When LIV Golf emerged onto the professional golf scene back in June 2022 they managed to poach numerous big-name players from the PGA Tour.
Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka were among the biggest stars to jump ship from the PGA Tour.
LIV Golf offered those players huge signing-on fees in order to tempt them into joining the league.
However, LIV Golf has never managed to achieve what it set out to do in the first place – become the biggest and most powerful professional golf tour on the planet.
LIV now faces an extremely uncertain future. Even if LIV Golf does somehow survive post the end of the current season, the league will operate on a vastly reduced scale moving forward.
That includes the schedule itself and, of course, the finances involved with the league.
The top five earners on LIV Golf since it started
Despite the fact that LIV Golf has failed to establish itself as a direct rival to the PGA Tour, those who decided to join have been made extremely wealthy.
We are talking about generational wealth, but which players have been the highest earners since LIV Golf started in 2022?
Jon Rahm – $96,408,875
Rahm, 31, has racked up four LIV Golf wins since joining the league from the PGA Tour in December 2023.
He has been incredibly consistent, winning the individual LIV Golf title three years in a row.
The Spaniard is believed to have received a signing-on fee worth in excess of £500 million to join LIV Golf two-and-a-half years ago and he is comfortably one of the highest paid athletes worldwide.
Joaquin Niemann – $81,070,796
Niemann has been one of the standout players on LIV Golf over the past few years.
The 27-year-old has won an incredible nine times on LIV Golf since February 2024 and it’s fair to argue that he has actually been the league’s best player since he joined in August 2022.
Talor Gooch – $74,282,278
The American is perhaps one of the biggest surprise names on the list of LIV Golf’s top earners.
However, his record on LIV Golf has been stellar, with four wins to his name since he joined the league in 2022.
LIV Golf stars have secured their financial futures
Dustin Johnson – $64,575,695
Johnson, 42, has won three times on LIV Golf since joining the league in 2022.
When Johnson made the move to LIV, he was unquestionably one of the best players in the world.
His game has undoubtedly regressed over the past few years, but his bank balance has grown exponentially.
Bryson DeChambeau – $61,098,905
The fact that DeChambeau is only in fifth place on the highest earners list is perhaps the biggest surprise of all.
The 32-year-old from Dallas is one of the biggest stars in the entire professional game, if not the biggest star.
He has won five times on LIV Golf since jumping ship from the PGA Tour and, given his talent, it’s fair to suggest that he perhaps should have more victories to his name.
While the vast majority of LIV Golf players may have tainted their legacies by joining the league, they have undoubtedly secured their financial futures, and the many generations of their families who follow them.
And for that reason, they surely cannot be criticized.