By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-01 21:15:04 | Updated at 2026-09-04 00:08:53
2 days ago
Scottie Scheffler of the United States reacts after finishing the final round of the Texas Children's Houston Open 2025 at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, on March 30, 2025. Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images
World-ranked No. 1 Scottie Scheffler became the highest-earning golf player in history when he won the Tour Championship on Aug. 30 and captured his second FedEx Cup title.
The $10 million tournament prize pushed the American’s career earnings to over $130 million, surpassing Tiger Woods’ career earnings of $121 million.
“I was able to get off to a really good start,” Scheffler said after the tournament. “I made mistakes, I’d say, on [holes] six and seven, but after that I played some really solid golf.”
Scheffler entered the fourth day 12 under par, three strokes behind Viktor Hovland and two behind Ryan Gerard.
With the help of six birdies, he shot four-under par on the final day to secure his third tour victory of the season at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Hovland and Gerard had their worst performances of the tournament, with the former starting off with a bogey on the first hole and the latter beginning with a double bogey.
Scheffler called the first hole “extremely difficult” and said he was glad to make it out at par. He added that he believed the pins being in tough spots and a little bit of wind made the final round challenging for a lot of players.
East Lake had a cumulative average score of 67.35 through the first three rounds, but the Sunday average was 70.07.
“To get off to a good start and then those guys, like you said, getting off to a bit of a slow start really put me right in the tournament early,” he said.
The four-time major winner surpassed Woods’ career earnings record that was set in 2000 when Woods tied for second at Torrey Pines.
In breaking the record at just 30 years old, Scheffler has had the benefit of playing for much higher cash prizes than Woods, who didn’t play for a $10 million or higher purse until 2010—after his prime. The PGA Tour had 15 prizes of $20 million or more this season alone.
Scheffler recognized this discrepancy and gave ample credit to Woods before the tournament started.
“The reason our purses are so large today is because of the influence and impact that Tiger had on the game,” Scheffler said. “I wouldn’t really consider that a Tiger record being broken. I think it just shows one of the many effects he had on the game of golf in a positive way.”
Alongside the popularity Woods brought to the sport 30 years ago, prize money has seen spikes from the PGA Tour’s response to the arrival of the Saudi-backed golf league, LIV Golf, which has sought to lure top PGA players through large contracts.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
