Several of the world’s highest-paid golfers like Rory McIlroy areamong the early favorites to win the U.S. Open, the third of men’s golf’s four major tournaments, though other deep-pocketed golfers like the sport’s only billionaire, Tiger Woods, are unlikely to make weekend play.
Tiger Woods likely needs to shoot several strokes [+]GETTY IMAGES
McIlroy, whose $83 million in endorsements and on-course winnings made him Forbes’ second top-earning golfer in the world, is tied for third on the U.S. Open leaderboard as of mid-morning Friday, though he remains the betting favorite, with +280 odds to win outright on DraftKings Sportsbook (26% implied chance of victory).
It’s been a far tougher week for the other top three paid golfers, as Jon Rahm, the $218 million-earning Spaniard, is not playing this week due to a foot infection and Tiger Woods, whose $67 million in earnings added to his $1.3 billion fortune, carded a 4-over-par 74 (four shots over the even-par 70) on Thursday at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina.
Most of the rest of the top 10 top-paid golfers are also over par, including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (No. 4 on Forbes’ list, $61 million in total earnings), Cameron Smith (No. 5, $47 million), Viktor Hovland (No. 8, $40 million), Phil Mickelson (No. 9, $38 million) and Dustin Johnson (No. 10, $37 million).
Other than McIlroy, Americans Bryson DeChambeau (No. 6, $44 million) and Brooks Koepka (No. 7, $43 million) are the only highest earners shooting even-par or better, shaping up a potentially intriguing weekend competition in the wake of professional golf’s fracturing, as McIlroy is perhaps the most famously ardent PGA Tour backer and DeChambeau and Koepka are among the athletes who opted to take the guaranteed paychecks from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit.
Woods, who likely needs to shoot several strokes under par at his Friday round teeing off at 1:14 p.m. ET to crack the projected cut line of 3-over-par, which weeds out the top 60 weekday finishers, with ties, for weekend competition. With even wider odds to make the cut is Woods’ long-time rival Mickelson, who recorded 9-over-par 79 on Thursday, meaning the 53-year-old Mickelson needs a miraculous round to continue playing. Woods is a PGA Tour loyalist and Mickelson was the first major, active professional golfer to associate with LIV.
$24 million. That’s how much Scheffler has won in prize money so far in 2024, already a single-year PGA Tour record thanks to his five wins on the tour.
Scheffler was the runaway favorite to win the U.S. Open ahead of the tournament with +280 odds (26% implied chance of victory), though his sluggish start knocked him to +900 ahead of his Friday round. Golf’s major tournaments have taken on even more importance since 2022, as they are the only events in which PGA Tour and LIV golfers compete on the same course, at least while the proposed merger remains stuck in negotiations. McIlroy and Woods have been among the most notable PGA Tour loyalists, while popular recent major winners like DeChambeau and Spain’s Jon Rahm opted to take the guaranteed paydays offered by LIV, bankrolled by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund (historically golfers made money via endorsements and prize money determined by tournament finishing position).