The biennial competition between the U.S. and Europe offers no prize money, but that hardly matters for these five players, who collected a combined $358 million over the past 12 months.
Heading into 2025 with four major championships and three FedEx Cup titles across his 17 years as a pro—among a laundry list of other accolades—Rory McIlroy had nothing left to prove on the golf course. Nevertheless, he had a clear idea of what he still wanted to accomplish in his career: “winning the Masters, winning an Olympic medal and another away Ryder Cup,” as he told the BBC in January.
McIlroy took care of business at Augusta in April, besting Justin Rose in a playoff to complete the career Grand Slam, and he’ll get his shot at Summer Games gold in Los Angeles in 2028. This weekend, however, the 36-year-old Northern Ireland native will have the chance to cross the Ryder Cup off his to-do list—an accomplishment that would, McIlroy reiterated this month, cement 2025 as “the best year of my career.”
As McIlroy tees off in the first round on Friday, taking aim at a second consecutive European victory over the U.S. team, he isn’t the only player taking the biennial competition seriously. “I think hands down it’ll be the biggest golf event ever,” Justin Thomas, one of the 12 members of the American team, said last week ahead of the tournament, which is shifting back to U.S. soil at Bethpage Black in New York after being held in Rome in 2023 and is expected to include President Donald Trump among a crowd of 50,000 fans for Friday’s opening session.
The stakes have much more to do with national or continental pride than with financial rewards. The Ryder Cup offers no prize money, and the European golfers have rejected the idea of being compensated. The Americans, meanwhile, will receive a stipend from the PGA of America for the first time—$500,000 each, with 60% of that sum earmarked for charity.
Still, there will be deep pockets on the fairways. The 24 competing golfers combined for $523 million in prize money and bonuses over the past 12 months, by Forbes’ count. Factor in off-course endeavors, such as endorsements and appearances, and there are five golfers who collectively earned $358 million in the last year before taxes and agents’ fees.
Leading the list of the Ryder Cup’s highest-paid players is Jon Rahm, with an estimated $99 million. The 30-year-old Spaniard, playing for the European team this week as a captain’s pick, hauled in $18 million for winning LIV Golf’s season-long individual title this year, and while the Saudi-backed tour has slowed down its spending, Rahm continues to collect a portion of the reported $300 million guarantee he received to defect from the PGA Tour.
U.S. golfer Scottie Scheffler, with an estimated $90 million, is No. 2, followed by McIlroy at $87 million. McIlroy’s total includes an estimated $45 million from his business endeavors—making him the sport’s top pitchman, matched off the course only by Tiger Woods among active golfers.
Two Americans, Bryson DeChambeau ($44 million) and Thomas ($38 million), round out the top five.
Given those sky-high earnings, several U.S. players have said they plan to donate their entire Ryder Cup stipends—including the $200,000 each of them is entitled to pocket.
“I’ve never been one to announce what we do—I don’t like to give charitable dollars for some kind of recognition,” Scheffler said Tuesday. “We have something planned for the money that we’ll be receiving. I think it’s a really cool thing that the PGA of America has empowered us to do.”
THE RYDER CUP’S HIGHEST-PAID GOLFERS
#1. $99 million
Team: Europe | Age: 30 | Tour: LIV | On-Course: $89 million • Off-Course: $10 million
Rahm didn’t win a single LIV Golf tournament in 2025, but the 30-year-old Spaniard’s consistency near the top of the leaderboard allowed him to edge Joaquin Niemann to capture his second consecutive individual title on the Saudi-backed tour. Beyond potentially snapping his winless streak, the Ryder Cup carries sentimental significance for Rahm, who won the event with Europe in 2018 and 2023 and lost in 2021. His parents attended the 1997 tournament in Spain and were inspired to introduce their children to golf after witnessing the victory by Seve Ballesteros’ European squad. Off the course, although Rahm’s jump to LIV in December 2023 dented his sponsor portfolio, he has partnerships with Callaway, Rolex and Santander subsidiary Openbank.
#2. $90 million
Team: U.S. | Age: 29 | Tour: PGA | On-Course: $60 million • Off-Course: $30 million
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James Gilbert/PGA TOUR/Getty Images
No golfer has been hotter than Scheffler, who has won six tournaments this year and topped the PGA Tour’s official money list for the fourth consecutive season with $27.7 million. The 29-year-old American has now been No. 1 in the world rankings for 123 consecutive weeks, and 158 weeks overall, which leaves him behind only Tiger Woods (683 total weeks) and Greg Norman (331 weeks) on the career list. Scheffler, playing the Ryder Cup for the third time, has long-term partnerships with brands including Nike, Veritex Bank and TaylorMade, and he made a cameo this year in Netflix’s Happy Gilmore 2 alongside fellow Ryder Cup participants Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.
#3. $87 million
Team: Europe | Age: 36 | Tour: PGA | On-Course: $42 million • Off-Course: $45 million
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Sam Barnes/Sportsfile/Getty Images
McIlroy has notched three victories in 2025, two of them in playoffs—over J.J. Spaun at the Players Championship in March and over Justin Rose at the Masters the following month. A five-time Ryder Cup winner who will be making his eighth appearance at the event, McIlroy is equally hard-working off the course. In addition to his sponsor deals with Nike, TaylorMade and Optum, the Northern Ireland native is behind investment firm Symphony Ventures, which recently teamed up with private equity outfit TPG to create a fund focused on the sports industry. Alongside Tiger Woods and sports executive Mike McCarley, McIlroy is also a cofounder of the TGL, the team golf competition that is preparing to tee off its second season in December.
#4. $44 million
Team: U.S. | Age: 32 | Tour: LIV | On-Course: $41 million • Off-Course: $3 million
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LIV Golf/Associated Press
DeChambeau came close to notching his third career major title in 2025 as he finished tied for fifth at the Masters and tied for second at the PGA Championship. He had better luck with LIV Golf this season, claiming victory at the tour’s event in South Korea and finishing third overall in the individual standings. The 32-year-old American, who competed at the Ryder Cup in 2018 and 2021, is returning to the event after LIV golfers were not allowed to participate in 2023. Meanwhile, DeChambeau is slowly rebuilding a sponsor stable that largely disappeared when he defected from the PGA Tour in 2022. He now works with Reebok, Rolex and NetJets, and his YouTube channel has more than 2.4 million subscribers and more than 450 million views.
#5. $38 million
Team: U.S. | Age: 32 | Tour: PGA | On-Course: $25 million • Off-Course: $13 million
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Andrew Redington/Getty Images
With a playoff victory over Andrew Novak at the RBC Heritage in April, Thomas snapped a nearly three-year winless streak, dating to the 2022 PGA Championship. The 32-year-old American will look to build on that momentum at his fourth career Ryder Cup. Off the course, Thomas, who is currently No. 5 in the World Golf Ranking and peaked at No. 1 in 2018, has a deep sponsor portfolio that includes 2K, Whoop, FootJoy and Greyson Clothiers. He also founded sunscreen brand WearSPF in 2022, three years after his dermatologist discovered and successfully removed an early-stage melanoma on his leg.
METHODOLOGY
The Forbes list of the highest-paid golfers at the 2025 Ryder Cup tracks earnings over the last 12 months, dating to September 2024. All figures are in U.S. dollars and are rounded to the nearest $1 million.
In addition to prize money, the on-course figures include bonuses from the PGA Tour (including its Player Impact Program) and TGL, as well as annual payments that Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau received from LIV Golf, carrying over from their initial deals to join the upstart Saudi-backed tour. (Based on conversations with more than a dozen industry experts, Forbes estimates that top-tier LIV players received half their guarantees upfront while lower-tier players received smaller sums in bulk. Forbes generally estimates any remaining guaranteed money is being paid in equal annual installments across four-year contracts.)
The off-course earnings figures are an estimate of sponsorship deals, appearance fees, and memorabilia and licensing income over the last 12 months, plus cash returns from any businesses in which the athlete has a significant interest. Forbes does not include investment income such as interest payments or dividends but does account for payouts from equity stakes athletes have sold. Forbes does not deduct for taxes or agents’ fees.
With additional reporting by Brett Knight.