Scottie Scheffler is on the verge of overtaking Tiger Woods as the PGA Tour's all-time leading money earner. The world number one trails Woods by just $1,034,755 in career earnings, Golf.com reported.
Scheffler has accumulated over $119 million while Woods has over $120 million. A top-three finish at the BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis would see Scheffler claim the record.
Scottie Scheffler is completing his seventh full PGA Tour season. He has made 157 starts and averaged $763,054 per start across that period.
Woods, by contrast, averaged $284,574 per start across his own first seven seasons. Woods also recorded 16 more wins than Scheffler during that comparable stretch.
Rory McIlroy sits third on the all-time earnings list with $116,488,372. He offered a measured perspective on the growing prize funds.
"If sponsors are willing to pay that, then that's the market value," McIlroy said.
“We are professional golfers. Like, we’re not just Bobby Jones out there, not playing for prize money. We turned pro to make money playing golf,” he added.
Meanwhile, the earnings gap tells a story that extends well beyond individual performance. Scheffler himself acknowledged this at the BMW Championship press conference. “A lot to do with the purses and all that. I’m not really too close to him in terms of career wins,” he said.
Of course, he is not close to Tiger. Woods has 82 PGA Tour victories. Scheffler has 21. Tiger Woods won 75 top-5s, 89 top-10s and 119 top-25s while Scheffler has won 68, 88 and 122, respectively. Tiger also won 12 runner-ups, compared to Scheffler’s 15.
"What, am I like a fourth of the way there? Tiger did a lot for the game of golf, and he put us in a position where we’re able to earn some pretty good stuff financially, so that’s something we’re very grateful for," Scheffler said.
“Tiger’s contributions to the game, when you look at where the purses were at before, he came out on Tour to where they’re at now is a pretty stark difference,” he added.
For sure, the escalating prize funds across professional golf reflect a dramatic shift in the sport's commercial power. Woods played a central role in attracting sponsors, television deals and global audiences. The competitive threat posed by LIV Golf and its Saudi-backed funding also forced the PGA Tour to increase its purses.
The BMW Championship carries a $20 million purse this week. When Woods started his career, such figures were unimaginable for regular Tour events.
So, when Scottie Scheffler overtakes Tiger Woods, he has none other than Tiger himself to thank.
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