When Did Golf Become All About Money?

"When did golf become all about money," was what my partner asked me while we were watching Viktor Hovland's Tour Championship and FedEx Cup triumph at the weekend.

Hovland dominated the Tour Championship to win the FedEx Cup and take home the $18m prize money, coming just a week after his $3.6m win at the BMW Championship.

Professional golfers at the top level have always earned the big bucks but the money on offer right now is truly eye-watering.

Hovland had made $12.6m on the PGA Tour between turning pro in 2019 and the end of the 2022 season but pocketed $21.6m in the space of eight days this month.

This season alone he has earned $14.1m in regular winnings plus the $18m FedEx Cup bonus, taking his earnings for the campaign to over $32m.

We haven't even got to the Player Impact Program yet either, where $100m is set to be dished out to the tour's biggest names.

Hovland is one of the game's top stars and looks set to challenge for the World No.1 spot next year if his form continues, but earning over $32m on-course in a year that didn't even feature a Major victory shows just how lucrative men's elite golf is right now.

This is to take nothing away from Viktor. He's had an incredible season, where he has won three times and truly elevated his game. The 25-year-old challenged Brooks Koepka the whole way at the PGA Championship in May, where he finished T2nd, and he will be among the favorites at golf's big four events in 2024.

After already winning over $14m this season, Hovland admitted that he didn't really need the money in a week that featured plenty of talk online and on TV of the cash being won at East Lake.

"Obviously it's a lot of cash you're playing for," he said. "I mean, it's in the back of your mind. But I live in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Money goes a long ways there. It's not like I'm spending money out the wazoo every week. I don't need a lot to be happy. I don't need a lot to live within my means.

"So obviously it's nice for my family to have that protection and my, you know, eventual kids, that I'll have in the future. It's nice to have that, but it's not something that drives me, it's not something that gives me meaning. I find meaning in other places. But obviously with how society works, money is something you need."

He wasn't the only golfer playing down the money talk. But when you hear the stars of the game comment about the money not being important, they do so from an incredibly privileged position. And to my mind, this chat makes them less relatable.

“It's weird this year, with all the designated events, next year signature events, it's always, everyone makes it about the money," Collin Morikawa said. "But I really don't care. I would play these tournaments because I want to play against the best guys in the world. I want to win. And whether you get a dollar out of it or 10 million dollars out of it, a win's a win.”

Jon Rahm's view was even stronger.

“It's one of the things that frustrates me about watching this broadcast,” the Spaniard said. “Like, we're not thinking if we miss a putt how much it's going to cost us money-wise. No chance. Like, none whatsoever. You're trying to finish as high as possible. You're trying to win a tournament. It's one of my pet peeves when they make this tournament all about money because I think it takes away from it.”

Rahm is right, all of the money has the potential of taking away from the action and risks putting some fans off.

Nobody starts playing sport to earn money and nobody watches sport to see people earn money. Sport is about athleticism, skill and mental strength, and what's was the focus should solely be on. Should the world's best make millions? Of course, but there's a feeling that the prize money has begun to get a bit silly.

Mel Reid recently had some interesting comments on the potential of the women's game catching up with the men's game in terms of prize money.

“The men's game has gone absolutely ridiculous. Catching up with them is going to be a heavy feat," she said at the AIG Women's Open. "I don't know if it will ever happen, but when I first played the British Open to now, it's astronomically different. It's obviously great now for the girls to be able to come out and make a decent living.”

Reid is right that catching up with the men's game, which has gone "absolutely ridiculous", is going to be a heavy feat - as the gap is widening.

Scottie Scheffler led the PGA Tour money list this year with $21m vs $14m in 2021, with Jon Rahm leading with $7.7m in 2020.

Allisen Corpuz leads the LPGA Tour's money list with $2.95m currently, following on from Lydia Ko's $4.4m in 2022 and Jin Young Ko's $3.5m in 2021. Corpuz, who won the US Women's Open, has earned around $605,000 less in 18 events than Viktor Hovland won last week alone, a stark look at just how much the men's prizes are growing.

Prize money is going up in particular on the PGA Tour following the introduction of LIV Golf and the $620bn Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund's involvement in the game.

It's clear that LIV and PIF have made many golfers very rich, and its ultimately been a great thing for elite male professional golfers. The PGA and DP World Tour's deal with PIF is more good news for the world's best golfers and we can only imagine and wait to see what kind of prize money will be on offer in the coming years.

Let's hope once it all becomes clearer and the unknowns are worked out, we can get back to the beauty of the sport and talk less about money.