Data Snapshot

LIV vs. PGA: Money, Viewership and Athlete Pay

Explore the data behind Action Network’s analysis, including prize-money comparisons, TV audience figures, 2026 money lists and global athlete earnings.

LIV vs. PGA: Prize Money and Viewership Trends

These charts show the gap between LIV and PGA prize money, 2026 earnings averages and the tours’ TV audience figures.

Average prize money per event before and after LIV switch

Top 20 LIV golfers compared with their previous PGA Tour prize money.

$796k gap

LIV average per competition

$922,508

Average prize money earned per competition by LIV Golf’s top 20 players.

Previous PGA average

$126,060

Average PGA Tour prize money earned per competition before switching.

LIV
$922,508.41
PGA
$126,060.22

2026 money list: LIV top 20 vs. PGA top 20

Average prize money by total earnings, per event, per round and per hole.

2026 YTD

Total prize money

LIV$6,107,699
PGA$5,667,633
+$440,066 LIV

Per event

LIV$872,528
PGA$562,777
+$309,752 LIV

Per round

LIV$218,132
PGA$151,676
+$66,456 LIV

Per hole

LIV$12,118
PGA$8,426
+$3,692 LIV

LIV vs. PGA average viewing figures

Annual average viewing figures from 2022 to 2026.

796% PGA lead

2026 viewing gap

796%

PGA Tour average final-round viewing figures are 796% higher than LIV Golf’s 2026 average audience.

2022
86k
LIV
2.54m
PGA
PGA higher by 2.45m
2023
300k
LIV
2.97m
PGA
PGA higher by 2.67m
2024
300k
LIV
3.53m
PGA
PGA higher by 3.23m
2025
385k
LIV
2.66m
PGA
PGA higher by 2.28m
2026
396k
LIV
3.55m
PGA
PGA higher by 3.15m

LIV and PGA Golf Earnings vs. Global Athlete Pay

Explore the full datasets behind the analysis, including how Jon Rahm compares with the world’s highest-paid athletes, plus LIV Golf’s 2026 money list and the PGA Tour’s 2026 money list.

Highest-paid athletes worldwide

Top 20
PositionAthleteSportEarnings ($)
1Cristiano RonaldoSoccer$200,000,000
2Canelo AlvarezBoxing$125,000,000
3Juan SotoBaseball$122,200,000
4Karim BenzemaSoccer$110,000,000
5Jon Rahm LIV golferGolf$84,700,000
6Max VerstappenMotor racing$75,000,000
7Lewis HamiltonMotor racing$70,000,000
8Kylian MbappeSoccer$70,000,000
9Blake SnellBaseball$65,300,000
10Justin HerbertFootball$60,100,000
11Lionel MessiSoccer$60,000,000
12Terence CrawfordBoxing$60,000,000
13Josh AllenFootball$58,200,000
14Steph CurryBasketball$55,400,000
15Lando NorrisMotor racing$54,000,000
16Riyad MahrezSoccer$53,500,000
17Erling HaalandSoccer$51,900,000
18Nikola JokicBasketball$51,200,000
19Tua TagovailoaBasketball$51,000,000
20Joel EmbiidBasketball$51,000,000

LIV Golf money list, year to date

Top 20
PositionPlayerEventsEarnings ($)Per Event ($)Per Round ($)Per Hole ($)
1Jon Rahm7$18,015,000$2,573,571.43$643,392.86$35,744.05
2Bryson DeChambeau7$12,316,250$1,759,464.29$439,866.07$24,437.00
3Lucas Herbert7$8,255,167$1,179,309.57$294,827.39$16,379.30
4Thomas Detry7$7,878,750$1,125,535.71$281,383.93$15,632.44
5Anthony Kim7$7,414,500$1,059,214.29$264,803.57$14,711.31
6Elvis Smylie7$7,320,867$1,045,838.14$261,459.54$14,525.53
7David Puig7$5,780,202$825,743.14$206,435.79$11,468.65
8Thomas Pieters7$5,734,250$819,178.57$204,794.64$11,377.48
9Dean Burmester7$4,836,750$690,964.29$172,741.07$9,596.73
10Tyrell Hatton7$4,540,250$648,607.14$162,151.79$9,008.43
11Branden Grace7$4,356,250$622,321.43$155,580.36$8,643.35
12Jose Luis Ballester7$4,294,750$613,535.71$153,383.93$8,521.33
13Abraham Ancer7$4,260,750$608,678.57$152,169.64$8,453.87
14Marc Leishman7$4,219,667$602,809.57$150,702.39$8,372.36
15Cameron Smith7$4,099,125$585,589.29$146,397.32$8,133.18
16Dustin Johnson7$4,034,500$576,357.14$144,089.29$8,004.96
17Peter Uihlein7$3,829,000$547,000.00$136,750.00$7,597.22
18Joaquin Niemann7$3,757,625$536,803.57$134,200.89$7,455.61
19Tom McKibbin7$3,651,535$521,647.86$130,411.96$7,245.11
20Carlos Ortiz7$3,558,785$508,397.86$127,099.46$7,061.08
Average$6,107,699$872,528.38$218,132.09$12,118.45

PGA 2026 money list, year to date

Top 20
PositionPlayerEventsEarnings ($)Per Event ($)Per Round ($)Per Hole ($)
1Cameron Young10$11,274,670$1,127,467.00$281,866.75$15,659.26
2Matt Fitzpatrick11$10,595,426$963,220.55$264,885.65$14,715.87
3Scottie Scheffler9$10,566,430$1,174,047.78$293,511.94$16,306.22
4Rory McIlroy6$6,956,975$1,159,495.83$316,226.14$17,568.12
5Jacob Bridgeman12$6,824,450$568,704.17$142,176.04$7,898.67
6Collin Morikawa9$6,655,930$739,547.78$221,864.33$12,325.80
7Akshay Bhatia11$6,363,733$578,521.18$163,172.64$9,065.15
8Kristoffer Reitan12$5,009,729$417,477.42$131,834.97$7,324.17
9Chris Gotterup12$4,975,544$414,628.67$108,164.00$6,009.11
10Si Woo Kim13$4,798,605$369,123.46$92,280.87$5,126.71
11Ludvig Aberg10$4,516,733$451,673.30$125,464.81$6,970.27
12Min Woo Lee11$4,348,499$395,318.09$103,535.69$5,751.98
13Nicolai Hojgaard11$4,258,570$387,142.73$101,394.52$5,633.03
14Xander Schaufelle10$4,208,988$420,898.80$110,762.84$6,153.49
15Rickie Fowler11$4,096,077$372,370.64$102,401.93$5,689.00
16Sepp Straka11$4,045,137$367,739.73$98,661.88$5,481.22
17Kurt Kitayama12$3,598,421$299,868.42$79,964.91$4,442.50
18Tommy Fleetwood9$3,567,743$396,415.89$99,103.97$5,505.78
19Justin Rose9$3,394,486$377,165.11$109,499.55$6,083.31
20JJ Spaun12$3,296,522$274,710.17$86,750.58$4,819.48
Average$5,667,633$562,776.83$151,676.20$8,426.46