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.
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Last updated: May 6
LPGA money list 2026
1. Nelly Korda – $2,843,718
2. Hannah Green – $1,427,440
3. Hyo Joo Kim – $1,289,942
4. Patty Tavatanakit – $909,119
5. Ruoning Yin – $883,041
6. Ina Yoon – $793,478
7. Jin Hee Im – $766,295
8. Lauren Coughlin – $698,549
9. Sei Young Kim – $652,879
10. Haeran Ryu – $587,286
11. Miyu Yamashita – $556,470
12. Yan Liu – $540,199
13. Auston Kim – $532,642
14. Akie Iwai – $481,203
15. Mi Hyang Lee – $480,372
16. Minami Katsu – $470,594
17. Lottie Woad – $457,966
18. Jeeno Thitikul – $454,770
19. Angel Yin – $450,961
20. Chizzy Iwai – $444,056
PGA Tour money leaders 2026
1. Cameron Young – $11,294,670
2. Scottie Scheffler – $10,566,430
3. Matt Fitzpatrick – $10,550,238
4. Jacob Bridgeman – $6,779,263
5. Rory McIlroy – $6,714,875
6. Collin Morikawa – $6,655,930
7. Akshay Bhatia – $6,281,545
8. Si Woo Kim – $4,798,605
9. Chris Gotterup – $4,615,544
10. Xander Schauffele – $4,166,488
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21. Tommy Fleetwood – $2,837,743- 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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