Top 20 Highest-Earning Golfers 2015.

The total earnings of the world’s golfers were released in Golf Digest‘s 13th annual “Money Issue“. The total amounts are divided by both on-course and off-course incomes with Jordan Spieth topping the list with a casual $53 million (R879 million) in total earnings.

According to Golf Digest, this is how the two differ (although it is pretty logical):

On-course income  for 2015 includes all money earned on the PGA Tour and the five international tours (Japan PGA, PGA European, Australasian, Southern African, Asian) and the Champions Tour, LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour and the Japan LPGA through Nov. 22. It includes unofficial money won in non-tour events.

 Off-course income  includes estimates of all money earned from endorsements, bonuses, appearance fees, corporate outings, speaking engagements, licensing fees (video games, trading cards, etc.), course architecture, books, instructional videos and businesses that capitalize on a person’s status as a player, such as product lines including clothing, wine and turfgrass. Investment income is not included.

If you follow golf, then you probably won’t be surprised to see Spieth on top. However, the others may still pique your interest or curiosity. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Greg Norman are all retired from golf and are still among the highest-paid golfers while Tiger Woods comes in third and that’s mostly from endorsements.

Here are the top 20.

The highest paid female golfer is Stacey Lewis who comes in at number 42, earning a total of $5.8 million.

[source: businessinsider]