Scottie Scheffler was not especially upbeat about his chances ahead of last week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta. He was suffering from hand, foot and mouth disease, an illness that is more commonly associated with kids. (It’s horrible; my grandson has had it.) “The blisters on my hands were the most challenging,” said Scheffler before the off. “I wasn’t able to practise the way I wanted.” That said, the blisters did not stop him getting his hands on the trophy and the $10 million winner’s cheque.
With that, he passed Tiger Woods in career earnings, his personal tally rising to $130.4 million. It is one of many measures of Tiger’s previous pre-eminence that he had led that particular category for the past 25 years. Scheffler thus joined Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only players to win this event more than once.
“There were a lot of talented guys in front of me on the leaderboard,” he said after coming from three shots back for his victory. “I was fortunate to get off to a good start and put myself in the mix. It’s a gift to be out here on tour. Each and every day I’m going to try to give it my best.” So not one of his ‘it’s only golf, it doesn’t really matter’ moods.
It's hard to win one … even harder to win multiple. pic.twitter.com/MORBcIxWGd
— PGA Tour (@PGATour) August 31, 2026
There’s an interesting point here (well, if you find prize-money interesting). The tennis US Open – which is currently taking place in New York – has a purse of $37.8 million. The champion will take home $5.5 million. By way of a direct comparison, for winning the golf equivalent this year at Shinnecock Hills, Wyndham Cark got $4.5 million out of a total prize-fund of $22.5 million. But look below that. In tennis, a high-end regular season event, such as the recent Cincinnati Masters 1000, had a purse of $9.4 million, of which the winner received $1.15 million. At one of the PGA Tour’s signature events, say the Memorial Tournament, the purse this year was $20 million, with $4 million of that going to the winner. And then there’s the Tour Championship and its $40-million munificence. Outside of the major championships/grand slams, the financial rewards for men in golf are considerably higher than they are in tennis.
As for the Tour Championship’s future, there will be a radically new format in place with effect from 2028. Then, instead of just 30 players in the field for the finale, there will be 90 competing in the PGA Tour Championship Series Finale. But it won’t be the finale. The top-32 players in that event will move on to the ‘new’ Tour Championship, which will involve two weeks of matchplay golf on two different courses. The competitors will initially be split into eight groups of four and each play three matches. Matters then get whittled down from there. I mean, who says the United States learned nothing from this year’s football World Cup?
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com as well as his golf archive on robertgreen-golf.com
Related: PGA Tour – Career Money List
Robert Green
Robert Green is a former editor of Golf World and Golf International magazines and the author of four books on golf, including Seve: Golf’s Flawed Genius. He has played golf on more than 450 courses around the world, occasionally acceptably.