Every year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, we have the chance to recognise and reflect on the amazing career of one of the legends of golf.
And, simultaneously, we can also recognise how much the prize money payouts in golf have grown since The King reigned supreme in professional golf. For all those who think that today’s top players on the PGA Tour don’t earn enough commensurate with their stature in the game, consider how much Arnold Palmer made while being arguably the game’s more influential player for three-plus decades.
During Palmer’s 50 years playing professionally on the PGA Tour, he competed in 726 tournaments and played a total of 2,553 rounds. He won 62 tour titles—fifth most in tour history—while finishing second or third 38 and 27 times, respectively. For those celebrated efforts, the seven-time major champion’s career earnings totalled a mere $1,861,857.
To understand how laughably low that is, consider that the winner on Sunday at Bay Hill—Billy Horschel and Talor Gooch enter the final round tied for the lead at seven under—will earn $2.16 million, up from last year’s $1,674,000 first-place prize, for his efforts. That means, with one win, the 2022 API champ will have earned 116 percent of Palmer’s career prize money while playing in .002 percent of the rounds Palmer logged in his career.
Different times, different era for sure, but this contrast illustrates just how much more money is at stake these days on the PGA Tour compared to when Palmer was The King. So does this: There are 11 golfers who have made more money playing ONLY in Palmer’s tournament at Bay Hill than Palmer did for the ENTIRETY of his career. Take a look at the career money list for the API Invitational:
1: Tiger Woods, $7,657,559.53 (18 starts, 8 wins)
2: Marc Leishman, $3,388,192.17 (12/1)
3: Bryson DeChambeau, $3,118,291 (5/1)
4: Rory McIlroy, $2,998.578.13 (7/1)
5: Vijay Singh, $2,650,365.71 (27/1)
6: Francesco Molinari, $2,487,528.50 (8/1)
7: Matt Every, $2,363,492.43 (12/2)
8: Justin Rose, $2,296,710.43 (16/0)
9: Tyrrell Hatton, $2,232,939 (5/1)
10: Henrik Stenson, $2,166,174.53 (13/0)
11: Ernie Els, $2,138,036.34 (24/2)
The overall prize money payout for this week’s tournament is $US12 million. Here’s the breakdown for the prize money each golfer who made the cut will earn this week. Come back shortly after the conclusion of the tournament on Sunday and we’ll update this list with individual names and money earned.
Win: $US2,160,000
2: $1,308,000
3: $828,000
4: $588, 000
5: $492,000
6: $435,000
7: $405,000
8: $375,000
9: $351,000
10: $327,000
11: $303,000
12: $279,000
13: $255,000
14: $231,000
15: $219,000
16: $207,000
17: $195,000
18: $183,000
19: $171,000
20: $159,000
21: $147,000
22: $135,000
23: $125,400
24: $115,800
25: $106,200
26: $96,600
27: $93,000
28: $89,400
29: $85,800
30: $82,200
31: $78.600
32: $75,000
33: $71,400
34: $68,400
35: $65,400
36: $62,400
37: $59,400
38: $57,000
39: $54,600
40: $52,200
41: $49,800
42: $47,400
43: $45,000
44: $42,600
45: $40,200
46: $37,800
47: $35,400
48: $33,480
49: $31,800
50: $30,840
51: $30,120
52: $29,400
53: $28,920
54: $28,440
55: $28,200
56: $27,960
57: $27,720
58: $27,480
59: $27,240
60: $27,000
61: $26,760
62: $26,520
63: $26,280
64: $26,040
65: $25,800
66: $24,560
67: $25,320
68: $25,080
69: $24,840
70: $24,600
71: $24,360
72: $24,120
73: $23,880
74: $23,640
75: $23,400
76: $23,160
77: $22,920
78: $22,680
