In 2026, one of the sport’s most significant debates ceases to end and is starker than ever.
Following the CME Group Tour Championship at the end of 2025, 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 was a fraction of Scottie Scheffler‘s monstrous bank balance of $27,659,500 across 20 events. Although rewarding Thitikul with an enormous $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.
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 PGA Tour’s flagship event, the 2025 Players Championship, alone, 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.
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Last updated: July 29
LPGA money list 2026
1. Nelly Korda – $5,712,524
2. Haeran Ryu – $4,167,471
3. Ina Yoon – $2,129,725
4. Brooke Henderson – $2,008,290
5. Miyu Yamashita – $1,942,920
6. Gaby Lopez – $1,761,040
7. Ruoning Yin – $1751,990
8. Hyo Joo Kim – $1,647,908
9. Hannah Green – $1,611,753
10. Sei Young Kim – $1,541,347
11. Jeeno Thitikul – $1,535,797
12. Charley Hull – $1,528,896
13. Jin Hee Im – $1,487,027
14. Akie Iwai – $1,379,907
15. Patty Tavatanakit – $1,238,805
16. Lottie Woad – $1,222,693
17. Auston Kim – $1,204,152
18. Allisen Corpuz – $1,155,724
19. Alison Lee – $1,063,609
20. A Lim Kim – $989,250
PGA Tour money leaders 2026
1. Scottie Scheffler – $16,911,275
2. Cameron Young – $13,945,452
3. Matt Fitzpatrick – $13,749,496
4. Wyndham Clark – $9,876,186
5. Collin Morikawa – $8,554,512
6. Rory McIlroy – $8,465,006
7. Chris Gotterup – $7,755,219
8. Sam Burns – $7,583,540
9. Jacob Bridgeman – $7,476,865
10. Akshay Bhatia – $7,473,999
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16. Russell Henley – $5,783,335, the closest equivalent on the PGA Tour to LPGA Tour leader Nelly Korda.
NOW READ: From Annabel to Annika: The greatest comebacks in women’s golf history
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