Who is the highest paid women’s golfer and what is the gap to the PGA Tour?

Golf is back for more in 2025, but as the schedules continue, one of the sport’s most significant debates ceases to end and is starker than ever.

Following the 2024 CME Group Tour Championship, the best women’s player of 2024 might’ve been Nelly Korda but it was Jeeno Thitikul who led the LPGA Tour money list, having earned $4 million at the season finale in Florida, the biggest winner’s purse in women’s golf history.

While this is a sum the majority of humans can’t imagine having, Thitikul’s year-long earnings of $6,059,309 would have been good for 15th place in the PGA Tour money list of 2024.

This is a fraction of Scottie Scheffler‘s monstrous bank balance of $29,228,357 across 19 events. Although rewarding Thitikul with a monstrous $4 million cheque is a vast upscale investment in the women’s game, there is still a significant disparity between the two spheres.

2024 might not be the best case study for this comparison, given Scheffler won seven times, not including the Olympic Games. He was handsomely rewarded in the PGA Tour’s grossly inflated financial climate. His official money mark was $71,793,586 through 2024, and he had only been a tour member for four years.

Although his excellence is regular, Scheffler’s year was particularly outstanding. It may have been the best season since Tiger Woods won seven times in 2007, including the PGA Championship. He went on to win the PGA Championship again in 2025, plus The Open at Portrush.

Another school of thought says 2024 is the perfect year to compare men’s and women’s earnings, given that Korda was also staggeringly good. Her third win at the Annika in November capped off a seven-trophy haul that included a PGA Championship win, like Woods of ’07.

Her bank balance? $4,391,930. Korda won’t sniff at that, but she and Scheffler rose to similar levels of superstardom in that 12 months, and there is a cavern between what their performances were worth in currency.

What is even more remarkable is that Rory McIlroy won $4.5 million at the 2025 Players Championship, which means he won more at this event than Korda won in the entirety of 2024.

The PGA Tour has long offered big prize money. The organisation also has one of the sport’s most generous pension schemes. However, when LIV Golf was born in 2022, the circuit’s financial reserves were opened like Pandora’s Box, making $4 million in winner purses and $20 million in total prize funds the rule instead of the exception.

Scheffler’s dollar total for the year must account for the squeeze placed on the tour by the new Saudi-funded league and its compulsion to compete. But with more new money being pumped into golf, the LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour are yet to taste the pie in the same way the men’s tour has.

Below, we run down the top 20 of the LPGA money list and the top 10 of the PGA Tour money list.

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Last updated: November 25

LPGA money list 2025

1. Jeeno Thitikul – $7,578,330

2. Minjee Lee – $3,910,471

3. Miyu Yamashita – $3,545,888

4. Rio Takeda – $2,896,319

5. Nelly Korda – $2,780,355

6. Maja Stark – $2,732,773

7. Mao Saigo – $2,534,996

8. Hye Jin Choi – $2,157,888

9. Charley Hull – $1,971,350

10. Chisato Iwai – $1,780,174

11. Angel Yin – $1,778,766

12. Somi Lee – $1,758,527

13. Hyo Joo Kim – $1,737,466

14. Grace Kim – $1,726,200

15. Minami Katsu – $1,707,091

16. Auston Kim – $1,671,533

17. Andrea Lee – $1,656,469

18. Sei Young Kim – $1,651,769

19. A Lim Kim – $1,630,060

20. Nasa Hataoka – $1,579,999

PGA Tour money leaders 2025

1. Scottie Scheffler – $27,659,550

2. Tommy Fleetwood – $18,496,238

3. Rory McIlroy – $16,992,418

4. Russell Henley – $14,707,570

5. J.J. Spaun – $13,278,222

6. Ben Griffin – $11,724,352

7. Justin Thomas – $10,896,155

8. Sepp Straka – $10,650,894

9. Patrick Cantlay – $9,441,931

10. Justin Rose – $8,857,976

NOW READ: LPGA Tour 2025 schedule and results

NOW READ: From Annabel to Annika: The greatest comebacks in women’s golf history

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