Golf’s top earners made less money this past year (though they still made a lot)

Golf’s top-earning players lost a bit of money this past year. 

They probably won’t lose too much sleep over it.

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth made a combined $183 million this past year, down from the $215 million golf’s biggest earners made the previous year, according to Forbes Magazine’s list of the highest-paid athletes in the world, released Friday and can be found here. 

The overall top 100 saw a drop in earnings for the first time in four years, as the coronavirus pandemic has halted most every sport since about the middle of March. The overall top 100 made $3.6 billion from June 1, 2019 through June 1, 2020, down from the $4 billion they made the previous year. 

Woods, who has led the Forbes list a record 12 times, is the top-earning golfer, and No. 8 overall, with $62.3 million in earnings. He is followed by McIlroy, No. 14 overall with $52 million in earnings; Mickelson, No. 25 and $40.8 million; and Spieth; No. 52 and $27.6 million; while Roger Federer, with $106 million in earnings, leads the list for the first time. 

Forbes broke down the earnings by endorsements and salary. Woods made $60 million in endorsements and $2.3 million in salary; McIlroy made $30 million in endorsements and $22 million in salary; Mickelson made $40 million in endorsements and $800,000 in salary; and Spieth made $26 million in endorsements and $1.6 million in salary.  

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• phil mickelson
• rory mcilroy
• Tiger Woods

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

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