Chasing Tiger: Scheffler, McIlroy Near Woods’s Career Earnings Record

Barring any truly unforeseen circumstances, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler are going to break Tiger Woods’s all-time PGA Tour career earnings record. It’s not a matter of if—simply when, which could be this month for both golfers.

But does it matter?

McIlroy, 37, and Scheffler, 30, are closing in on the 15-time major champion as the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Playoffs begin this week. The three players’ career on-course earnings to this point are as follows:

• Tiger Woods: $120,999,166
• Rory McIlroy: $116,446,772
• Scottie Scheffler: $116,364,411

This week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship and next week’s BMW Championship have $20 million purses and $3.6 million winner’s checks up for grabs, while the season-ending Tour Championship will pay out $40 million in prize money, including $10 million to its champion. So, it’s possible the 50-year-old Woods could be third on the all-time money list by month’s end.

While the race to see whether McIlroy or Scheffler will pass Woods first—and who can hang onto the lead—is intriguing, the inevitable accomplishment is perhaps more so an indicator of how dramatically and quickly prize money in professional golf has grown since Woods’s prime, and even since McIlroy turned professional nearly two decades ago.

Woods has 82 PGA Tour victories (tied with Sam Snead for first all-time), but his largest single paycheck for winning a tournament was $2.07 million at the 2019 Masters. Scheffler, with 20 PGA Tour victories since turning pro in 2018, has 20 paychecks of $2 million or more,many for runner-up finishes. Meanwhile, with 30 PGA Tour wins, McIlroy has had seven such paydays.

Since 2023, the year after LIV Golf launched, the PGA Tour’s eight signature events per season have paid out $20 million purses, which is more than double purses totaled in Woods’s heyday, and the Players Championship has paid out $25 million—with Scheffler claiming the $4.5 million winner’s check twice and McIlroy once.

Official prize money on the PGA Tour and at the four major championships this year is set to total nearly $525 million. During the 2018-19 season, in which Woods won his last major, that sum was $343.6 million. In 2007, the first year of the FedExCup, it was $270.3 million.

The FedExCup, the PGA Tour’s season-long points race, has risen from paying out $35 million in its first year to $100 million this year. That bonus money—like Scheffler’s $25 million for winning the 2024 FedExCup—has typically not been included in PGA Tour players’ official career earnings. But since last year, amid changes to the Tour Championship format, the season finale’s $40 million purse now counts towards official earnings, in addition to being considered FedExCup bonus money.