Golf Rich List 2018 Revealed

Five golfers feature in Forbes' 2018 Highest-Paid Athletes list with Tiger Woods coming out on top

Golf Rich List 2018 Revealed

Five golfers feature in Forbes' 2018 Highest-Paid Athletes list with Tiger Woods coming out on top

Golf Rich List 2018 Revealed

Forbes' 100 Highest-Paid Athletes 2018 list has been released and five golfers feature.

The list, topped by boxer Floyd Mayweather, looks at earnings and endorsements between June 2017 and June 2018.

Controversially, there are no women on the list this year for the first time since 2010 after Serena Williams dropped out of the top 100.

Tiger Woods was the highest golfer on the list in 16th place.

The 14-time major winner earned $43.3m in the last year, with $1.3m in on-course earnings and $42m in endorsements.

The 42-year-old, who was the second-oldest athlete in the top 100, has lucrative contracts with Nike, TaylorMade, Monster, Full Swing, Bridgestone, Hero, Kowa, Upper Deck and the PGA Tour.

The oldest man on the list, and the second-richest golfer, is Phil Mickelson.

Lefty is 22nd with earnings of $41.3m, just $2m behind Woods.

Mickelson earned $4.3m on the course and has endorsement deals worth $37m per year with companies like KPMG, Callaway, ExxonMobil and Rolex.

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Just one place below Mickelson is 2017 Open champion Jordan Spieth.

The 24-year-old is the second-youngest athlete on the list and had earnings of $41.2m last year, just $100,000 less than Mickelson.

Spieth earned a whopping $11.2m on course in the last 12 months with victories in the Open ($1.85m) and Travelers Championship ($1.2m) as well as finishing 2nd in the FedEx Cup for a $3m bonus.

Jordan Spieth won the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale

He also had two runners-up finishes in the FedEx Cup Playoff events which were each worth $945,000.

The three-time major winner has deals with companies including Under Armour, Titleist, Rolex, Coca Cola and AT&T.

Behind Spieth in 26th place was Rory McIlroy, who was the second-highest earning Brit behind F1 driver Lewis Hamilton.

McIlroy accrued $37.7m in the last year with $3.7m in earnings and $34m in endorsement deals from Nike, TaylorMade, Omega and EA Sports.

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The final golfer on the list was new world number one Justin Thomas with earnings of $26m. The 25-year-old is 66th in the top 100.

Thomas captured his first major title at the USPGA Championship at Quail Hollow. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Thomas' off-course earnings were a lowly (take with a pinch of salt) $5m - that will surely rise for 2019.

He has deals with Titleist, FootJoy, Ralph Lauren, NetJets, Citi, Beats by Dr Dre and Woodford Reserve.

In the past 12 months JT has earned $21m on the course including the FedEx Cup and its $10m bonus.

He also won his maiden major at the USPGA Championship ($1.9m), the Dell Technologies Championship ($1.6m), the CJ Cup ($1.66m) and the Honda Classic ($1.2m).

Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!


Elliott is currently playing:


Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV