LIV Golf has completely disrupted the world of golf as we know it. Greg Norman's Saudi-backed Super League has poached some of the biggest names in the golfing world to join the upstart tour, but it's cost them a pretty penny to do so. The five highest earners on the LIV Golf Tour have been revealed, as has the amount LIV paid to acquire them, and it's absolutely jaw-dropping. While figures of the deals that brought the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Cameron Smith to LIV have been rumored, it's now been revealed just how much each of the top earners pocketed, via Dan Rapaport.
$200m for Phil Mickelson
$150m for Dustin Johnson
$125m for Bryson DeChambeau
$100m for Brooks Koepka
$100m for Cameron SmithThat's $675 million from LIV Golf to sign 5 players. The total revenue for the PGA Tour in 2022 is somewhere around $1.5 billion.
â Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) August 9, 2022
Per Rapaport, the top five golfers on the LIV tour were paid a combined $675 million to join its ranks. The biggest earner on the tour, of course, is Mickelson, who received a $200 million sum in order to switch allegiances from the PGA. Johnson was the second-highest earner, collecting $150 million from the Saudi upstart league. Bryson DeChambeau pocketed $125 million, while both Koepka and Smith were handed $100 million.
The combined fee LIV paid out to its five highest earners is a significant portion of the entire PGA Tour revenue from 2022. The estimated revenue of the PGA Tour this year is around $1.5 billion, a bit more than double what LIV dished out to its top dogs.
It was also reported that LIV Golf offered Tiger Woods almost $1 billion to join the tour, but Woods turned them down.
Everyone has a price, and LIV was able to secure some of golf's biggest superstars with their seemingly endless pool of funding.
Follow Us
Subscribe