World No.1 Scheffler sets new PGA Tour money record

He didn’t get the ‘W’ but World No.1 Scottie Scheffler did set a new record with his runner-up finish at the US Open on Sunday.

A four-time winner this season, Scheffler earned US$1,557,687 for his efforts in Brookline to take his season total to $12,896,849, which was enough to eclipse Jordan Spieth’s record total of $12,030,465 set in 2014-15.

Scheffler won his first major at the Masters in April (Credit: PGA Tour)

Spieth won the Valspar Championship, Masters, US Open, John Deere Classic and the season-ending Tour Championship along with four second places, including the PGA Championship, during an incredible run from March to September in 2015.

And it took a full season for Spieth to earn his record while the in-form Scheffler still has ten tournaments left to extend his record run including this Thursday at the Travelers Championship where he lines up as a strong favourite.

Any year-to-year money comparisons are of course bound by the purses of the day. In the modern era, both Vijay Singh (2004) and Tiger Woods (2009) won nine tournaments in a season and earned $10,905,166 and $10,545,465 respectively those years. Woods also won eight tournaments in both 1999 and 2006.

Looking at Singh’s $954,000 winner’s cheque from his 2004 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am win and comparing it to this year’s winner, Tom Hoge, who earned $1,566,000, the increase is just over 60% in close to two decades. Given that average increase, Singh’s 2004 season adjusted for 2022 would be close to $17.5 million.

Still, any year a player earns four titles, including the Masters, and three runner-ups, is a good one, record money or not. And if Scheffler’s current form continues, it’s hard not to see him adding significantly to that pile of cash again by year’s end.