual and team events, as well as the three end-of-season bonuses.
Money earned elsewhere – the DP World Tour, Asian Tour etc – does not count.
Right, now we all understand the rules, let’s dive in…
PGA Tour vs LIV Golf prize money leaderboardPOSITIONPLAYERTOUR2025 EARNINGS1Scottie SchefflerPGA Tour$49,579,5502Jon RahmLIV Golf$38,751,8763Rory McIlroyPGA Tour$34,492,4184Joaquin NiemannLIV Golf$32,993,8665Tommy FleetwoodPGA Tour$22,696,2396Russell HenleyPGA Tour$20,733,5567Bryson DeChambeauLIV Golf$20,280,8778JJ SpaunPGA Tour$18,492,7239Sepp StrakaPGA Tour$17,235,89510Justin ThomasPGA Tour$16,048,49611Ben GriffinPGA Tour$14,990,35312Harris EnglishPGA Tour$13,279,05213Keegan BradleyPGA Tour$11,992,81314Sebastián MuñozLIV Golf$11,902,95215Dean BurmesterLIV Golf$11,767,78316Patrick ReedLIV Golf$11,229,10717Sergio GarciaLIV Golf$11,176,11018Justin RosePGA Tour$10,657,97619Tom McKibbinLIV Golf$10,064,55120Carlos OrtizLIV Golf$9,749,64821Talor GoochLIV Golf$9,703,10022Patrick CantlayPGA Tour$9,675,10723Tyrrell HattonLIV Golf$9,660,05024Caleb SurrattLIV Golf$9,631,66625Robert MacIntyrePGA Tour$9,017,19226Cameron YoungPGA Tour$8,958,31327Abraham AncerLIV Golf$8,945,33328Maverick McNealyPGA Tour$8,722,07729Paul CaseyLIV Golf$8,702,80930Ludvig AbergPGA Tour$8,611,97331David PuigLIV Golf$8,552,89232Charles Howell IIILIV Golf$8,504,21433Marc LeishmanLIV Golf$8,496,18434Corey ConnersPGA Tour$8,442,90335Anirban LahiriLIV Golf$8,059,16436Collin MorikawaPGA Tour$7,994,72837Andrew NovakPGA Tour$7,946,33238Shane LowryPGA Tour$7,307,79539Lucas HerbertLIV Golf$7,280,08340Charl SchwartzelLIV Golf$7,000,35541Sam BurnsPGA Tour$6,971,48342Hideki MatsuyamaPGA Tour$6,798,64343Adrian MeronkLIV Golf$6,717,48844Bubba WatsonLIV Golf$6,560,74445Dustin JohnsonLIV Golf$6,243,49846Viktor HovlandPGA Tour$6,059,24047Louis OosthuizenLIV Golf$6,023,02348Cameron SmithLIV Golf$5,962,16749Thomas PietersLIV Golf$5,920,58350Brian HarmanPGA Tour$5,827,65951Nick TaylorPGA Tour$5,651,21052Brooks KoepkaLIV Golf$5,616,13153Branden GraceLIV Golf$5,573,61854Harold Varner IIILIV Golf$5,455,96455Sungjae ImPGA Tour$5,206,38756Chris GotterupPGA Tour$5,021,303
Some interesting points to note. Firstly, Scottie Scheffler made almost $50 million from the regular and post-season alone. He will have a chance to go through that barrier in his two remaining scheduled tournaments for the year.
His 2025 earnings included $26.6 million in official earnings and $23 million in bonuses.
Rory McIlroy, who finished 3rd in this combined leaderboard, made more in bonus money ($17.5 million) than he did in official prize money ($17 million). And he skipped the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, too.
The LIV Golf individual standings came down to a final-week shootout between Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann. Despite not winning an event all year, Rahm just edged out his rival to add the $18 million bonus to his $20.8 million prize money. The next highest-earning player without a victory this season was Patrick Cantlay, who banked just shy of $10 million on the PGA Tour.
Niemann’s $8 million bonus cheque, to add to his $25 million in official earnings means four players made north of $30 million this season – two from each tour.
While the top four is an even split between, once you open it out to the top 10 it leans much more in favor of the PGA Tour, as the bonuses really start to up the ante.
Indeed, Bryson DeChambeau, who came third in the individual standings to take home a $4 million bonus, is the only other LIV player in the top 10.
Further down, though it’s a much more even split. Of the top 25, 13 are PGA Tour players and 12 are LIV Golf. Of the top 50, there is a 26-24 split in favor of the breakaway league.
What if we take the bonuses away?
Now we’re talking. Here’s the table if we use official prize money only – so no FedEx Cup or Comcast Business Top 10 paydays from the PGA Tour, or the individual standings bonus on LIV.
POSITIONPLAYERTOUROFFICIAL EARNINGS1Scottie SchefflerPGA Tour$26,579,5502Joaquin NiemannLIV Golf$24,993,8663Jon RahmLIV Golf$20,751,8764Tommy FleetwoodPGA Tour$18,496,2395Rory McIlroyPGA Tour$16,992,4186Bryson DeChambeauLIV Golf$16,280,8777Russell HenleyPGA Tour$14,633,5568JJ SpaunPGA Tour$12,892,7239Sebastián MuñozLIV Golf$11,902,95210Dean BurmesterLIV Golf$11,767,78311Patrick ReedLIV Golf$11,229,10712Sergio GarciaLIV Golf$11,176,11013Justin ThomasPGA Tour$10,883,49614Sepp StrakaPGA Tour$10,650,89515Tom McKibbinLIV Golf$10,064,55116Ben GriffinPGA Tour$9,990,35317Carlos OrtizLIV Golf$9,749,64818Talor GoochLIV Golf$9,703,10019Tyrrell HattonLIV Golf$9,660,05020Caleb SurrattLIV Golf$9,631,66621Patrick CantlayPGA Tour$9,405,10722Abraham AncerLIV Golf$8,945,33323Justin RosePGA Tour$8,857,97624Harris EnglishPGA Tour$8,799,05225Keegan BradleyPGA Tour$8,702,81326Paul CaseyLIV Golf$8,702,80927Cameron YoungPGA Tour$8,608,31328David PuigLIV Golf$8,552,89229Charles Howell IIILIV Golf$8,504,21430Marc LeishmanLIV Golf$8,496,18431Robert MacIntyrePGA Tour$8,467,19232Ludvig AbergPGA Tour$8,276,97333Maverick McNealyPGA Tour$8,207,07734Corey ConnersPGA Tour$8,167,90335Anirban LahiriLIV Golf$8,059,16436Collin MorikawaPGA Tour$7,754,72837Andrew NovakPGA Tour$7,621,33238Lucas HerbertLIV Golf$7,280,08339Shane LowryPGA Tour$7,082,79540Charl SchwartzelLIV Golf$7,000,35541Adrian MeronkLIV Golf$6,717,48842Sam BurnsPGA Tour$6,686,48343Hideki MatsuyamaPGA Tour$6,568,64344Bubba WatsonLIV Golf$6,560,74445Dustin JohnsonLIV Golf$6,243,49846Louis OosthuizenLIV Golf$6,023,02347Cameron SmithLIV Golf$5,962,16748Thomas PietersLIV Golf$5,920,58349Viktor HovlandPGA Tour$5,824,24050Brooks KoepkaLIV Golf$5,616,13151Branden GraceLIV Golf$5,573,61852Brian HarmanPGA Tour$5,547,65953Harold Varner IIILIV Golf$5,455,96454Nick TaylorPGA Tour$5,431,21055Sungjae ImPGA Tour$5,001,387
The first point of note is we lose Chris Gotterup from the leaderboard, as his FedEx Cup bonus was what tipped him over the $5 million mark.
The other notable difference is that it evens it out much more. While there isn’t much difference further down the leaderboard, where the bonus money barely made a difference, the top 10 is evenly split at 5-5.
So which of the two tours was most lucrative?
The bonuses really do make the difference here – a point proven by the fact there are three LIV players in the top 10 overall but five in the top 10 once they are removed.
While no player on this leaderboard is struggling to make rent, it does prove the mind-boggling sums on offer at the end of each season across both tours.
While Rahm topped LIV’s season-long standings, perhaps the fairest comparison is Scheffler vs Niemann.
Scheffler earned $26,579,550 from 19 starts – an average of $1,398,924 per event – while Niemann made $24,993,866 from 17 for a slightly better average of $1,470,227.
What about at the other end?
Good point. It does get a bit complicated due to LIV’s closed-shop nature. But the lowest earner of the players who played in at least 10 events was Frederik Kjettrup with $1,052,929. Meanwhile, on the PGA Tour, the lowest-ranked player to bank more than a million was Rico Hoey in 114th – but he played in 23 events between January and August.
Conclusion
Is there a conclusion? It doesn’t matter if you play on the PGA Tour or LIV Golf, you’re going to be stinking rich at the end of the season.
What a colossal waste of time this has all been.
About the author
News editor and writer. Probably entertainer third.
He is a keen golfer who claims to play off 12 and enjoys traveling the world to try new courses. His three favorites are Royal North Devon, the Old Course at St Andrews, and Royal Portrush – with special mentions for Okehampton and Bude & North Cornwall, where he first fell in love with the game.
He uses a combination of Ping, TaylorMade and Callaway gear, and once bought the Nike SQ driver which he absolutely did not immediately regret.
