Scottie Scheffler may be the most dominant player in professional golf this year, but he’s not the highest paid—for now, at least.
That title now belongs to Joaquin Niemann, who surpassed Scheffler’s 2025 earnings, $19.2 million so far, with his fifth victory of the season at LIV Golf’s U.K. event. Niemann has now made $21.94 million on the golf course this year, averaging $1.37 million each time he tees it up.
The vast majority of Niemann’s prize money has come from the five $4 million LIV winner’s checks he’s received. He’s made $1.21 million at the six LIV tournaments he hasn’t won.
The Chilean made $619,931 in this year’s major championships, finishing T-8 at the PGA Championship and T-29 at The Masters. His missed cuts at the U.S. Open and Open Championship actually paid out $10,000 and $12,300, respectively.
Niemann also cashed a $113,000 check for his T-3 result at an International Series event in India.
Closing Stretch
The battle for the top-earning golfer of 2025 is not over, though.
Niemann and Scheffler, the latter of whom has won four times this year, including two majors, each have three big-money tournaments to close out the LIV and PGA Tour seasons. Both golfers are also atop their respective season-long standings.
LIV will pay its 2025 individual champion $18 million, with Niemann holding a sizable lead over Jon Rahm.
Scheffler has already sealed an $18 million payout of his own by clinching first place in the end-of-season FedEx Cup ($10 million) and Comcast Business Tour Top 10 ($8 million) standings. With the PGA Tour shifting its FedEx Cup bonus-money structure this season, Scheffler will have a chance to earn up to $15 million more in bonus money during the playoffs.
