The mark has been made, no matter what happens with LIV Golf in the future—whether a deal is made to work with the PGA Tour or the Saudi-backed club stays separate and continues to be an enemy of the tour.
The final PGA Tour money list for 2023 is a direct result of LIV pushing the Tour to raise purses and find more ways for players to make extra money. Thanks to these increases across the board, the tour’s top earners now have more prize money than their LIV peers.
Most of the people who switched from the PGA Tour to LIV made the most money from their original contract, also known as the signing bonus. Some of these players, like Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cam Smith, have contracts worth more than $100 million.
In 2023, the PGA Tour gave away more than $560 million in prizes, such as $100 million for the Player Impact Program and $75 million for the Tour Championship. The PIP money goes to the top 20 players who got more people interested in and talking about the tour.
In Year 2 of its existence, LIV’s overall purse grew to $405 million. There is $115 million in prize money for teams in LIV, and the top three finishers in the season-long solo race will each get $30 million.
The LIV schedule has 14 games, while the PGA Tour has 38. Still, the Tour pros who make the most money play about 20 games a year; some play as few as 18 and others as many as 23. LIV golfers who want to play in the four majors have to play in at least 18 games. Also, every player plays in a few events on other tours.
The PGA Tour was definitely interested in LIV because it had huge contracts and bigger prize pools, which made the PGA Tour greatly raise its prize money game. In 2021, the overall prize money for the Tour was just under $400 million. Since then, it has gone up a lot.
It’s true that the danger of more players leaving for LIV was important, but that money had to come from somewhere. The Tour got extra cash from nine-year television deals with CBS, NBC, and ESPN that began in 2022. These deals, along with sponsorships for the eight big events with $20 million prizes, were very helpful.
After the PIP money was given out, the 2023 money list was finished. The top 10 finalists made a total of about $220 million. In LIV, the top 10 finalists made about $147 million.
LIV’s totals include each player’s share of the $50 million team event at Doral at the end of the season. However, they do not include the $5 million that was given to the top three teams in each of the other 13 events. The captains of each team decide how much of that money goes to each player and how much goes to the team pot to cover costs.
PGA Tour (led by Hovland) vs. LIV Golf
When Viktor Hovland wins the 2023 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, he shows off the FedEx Cup.
This year, Viktor Hovland made the most money on the PGA Tour, with $37.1 million. He was about $1 million ahead of Talor Gooch, who came in second.
Hovland got $14.1 million from event wins, $18 million for winning the FedEx Cup, and $5 million for the PIP.
It took Gooch 14 events to win $17.3 million. He got $18 million for winning the individual title and $800,000 for his share of the team competition at Doral. Gooch was on the team RangeGoats, which came in second.
Rory McIlroy came in second with $32.9 million, including $15 million from winning the PIP’s top prize. Scottie Scheffler made a tour record $21 million before bonuses brought his total to $29 million. Jon Rahm came in third with $26.2 million, which included $16.2 million from the tour and $9 million from the PIP. Xander Schauffele came in fourth with $17.9 million.
Last year, Gooch ($23.2 million), Smith ($17.7 million), Koepka ($14.7 million), and Harold Varner III ($9.9 million) made the most money on LIV.
Smith won $8 million for coming in second place in the solo race, which went to Gooch. He came in third and won the $4 million bonus.
Hovland, Scheffler, and Schauffele all played in 23 PGA Tour events. Rahm played in 20 events, and McIlroy played in 18.
The three of them, Smith, Koepka, and DeChambeau, played in 14 LIV events and four majors each. Varner was in two majors and Gooch was in three.
As a major player, Koepka made the most money for LIV ($5.1 million), which included $3.15 million for winning the PGA Championship.
