There is a new leader at the top of the PGA Tour’s career earnings list.
By claiming victory at the Tour Championship held at Atlanta’s East Lake Club, Scottie Scheffler overtook Tiger Woods to secure the top spot on the Tour’s historical money list. Scheffler secured the title and concluded the FedExCup Playoffs by carding a 4-under 66 during Sunday’s final round.
Along with capturing the FedExCup crown, Scheffler took home a first-place prize of $10 million from an overall purse of $40 million. This boost pushes his total career earnings on the PGA Tour to an impressive $130,390,661.
This latest triumph easily propelled Scheffler ahead of Woods in cumulative earnings, achieving the milestone at a much faster pace in his professional journey. Woods accumulated $120,999,166 over his career and remains one of only three golfers to surpass the $100 million mark.
During the previous week’s BMW Championship, Scheffler came remarkably close to eclipsing Woods. He arrived at the tournament with $119,964,411 in total payouts, trailing Woods by a mere $1,034,755. However, despite battling hand, foot, and mouth disease during the tournament, Scheffler managed a tie for 12th place, earning $426,250 to narrow the gap to only $608,505.
Holding the third spot is Rory McIlroy, who has amassed slightly over $117 million in career payouts.
To overtake Woods, Scheffler required a finish of solo 13th or higher at East Lake. Had he missed this threshold, he probably would have had to wait until the upcoming season to break the record, unless he opted for an uncommon appearance in the Tour’s autumn events.
For decades, Woods reigned supreme on the PGA Tour, cementing his status as one of golf’s legendary figures. The 50-year-old boasts 82 PGA Tour victories, tying him with Sam Snead for the most wins in history. Additionally, his 15 major tournament titles place him second only to Jack Nicklaus, who holds 18. Currently, Woods is taking a break from competitive play as he heals from multiple physical setbacks in recent times, as well as complications arising from a car accident and an arrest in Florida earlier this year.
With his triumph on Sunday at the Tour Championship and an impressive eight-stroke blowout on August 16 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Scheffler has now collected 22 career titles. He also possesses four major trophies, leaving him only a U.S. Open title away from achieving a career Grand Slam. Prior to starting play this week, Scheffler had already racked up over $20.5 million in this single season, fueled by 12 top-10 performances and five second-place finishes alongside his tournament victories.
At only 30 years of age, Scheffler is nearly two decades younger than Woods, which highlights how rapidly he ascended the earnings rankings. This quick rise is largely due to the massive inflation of PGA Tour prize funds compared to the era of Woods’ peak dominance. Modern signature tournaments on the Tour routinely feature prize funds valued at $20 million.
For his first victory on the PGA Tour in 1997, Tiger Woods took home slightly under $300,000.
(Craig Jones via Getty Images)
When Woods secured his debut Tour victory at the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational, he walked away with just $297,000. In comparison, Scheffler’s maiden Tour title at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open yielded $1.467 million. Furthermore, Woods collected “just” $486,000 for his historic 1997 Masters victory out of a total $2.7 million prize fund, whereas Scheffler’s first Green Jacket in 2022 came with a $2.7 million payout from a $15 million event pool.
In terms of overall career accomplishments, Scheffler still has a massive gap to close to match Woods. However, during his current run of absolute dominance—capturing 16 of his 22 titles in just the last three seasons—Scheffler has laid an incredible foundation in this modern era of golf.
Given the tremendous financial growth of the sport, a transformation heavily driven by Woods himself, it was inevitable that a modern player would eventually surpass him on the lifetime earnings leaderboards.
