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Hovland Claims PGA Tour Championship, Record $34.5M in Earnings

By Kurt Badenhausen

Kurt Badenhausen

Sports Valuations Reporter

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Last Sunday, Viktor Hovland shot a course record 61 at Olympia Fields Golf Club in Illinois to come from behind to win the BMW Championship in the second event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The career-low round clinched a $3.6 million payday. “Nothing that beats that,” Hovland said.

The 25-year-old Norwegian just beat that.

Hovland ran away from the field this week to capture the PGA Tour Championship, with Xander Schauffele finishing in second, five strokes back. The victory also secured Hovland the FedEx Cup Playoffs title and its $18 million bonus. The five-year pro set a new PGA Tour record for one-year earnings with $34.5 million, including his prize money, FedEx bonus and Comcast Business Tour top 10 bonus.

After Hovland, the golfers with the highest total earnings for 2023 were Scottie Scheffler ($26.4 million), Jon Rahm ($21.3 million), McIlroy ($20.3 million) and Clark ($17.8 million). McIlroy’s $28.4 million in earnings last year set the previous Tour record.

It has been a banner year for golfers’ bank accounts after the PGA Tour boosted prize money this season to compete with LIV Golf . The PGA established 13 “elevated” events that feature increased winnings totaling $315 million, up 47% from 2022. The PGA Tour’s total purse for the year is expected to top $560 million, an increase of $140 million.

Scheffler set a record last year for official PGA Tour prize money with $14 million. Three golfers—Scheffler ($21 million), Rahm ($16.5 million) and Hovland ($14.1 million)—topped the record this year, with McIlory just $100,000 behind.

Last year, LIV recruited Bryson Dechambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Cameron Smith, and dozens of other players. In addition to massive signing bonuses, its eight no-cut events last year had total prize money of $255 million. Johnson topped LIV’s prize money list with $35.6 million. In 2023, the 14 LIV events are scheduled to pay $405 million in total.

In June, the PGA Tour, LIV and DP World Tour, Europe’s main golf circuit, reached an agreement to merge their commercial interests into a single, for-profit global golf entity. It ended all litigation between LIV and the PGA Tour.

Hovland and other PGA Tour stars will add to their prize money haul via the Tour’s Player Impact Program (PIP), which began in 2021 to funnel more money to top players who bring attention to the sport. It paid out $40 million during the first year and jumped to $100 million for 2022. Hovland’s total earnings should hit $40 million if he finishes in the program’s top six.

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Tour Championship

East Lake Golf Club

Crunching the Numbers

The 5 most eye-opening takeaways from the final 2022-23 PGA Tour money list

It was once the standard that largely determined whether PGA Tour pros kept or lost their playing privileges for the following year. These days, however, the end-of-the-season money list exists so far in the shadow of the FedEx Cup, you’re hard pressed to find it on the tour’s website. But found it we did—you can see the final tally here —as the 2022-23 edition became official upon the conclusion of last week’s BMW Championship (the $75 million on the line at the Tour Championship is technically not prize money but rather FedEx Cup bonus dollars).

A look at the numbers motivated us to take the extra step of compiling data for the past 10 years, along with snapshots from 2003, 1993 and 1983. Comparing all the crazy cash provides a fascinating picture of how things have changed over the years—and really changed the last few seasons. Here are a few things that caught our eye.

Holy hell, Scottie Scheffler just won a lot of money

Scheffler, who never finished outside the top 11 in a single tournament before the Open Championship, was insanely good this year, and his outrageous skill earned him a figure that is almost garish: $21 million and change to top this year’s list. For context, prior to 2022, just one player had ever earned more than $10 million in a single season, and that was Jordan Spieth in his wonder year of 2015. Then in 2021-22, Scheffler broke every record by earning $14 million. Now he has lapped himself, and if he can pull out the FedEx Cup title this week, he'll claim another $18 million.

Mind you, this is about more than just success; the total money available to players this season on the PGA Tour exceeded $500 million for the first time, an increase of about $140 million last year alone. Scheffler was one of seven tour pros to earn eight figures this season (Jon Rahm was second on this year's money list with $16 million in earnings). So Scheffler's haul is a combination of great play and a rising tide.

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That rising tide is raising most ships

Among the top 125 on the PGA Tour money list in 2023, the average earnings were $3.79 million, an increase of almost a million dollars from 2022's $2.84 million. If you look at specific positions on the money list, too, Si Woo Kim's 30th-place haul of $5.38 million is a jump of $2.5 million from K.H. Lee's 30th-place money in 2022; Sam Ryder in 70th ($2.36 million) beat Matt Jones' 70th total ($1.91 million); and you have to go down to 125th before you find that Nico Echavarria's $951,000 just fell short of Charles Howell III's figure of $1.03 million last year. In all, the only thing that stayed relatively steady was the number of players making at least a million dollars. After a big jump in 2021 from 112 to 124 (not counting the shortened COVID year of 2020), it went up to 126 last year, and back to 124 in 2023.

The rich are definitely getting richer

To the tour's credit, the emphasis on designated events and increasing top prizes didn't materially affect the earnings of the players lower on the list, although it's also a fact that the lion's share of the gains went to the top players. To some extent, that's again because of great results; Scheffler making 172 percent more than 2021 top finisher Jon Rahm isn't just about higher purses. But incrementally the higher positions on the money list saw bigger gains, at No. 30, Si Woo Kim saw a 60-percent increase; Ryder saw a 21-percent increase at No. 70, and once you got down to No. 125, there was actually a decrease in earnings. Even when you look at 2013, the amount made by the 125th player, Kevin Chappell, wasn't that far behind today's 125 at $647,000. One of the main points of the changes implemented this year was to funnel dollars to the best players, in a model that's more representative of their worth to the tour, and that very much came to pass.

Warren Little

The prize increases at the top are outpacing inflation by a whole lot

In 1983, Hal Sutton was the top earner on tour, taking home $426,000. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , that would be about $1.38 million today … a sizable increase, but nowhere near the reality of Scheffler's $21 million haul. You don't have to look at a 40-year gap, either; Tiger Woods' total of $8.5 million in 2013 would be worth about $11 million today. Again, not very close. It's happening at the bottom, too; the tour average for players in the top 125 of $116,000 in 1983 would only be worth $360,000 today, not the $3.8 million tour pros averaged in 2022-23. Golf has become a far richer sport for its top athletes.

This is almost definitely the new normal

This is just simple math; a big part of the changes this year were a result of the tour trying to compete with LIV Golf. If for whatever reason the merger doesn't go through, they're still going to have to compete with LIV Golf, and if it does go through, they'll have the assets of the PIF at their disposal. There's no scenario barring some kind of economic depression in which this very expensive toothpaste goes back in the tube. If anything, you'd expect it to go up.

Scottie Scheffler Sets New 40-Year PGA Tour Record At Tour Championship

S cottie Scheffler has enjoyed one of the all-time PGA Tour seasons with six victories - including his second Major - and an Olympic gold medal to boot.

During an extraordinary 2024 so far, Scheffler has achieved a number of feats such as becoming the first six-time victor since Arnold Palmer in 1962, chaining together 41 consecutive rounds of par or better, and breaking his own PGA Tour money record in a single season - a number that continues to rise exponentially.

And, after one round of the 2024 Tour Championship, he has set another benchmark - with a little assistance from the FedEx Cup regulations.

The World No.1, who began the four-day event at East Lake two strokes in front of Xander Schauffele on 10-under as a result of leading the FedEx Cup coming into the final tournament, is now on 16-under heading into the second round after carding a 65 at the revamped Georgia layout.

Scheffler's closest rival, Schauffele makes up one of the two players closest to him in the standings on nine-under, with Collin Morikawa the other after becoming one of multiple golfers to fire a 66.

But Scheffler's low round of the day means he is the first player to hold a lead of seven strokes or more after 18 holes of a PGA Tour event since records began in 1983.

Asked about the size of his advantage and what his approach was, given he began two strokes ahead, the two-time Major champion insisted there was no reason to think about anything other than attempting to score as low as possible on day one.

He said: "Just like any other tournament, if I came out here and shot two-over par and this was a regular stroke play event, I'd be sitting pretty far back from the lead.

"So treating it like I would any other tournament, just staying in my lane and doing the things I'm good at and that's just trying to focus on the task at hand and let all the other stuff take care of itself."

Should Scheffler go on to close out the Tour Championship ahead, he would earn the $25 million top prize and increase his earnings in 2024 alone to in excess of $60 million. That number will likely rise later in the year, too, once the Player Impact Program calculations are completed.

But, even if Scheffler managed to land a seventh PGA Tour triumph, it would leave him off the honors board in terms of 'most PGA Tour wins in a single season.'

Seven players - including the likes of Tiger Woods , Johnny Miller, and Gene Sarazen - have managed eight victories in one campaign, while Woods, Vijay Singh, and Paul Runyan each have a season with nine wins on their resume.

Ben Hogan achieved 10 in 1948, two years on from claiming 13, and Sam Snead took 11 titles in 1950. Yet, it is Byron Nelson who stands well clear at the top with 18 wins in one season - managed in 1945. That is a record that not even Scheffler is likely to beat.

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FedEx Cup earnings: How much each golfer in 2024 Tour Championship field has made in his career

A $25 million grand prize goes to the winner of the tour championship on sunday.

The 2024 Tour Championship may not be the biggest event on the calendar, but it does boast the largest prize fund in professional golf. With the FedEx Cup Playoffs collectively shelling out $100 million in bonuses , players will vie for their slice of the nearly $83 million prize pool with $25 million going to the eventual winner at East Lake Golf Club.

Hideki Matsuyama and Keegan Bradley each collected $3.6 million for their respective victories over the first two playoff events, but that is just a fraction of what will be hitting the FedEx Cup champion's bank account once the Tour Championship concludes. In fact, all competitors will clear at least a half million dollars for making it to the season's final playoff event with those inside the top 12 all cashing seven-figure paydays and those inside the top five clearing at least $5 million.

The $83 million pool represents an increase compared to last season when $75 million was up for grabs. Viktor Hovland claimed $18 million for his FedEx Cup crown . While that is $7 million less than what the eventual winner will collect this season, it was still more than the $15 million rewarded back in 2019 -- the first year of the staggered start format.

To contextualize the $25 million winner's purse, only one player on the PGA Tour season (Scottie Scheffler, shocker !) has surpassed that money total entering the Tour Championship. The seasons put together by Robert MacIntyre, Billy Horschel, Shane Lowry and Collin Morikawa would roughly add up to this figure.

Providing even further context, CBS Sports dissects just how much $25 million would mean to each participant in the Tour Championship. Looking at golfers' career on-course earnings -- excluding past FedEx Cup winnings, as those are considered bonuses -- the prize money becomes even more obscene.

Importance of winning the Tour Championship

Looking at what winning $25 million would meant to each golfer remaining in the FedEx Cup chase.

Scheffler has been on a tear the past few seasons, climbing inside the top five in career earnings following the FedEx St. Jude Championship to now trail only Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, McIlroy and Dustin Johnson. McIlroy and Scheffler are not the only two players to rank highly on that list, though, as Justin Thomas, Schauffele and Matsuyama all stand inside the top 15 as well.

A $25 million check wouldn't be a drop in their buckets, but it is safe to say others may feel it a little more. In fact, nearly half the field would double their career earnings with a victory. Tommy Fleetwood and Lowry are among this group of 13 players and would almost exactly double their totals.

Matthieu Pavon, a DP World Tour journeyman turned PGA Tour rookie, would make the biggest splash by quintupling his earnings. Similar increases could be achieved for players like MacIntyre, 22-year-old Akshay Bhatia, Aaron Rai, Taylor Pendrith and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. 

Perhaps the most bizarre outcome would be if Ludvig Åberg won the FedEx Cup but didn't tally the low 72-hole score (without the starting strokes). Winless this year, the young Swede could be crowned the season-long champion without technically ever finishing first in a tournament.

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Scottie scheffler raises the bar yet again on list of most money earned in single season on pga tour, share this article.

There can be a lot of money won playing professional tournament golf, especially on the PGA Tour and especially in the last two decades. And especially in the last two seasons.

Prize money has exploded on the circuit thanks to the signature events as well as the four majors boosting their purses.

Because of the influx of cash, four of the top five single-seasons for money earned happened during the 2022-23 season. One golfer has set a record for three years in a row. And Tiger Woods’ 2005 season ($10,628,024) is now not in the top 10.

Note: This list does not count bonus money awarded at the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship.

10 Wyndham Clark, 2022-23

Wyndham Clark looks on from the 18th green during the third round of the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club. (Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

$10,757,490

Clark won the U.S. Open for his first major championship. It was his second win of his breakout season. Clark made 24 of 27 cuts, while posting seven top-10 finishes. He’s made two-thirds of his career earnings total of $15 million this season.

9 Tiger Woods, 2006-07

Tiger Woods eyes putt during the final round of the 2007 BMW Championship at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont, Illinois. (Photo: S. Greenwood/Getty Images)

$10,867,052

Riding the momentum and a (sort-of) winning streak from 2006, Tiger Woods continued to dominate on the PGA Tour during the first of his many comebacks. Woods won the Buick Invitational for the seventh time – and extended his PGA Tour-events-started winning streak to seven. The streak ended in February when Woods lost in the Round of 16 at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Woods ended the year by claiming the inaugural FedEx Cup, winning the final two events of the playoffs. The BMW Championship was his 60th career PGA Tour victory. He dominated in the Tour Championship, winning by eight shots with a 23-under 257 (64-63-64-66). That remains the lowest 72-hole score of his career.

8 Vijay Singh, 2004

Vijay Singh hoists the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2004 PGA Championship. Pjhoto by USA TODAY Sports

$10,905,166

At age 41, Vijay Singh was as good as ever on the PGA Tour in 2004, winning the  PGA Championship at Whistling Straits and eight other Tour events. His overall finishes were equally impressive: he made 28-of-29 cuts, posted 18 top-10s and 24 top-25s. He also won PGA Tour Player of the Year honors.

7 Jordan Spieth, 2014-15

Jordan Spieth poses for a photo with the trophy after winning the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. (Photo: John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports)

$12,030,465

At the age of 22, Jordan Spieth was the reigning U.S. Open and Masters champion when he won the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus. He became the youngest Tour Player of the Year since Tiger Woods in 1997. In addition to those two majors won during the 2014-15 season, Spieth also captured the Valspar in March, the John Deere Classic in July and the Tour Championship to complete a memorable season on multiple fronts.

6 Rory McIlroy, 2022-23

Rory McIlroy talks to the media after winning the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club. (Photo: Stephen Pond/Getty Images)

$13,921,008

Rory McIlroy has two wins this season and of the 17 events he played, he made the weekend at 15 of them. Twelve times he finished in the top 10, twice he was a runner-up.

5 Scottie Scheffler, 2021-22

Scottie Scheffler on the 13th green during the third round of the 2022 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Danielle Parhizkaran-Augusta Chronicle/USA TODAY Sports)

$14,046,910

After entering the 2022 calendar year without a PGA Tour win, the 25-year-old Texan has vaulted into this list thanks to four victories in six starts, each win more impressive than the first. Scheffler finally broke through to victory lane in February at the WM Phoenix Open. He followed that up with a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Then came his first WGC win at the Dell Technologies Match Play. Now he’s a major champ, having won at Augusta National Golf Club to earn the green jacket. Over Memorial Day weekend, Scheffler almost won again, coming up short in a playoff against Sam Burns in the Charles Schwab Challenge. Still, he took home $915,600 for his work over the 73 holes. He took over the top spot with a T-2 at the U.S. Open, where he earned $1,557,687.

4 Viktor Hovland, 2022-23

Viktor Hovland looks on from the eighth green during a practice round ahead of the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club. (Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

$14,112,235

Viktor Hovland won twice this season: the Memorial, a designated event, and the BMW Championship, a playoff event. Both wins were good for $3.6 million. He made the cut in all 22 tournaments he entered and finished in the top 10 eight times. If Hovland were the top money winner this season, he’d have broken Scottie Scheffler’s single-season mark set a year ago, but in the age of signature events, Hovland’s whopping total ranks just third this season (and third best ever).

3 Jon Rahm, 2022-23

Jon Rahm prepares to tee off on the 10th hole for the first round of the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis. (Photo: Memphis Commercial/Appeal)

$16,522,608

Jon Rahm led the PGA Tour this season with four wins, including the Masters, his second career major, which was good for $3.24 million. He won $2.7 million at the Sentry, $1.44 million at the American Express and $3.6 million at the Genesis Invitatonal. Toss in 10 top 10s and that’s a lot of jack for one season. He’s also now gone over $50 million in career earnings.

2 Scottie Scheffler, 2022-23

Scottie Scheffler plays a shot on the ninth hole during the first round of the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge. (Photo: Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports)

$21,014,342

Scottie Scheffler, for the second year in a row, has set the new bar for most money earned in a single season . He made 22 of 22 cuts and posted 16 top 10s and has two wins, banking $3.6 million at the WM Phoenix Open and $4.5 million at the Players Championship, the richest prize on the PGA Tour.

Crazy to think he beat last year’s mark by about $7 million. He’s made $35 million in just the last two seasons and $42.5 million for his career.

1 Scottie Scheffler, 2024

Scottie Scheffler reacts after winning the 2024 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. (Photo: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports)

$27,696,858

Make it three for three. Scottie Scheffler has set yet another single-season money record. Six wins before July certainly helps. Winning big-money signature events and majors helps, too. Scheffler is the first since Tiger Woods in 2009 to win six times in a season. He now has 12 wins in all on the PGA Tour and more than $70 million in career on-course earnings, making him the seventh golfer to do reach that mark.

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Scottie Scheffler's class is clear to see as PGA Tour star on verge of record-breaking payday

Scottie Scheffler has been the man to beat all season long on the PGA Tour in 2024, and he's now just 18 holes away from capping off an incredible year with the FedEx Cup title

• 12:11, 1 Sep 2024

Scottie Scheffler is on the brink of clinching his first Tour Championship, which would see him pocket a career-high £19million. Despite the high stakes, he's keeping his cool as he heads into the final day.

Scheffler has been a force to be reckoned with throughout the 2024 season, racking up six tour victories and leading the PGA Tour in points. This has given him a two-shot advantage going into the weekend.

As the favourite, all Scheffler had to do was play sensibly on a course where the stars were expected to shine - with the top-10 all at least 11-under-par. However, Scheffler stands alone at the top of the leaderboard with a five-shot lead over Colin Morikawa , sitting pretty at 26-under-par.

The PGA Tour culminates in one final event this weekend - the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The competition sees the best players in the game vying for the FedEx Cup. The top 30 ranked players on tour have made it into the tournament, with higher seeds given a head start. Scheffler started his round on 10-under-par.

However, the American has continued to outshine his competitors over the last three days and now looks poised to take home the massive prize on Sunday.

Scheffler remains the epitome of calm as he edges closer to bagging the coveted FedEx Cup. Chatting with the press, he shared: "I feel like I've done a lot of stuff well and played solid, so I'm looking forward to the challenge of trying to finish off the tournament tomorrow."

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Collin Morikawa seems poised as the only contender capable of reeling in Scheffler, trailing by five strokes, while Sahith Theegala is still four shots shy of second spot. Having delivered an exceptional performance over the past three days, the American ace acknowledges the necessity for a top-notch final round to vie for the number one spot.

He relayed to reporters: "Not exactly the moving day that I needed, but I knew this entire week I was going to need something special to come out on top and I'm going to need something very special. But I believe in myself, and hopefully that comes out tomorrow."

This year's showdown will dish out the most substantial prize money to date across any tournament, soaring a hefty $7 million above last years grand prize, with a staggering $25 million awarded to the winner.

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Scottie Scheffler wins Memorial with newborn son in attendance

It was the fifth pga tour title of the year for scheffler, and his first as a father., by doug ferguson | associated press • published june 9, 2024 • updated on june 9, 2024 at 7:56 pm.

Winning has become a habit for Scottie Scheffler, except there was nothing typical about his victory Sunday at the Memorial.

He made only one birdie. He closed with a 2-over 74, his highest final round in two years. And victory wasn't assured until Scheffler had the mettle to put a firm stroke on a downhill putt from 5 feet above the hole to take out the break.

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It went right in the heart for a one-shot victory over Collin Morikawa, and a handshake with tournament host Jack Nicklaus. Their  exchange  said it all.

“You're a survivor,” Nicklaus told him.

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“Thanks,” Scheffler said. “Yeah, you made this place brutal today.”

Scheffler endured more stress than he wanted and got the victory everyone has come to expect, his fifth of the season — one week into the month of June — as he heads for another tough test next week in the U.S. Open.

Muirfield Village was so demanding with its ultra firm greens and swirling gusts throughout the afternoon that only six players broke par and the average score was a fraction under 75.

Scheffler, who started four shots ahead, never lost the lead. He never felt safe, either, not with Morikawa and Adam Hadwin on his heels all afternoon, and on a back nine where making par felt like hard work. Par is what it took on the 18th hole.

“This is a tough place to close out,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t do a whole lot great today, but I did enough.”

Just barely.

Scheffler was leading Morikawa by one shot and both hit approach shots that bounced hard and high off the green and into the rough. Both chipped to about 5 feet. Scheffler buried his putt to win, and the force of his fist pump to celebrate showed how tough this day was on him, and practically everybody.

Making the day even more special was a recent memory with Nicklaus at the Memorial, and cradling month-old son Bennett at his newborn's first PGA Tour event.

Scottie Scheffler's wife Meredith and son Bennett embrace him on 18 after winning the @MemorialGolf . 🥹💙 📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/jopDrdUntB — Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 9, 2024

Scheffler thought back to 2021, when he missed a 6-foot putt on the final hole that ended any chance of a playoff. Walking off the green, he recalls Nicklaus telling him one day Scheffler will make the putt on 18 “and I'll be walking off to shake his hand.”

“It was pretty special thinking about that as I was walking over to shake his hand," he said.

Morikawa, who played in the final group of both majors this year, holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th hole and stayed on Scheffler's heels the rest of the way. He shot 71, the only one from the final 13 groups to break par.

Adam Hadwin was right there with them until closing with three straight bogeys for a 74 to finish alone in third.

Scheffler finished at 8-under 280 and won $4 million from this signature event and its $20 million purse. That pushes him over $24 million for the year, breaking the PGA Tour season earnings record — and it's barely June — that he set last year in this era of rising purses.

He also become the first player since Tom Watson in 1980 to have won five times on the PGA Tour before the U.S. Open.

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That's next week at Pinehurst No. 2, and Scheffler will go to the U.S. Open as a huge favorite. This was his 11th consecutive tournament with a top 10.

Morikawa picked up $2.2 million and now has a big cushion as he tries to sew up the fourth spot for the Americans going to Paris this summer for the Olympics.

Hadwin was within one shot of the lead until finishing the front nine with a pair of bogeys. He stayed in the hunt until closing with a pair of bogeys for a 74. Still, his third-place finish moves him ahead of Corey Conners for the second Canadian spot in the Olympics.

The world ranking after the U.S. Open determines who goes to Paris.

Scheffler had only one birdie — a 10-foot putt on the sixth hole — and he missed two birdie chances inside 10 feet on the back nine that could have provided a cushion.

But he made the biggest one on the par-3 16th.

Scheffler and Morikawa were both short of the super slick green some 90 feet away. Scheffler used putter and hit it weakly, coming up 15 feet short. Morikawa chipped from the collar and also hit a pedestrian chip some 20 feet short.

Morikawa missed his par putt, and Scheffler buried his for a two-shot lead.

Scheffler dropped his final shot on the 17th, however, and he was clinging again to a one-shot lead playing the tough 18th that he ended with one last putt.

Next up is the so-called toughest test in golf, and players felt like they just got finished with one at Muirfield Village.

“You could look at it one of two ways,” Hadwin said. “Either it's good prep for next week or we just got our butts kicked before going into next week.”

For Scheffler it's another victory, his 11th of his career and 12th worldwide. He has finished strong to win big or come from behind. He has pulled away when it was tight at the start. This time, he nearly lost a four-shot lead.

It was his highest closing round since a 74 in the British Open at St. Andrews in 2022. But it goes in the book as another big win against the strongest fields. He now has won three signature events (Bay Hill and Hilton Head were the others) to go along with The Players Championship and his second green jacket at the Masters.

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Jon Rahm leaves PGA Tour for LIV Golf, accepts fans' backlash

• Senior college football writer
• Author of seven books on college football
• Graduate of the University of Georgia

Jon Rahm sat in a room somewhere in New York, preparing to talk to more than a dozen reporters on a Zoom call at around 4:45 p.m. ET Thursday. There was a LIV Golf League backdrop behind him, as the Saudi Arabian-financed circuit was preparing to announce it had poached the No. 3-ranked golfer in the world from the rival PGA Tour.

It was a scene that would have seemed unfathomable in April, when Rahm seemed fully committed to the PGA Tour after claiming his second major championship at the Masters.

For more than a year, Rahm had voiced his dislike of LIV Golf's 54-hole tournaments, no cuts and shotgun starts, saying he preferred to remain with the PGA Tour, where legends such as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods had played before him.

In the end, Rahm, a 29-year-old native of Spain, couldn't pass up a multiyear contract that is worth more than $300 million, according to sources, and includes partial ownership of his new LIV Golf team. Sources told ESPN that LIV Golf is recruiting other PGA Tour players to join Rahm's team; he declined to name whom they might be.

"This decision was for many reasons what I thought was best for me," Rahm said. "Don't get me wrong, it's a great deal. I had a really good offer in front of me, and it's one of the reasons why I took it, right? They really put me in a position where I had to think about it and I did."

Rahm said he knows he will be criticized by some golf fans for his sudden about-face. He said at least one of his sponsors, Callaway, said it would continue its relationship with him.

"Every decision I feel like we make in life, there [will] be somebody who agrees and likes it and somebody who doesn't," Rahm said. "I've made this decision because I believe it is the best for me and my family, and everybody I've been able to talk to has been really supportive of me. So I'm very comfortable with my decision.

"I'm no stranger to hearing some negative things on social media or [in the] media, so it's part of what it is. We're public figures, but just learn to deal with it, right? It certainly won't define who I am or change who I am, so I think with experience you just learn to deal with negativity a little bit better."

I am proud to join @livgolf_league and be part of something new that is bringing growth to the sport. I have no doubt that this is a great opportunity for me and my family and am very excited for the future. pic.twitter.com/myf4isJgJ3 — Jon Rahm Rodriguez (@JonRahmpga) December 7, 2023

The PGA Tour released a statement later Thursday saying its focus remains on the tour and "unifying the game for our fans and players."

"We can't speak for decisions that any individual players might make but based on the momentum of the past season and strength of the PGA Tour, along with the accelerated interest from and negotiations with a number of outside investors, we are in position to make our players equity owners and further allow the tour to invest in our members, invest in our fans and continue to lead men's professional golf forward," the tour said in its statement.

Rahm's decision comes at a time when the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund are attempting to hammer out the final details of a framework agreement that would combine their commercial interests into a new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the PIF, are scheduled to meet next week. The PIF has spent more than $3 billion funding the LIV Golf League the past two seasons. The framework agreement is set to expire Dec. 31; Monahan called the date a "firm deadline" last week.

The framework agreement gives Monahan authority to determine the future of LIV Golf, which has struggled to gain a foothold in the U.S. but has generated significant interest in Australia, Singapore, Spain and other countries. Sources told ESPN the future of LIV Golf and whether team golf has a place in the sport's future ecosystem have emerged as sticking points for the Saudis during negotiations.

It's unclear how Rahm's defection will impact the proposed alliance. LIV Golf's ability to poach a player of Rahm's caliber would seem to give the Saudis leverage in negotiations, as the PGA Tour is also entertaining offers from a handful of U.S.-based investors.

"I mean, a lot has happened in the game of golf and we've seen some steps towards the game coming together, and hopefully we can keep making those choices and those actions towards ending up in a better spot, which is mainly my goal as a golfer," Rahm said.

The June 6 framework agreement included a clause that prohibited both sides from attempting to poach each other's players, but it was removed after the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division raised concerns that it restricted competition.

Sources previously told ESPN that the PGA Tour could form a partnership with both the PIF and a U.S.-based equity firm because of concerns that a PIF-only deal would not be approved by federal regulators in the U.S. and abroad.

A conglomerate led by Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Penguins , is among the final potential bidders, sources told ESPN. So is Liberty Media Corp., which has ownership stakes in Formula One, Sirius XM and the Atlanta Braves , and Acorn Growth Cos., an Oklahoma City-based equity group that had previously focused on the aerospace and defense industries.

Rahm said his biggest concern was not being allowed to play in future Ryder Cups. He has played on the European team in each of the past three international competitions and seems to have as much passion for the event as his Spanish golfing idols, Seve Ballesteros and José María Olazábal.

Ryder Cup veterans such as Sergio Garcia , Ian Poulter , Paul Casey and Lee Westwood were ineligible for the European team in Italy this year because they had resigned their DP World Tour memberships. Sweden's Henrik Stenson was stripped of his captaincy after making the jump to LIV Golf.

Rahm said he didn't plan to resign from either the PGA Tour or DP World Tour. Monahan has suspended PGA Tour members who competed in LIV Golf tournaments without a conflicting-event release.

"My position with the Ryder Cup stands as it's always been," Rahm said. "I love the Ryder Cup. I've explained many times how meaningful it is to me, and I surely hope I can be in future editions of the Ryder Cup.

"That's not up to me right now, but if it was up to me, I'll be eligible to play, so I surely hope I can keep up the good golf, keep playing good golf and give them a reason to have me on the team. It's a big risk to take, but I've had it in consideration and, again, I'm hopeful that I can be part of the team again."

Rahm is the second reigning major championship winner to leave the PGA Tour for the LIV Golf League at the height of his career. In August 2022, Australia's Cameron Smith signed with LIV Golf about six weeks after he picked up his first major championship at the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews Links in Scotland.

Rahm won 11 times on the PGA Tour and collected more than $51.5 million in on-course earnings during his career. This past season, he won four times and pocketed about $16.5 million in purses. He is a finalist for PGA Tour Player of the Year.

In a statement, LIV Golf CEO and commissioner Greg Norman called Rahm a "generational talent."

"There are very few athletes with his pedigree of talent, leadership, poise, and commitment to bringing progress to the sport on a worldwide stage," Norman said. "We couldn't be more excited to welcome Jon to the LIV Golf family as the league continues preparations for a huge 2024 and beyond."

Reigning LIV Golf individual champion Talor Gooch told ESPN that adding Rahm brings credibility to the upstart circuit.

"It makes all of the naysayers think a little bit about all of the doubts that have been made over the last couple of years," Gooch said. "It just continues to fight the narrative that there's not great players at LIV and all these guys are past their prime and so on and so forth. He's a guy that is probably just hitting his prime and that's been probably the best player in the last five years."

Rahm said the direction of the PGA Tour and its inability to finalize a deal with the PIF wasn't a factor in his decision.

"I'm forever grateful for the PGA Tour and the platform they've allowed me to be on," Rahm said. "I mean, I have nothing bad to say about them. They've given me the opportunity to play the game that I've always wanted to play and compete in some great events.

"This is just more about me and what I believe is best for my career, and like I said, my chance to maybe make a mark."

Rahm said he hopes golfers will one day be able to play on multiple tours and not have to choose sides.

"I surely hope for the future we can keep working towards making decisions that make golf better, right?" Rahm said. "That's my position. My position is to play golf. That's what I started to do, play golf to the best of my abilities and hopefully leave the game in a better position than I found it."