Women's Golf vs. Men's: The Astounding Pay Gap in LPGA and PGA Tours

As the 2026 golf season progresses, one of the sport's most critical debates remains strikingly evident: the significant disparity in earnings between men's and women's professional tours.

Following the 2025 CME Group Tour Championship, Jeeno Thitikul topped the LPGA Tour money list, accumulating an impressive $7,578,330 over the season. While this sum is substantial for most, Thitikul's annual earnings would have only secured her 20th place on the PGA Tour money list in 2025.

This figure pales in comparison to Scottie Scheffler's monumental $27,659,500 earned across just 20 events in the same year. Despite the LPGA Tour's significant investment, such as the $4 million cheque awarded to Thitikul for winning last year's season finale, a profound financial gap persists between the two circuits.

Scheffler's dominance continued through 2025, marked by seven victories, including the PGA Championship and The Open. His success was handsomely rewarded within the PGA Tour's increasingly inflated financial landscape. He has already kicked off 2026 with a win at the Amex, showcasing his ongoing prowess.

Scheffler's consistent excellence is remarkable, yet his last two full seasons can be paralleled with Nelly Korda's exceptional 2024 season. Korda's third win at the Annika that year contributed to a haul of seven trophies, including a PGA Championship title. Her on-course earnings for that year totaled $4,391,930. While Korda undoubtedly valued her earnings, both she and Scheffler achieved comparable levels of superstardom within their respective 12-month periods, yet a vast financial chasm separates the monetary value of their performances.

A striking example of this disparity is Rory McIlroy's single win at the 2025 Players Championship, where he earned $4.5 million—a sum greater than Korda's entire annual earnings for 2024.

The PGA Tour has historically offered generous prize money and boasts one of the sport's most robust pension schemes. However, the emergence of LIV Golf in 2022 significantly altered the financial landscape, effectively transforming $4 million winner's purses and $20 million total prize funds into the new standard. Scheffler's earnings in recent seasons undoubtedly reflect the competitive pressure exerted by the Saudi-backed league. Yet, despite this influx of new capital into golf, the LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour have not benefited from this financial boom in the same way the men's tours have.

Below, we present the top 20 earners on the LPGA money list and the top 10 on the PGA Tour money list, updated as of March 9.

LPGA Money List 2026

1. Hannah Green – $501,678
2. Auston Kim – $453,937
3. Mi Hyang Lee – $414,608
4. Jeeno Thitikul – $357,159
5. Nelly Korda – $315,000
6. Weiwei Zhang – $239,531
7. Amy Yang – $224,001
8. Lydia Ko – $219,787
9. Chizzy Iwai – $219,287
10. Brooke M. Henderson – $190,631
11. Rio Takeda – $188,091
12. Angel Yin – $182,724
13. Haeran Ryu – $181,690
14. A Lim Kim – $172,548
15. Pauline Roussin-Bouchard – $169,108
16. Miyu Yamashita – $162,160
17. Minjee Lee – $161,745
18. Youmin Hwang – $159,877
19. Hye-Jin Choi – $157,869
20. Aditi Ashok – $154,091

PGA Tour Money Leaders 2026

1. Jacob Bridgeman – $5,477,960
2. Akshay Bhatia – $5,448,680
3. Collin Morikawa – $5,065,472
4. Chris Gotterup – $3,837,375
5. Scottie Scheffler – $3,545,180
6. Min Woo Lee – $2,979,049
7. Daniel Berger – $2,756,730
8. Nico Echavarria – $2,309,000
9. Sepp Straka – $2,307,420
10. Si Woo Kim – $2,247,955

For comparison, Andrew Novak, at 60th place on the PGA Tour money list, earned $497,850, which is approximately equivalent to the top earner on the current LPGA money list.