Golf is back for more in 2026, but as the schedules continue, one of the sport’s most significant debates ceases to end and is starker than ever.
Following the 2025 CME Group Tour Championship, Jeeno Thitikul led the LPGA Tour money list, having earned $7,578,330 across the season.
While this is a sum the majority of humans can’t imagine having, Thitikul’s year-long earnings would have been good for 20th place in the PGA Tour money list of 2025.
This is a fraction of Scottie Scheffler‘s monstrous bank balance of $27,659,500 across 20 events. Although rewarding Thitikul with a monstrous $4 million cheque for winning last year’s season-ending finale is a vast upscale investment in the women’s game, there is still a significant disparity between the two spheres.
2025 was another year of dominance for Scheffler, who won seven times, including the PGA Championship and The Open. He was handsomely rewarded in the PGA Tour’s grossly inflated financial climate. He is already off the mark in 2026, having won the Amex in his first start of the year.
Scheffler’s excellence is becoming more regular, but each of his last two full seasons could be compared to Nelly Korda’s 2024 season. Her third win at the Annika at the end of that season capped off a seven-trophy haul that included a PGA Championship win.
Her on-course earnings for that year? $4,391,930. Korda won’t have sniffed 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 also remarkable, as an example, 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.
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Scheffler’s dollar total for last year and previous seasons 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.
ALSO: What clubs does Nelly Korda use?
ALSO: Who is Nelly Korda’s boyfriend?
Last updated: March 25
LPGA money list 2026
1. Hyo Joo Kim – $602,140
2. Nelly Korda – $597,976
3. Hannah Green – $501,678
4. Auston Kim – $486,530
5. Mi Hyang Lee – $414,608
6. Jeeno Thitikul – $399,919
7. Haeran Ryu – $265,462
8. Chizzy Iwai – $251,880
9. Sei Young Kim – $246,326
10. Miyu Yamashita – $245,517
11. Minjee Lee – $245,517
12. Weiwei Zhang – $239,531
13. Lydia Ko – $228,024
14. A Lim Kim – $225,067
15. Amy Yang – $224,001
16. Angel Yin – $215,317
17. Jin Hee Im – $213,344
18. Rio Takeda – $211,554
19. Hye-Jin Choi – $200,629
20. Aditi Ashok – $196,851
PGA Tour money leaders 2026
1. Jacob Bridgeman – $6,564,485
2. Cameron Young – $6,471,920
3. Akshay Bhatia – $5,857,708
4. Matt Fitzpatrick – $5,262,488
5. Collin Morikawa – $5,065,472
6. Chris Gotterup – $3,895,375
7. Scottie Scheffler – $3,816,430
8. Xander Schauffele – $3,137,238
9. Min Woo Lee – $3,107,299
10. Sepp Straka – $3,038,670
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67. Alex Smalley – $607,056 – nearest equivalent to the top of the women’s money list
NOW READ: From Annabel to Annika: The greatest comebacks in women’s golf history
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