LPGA vs PGA Tour Prize Money: Understanding the Golf Gender Pay Gap

The disparity in prize money between men's and women's professional golf remains a prominent and frequently discussed issue, with the gap appearing more pronounced than ever.

Looking back at the 2025 season, Jeeno Thitikul led the LPGA Tour's money list, accumulating $7,578,330. While an impressive sum for most, her earnings would have placed her only 20th on the PGA Tour's money list for the same year. In stark contrast, Scottie Scheffler, the top earner on the PGA Tour in 2025, amassed a staggering $27,659,500 from 20 tournaments. Despite significant efforts to promote women's golf, such as the $4 million winner's cheque at the CME Group Tour Championship, a substantial financial imbalance persists between the two tours.

Scheffler's dominance continued into 2025, where he secured seven victories, including major championships like the PGA Championship and The Open, benefiting from the PGA Tour's significantly inflated financial landscape. His success, in terms of dominance, mirrored Nelly Korda's outstanding 2024 season. Korda claimed seven trophies that year, including a PGA Championship title. However, her on-course earnings for this exceptional year totaled $4,391,930. This highlights a vast difference in the monetary value assigned to similar levels of athletic achievement and superstardom. For example, Rory McIlroy's victory at the 2025 Players Championship alone earned him $4.5 million, exceeding Korda's entire 2024 season earnings.

The PGA Tour has a long history of offering lucrative prize money and robust pension schemes. The situation further evolved with the emergence of LIV Golf in 2022, which dramatically increased prize funds across the men's tour, making $4 million winner's purses and $20 million total prize funds a new standard. This competitive pressure from the Saudi-backed league undoubtedly contributed to the significant payouts observed on the PGA Tour. However, the LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour have yet to experience a comparable influx of new money and investment.

An examination of the current 2026 money lists further illustrates this gap:

LPGA Money List 2026

1. Hyo Joo Kim – $602,140
2. Nelly Korda – $597,976
3. Hannah Green – $501,678
4. Auston Kim – $486,530
5. Mi Hyang Lee – $414,608
6. Jeeno Thitikul – $399,919
7. Haeran Ryu – $265,462
8. Chizzy Iwai – $251,880
9. Sei Young Kim – $246,326
10. Miyu Yamashita – $245,517
11. Minjee Lee – $245,517
12. Weiwei Zhang – $239,531
13. Lydia Ko – $228,024
14. A Lim Kim – $225,067
15. Amy Yang – $224,001
16. Angel Yin – $215,317
17. Jin Hee Im – $213,344
18. Rio Takeda – $211,554
19. Hye-Jin Choi – $200,629
20. Aditi Ashok – $196,851

PGA Tour Money Leaders 2026

1. Jacob Bridgeman – $6,564,485
2. Cameron Young – $6,471,920
3. Akshay Bhatia – $5,857,708
4. Matt Fitzpatrick – $5,262,488
5. Collin Morikawa – $5,065,472
6. Chris Gotterup – $3,895,375
7. Scottie Scheffler – $3,816,430
8. Xander Schauffele – $3,137,238
9. Min Woo Lee – $3,107,299
10. Sepp Straka – $3,038,670

To put this into perspective, the top earner on the LPGA Tour, Hyo Joo Kim, has accumulated $602,140 in 2026. An equivalent amount on the PGA Tour would place a golfer around 67th position, as seen with Alex Smalley's $607,056.