The game of Golf rakes in a lot of moolah and how! Whether it’s Tiger Woods' $1.4bn career or Rory McIlroy's $50m year, the sport is known to churn out millionaires overnight. 

 

Interestingly, even golfers who didn’t have the opportunity to clinch a tournament title are earning not less than $10m. The figures alone will have you feeling bearish about the financial power of Golf.

 

 

                                      Despite injuries, Woods raked in $37m from his various brand endorsements

 

Interestingly, the publication of Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid athletes saw Rory McIlroy rank at No 6 with an annual income of $50million, and four others – Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson - all make the top 50.

 

 

That’s not all. The inaugural CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges, a relatively low-key, early-season event that featured just two of the world’s top 10 had a colossal prize fund of $9.25m and the first prize of $1.6m.

 

 

If a survey from Forbes is to be believed, McIlroy earned $16m on the course in the last 12 months and $34m off it from his collection of endorsements. Mickelson has not won a tournament since The Open in 2013 yet still took home $3.5m in prize money and another $40m from his sponsors, who love his chic personality and thrill-seeking style.

 

 

Woods managed to earn just $107,000 in competition due to his dreadful battle with back injury, yet raked in $37m from his various brand endorsements. His career earnings, after amassing 14 majors, 79 PGA Tour wins and countless other records is estimated at $1.4billion.

 

 

According to Forbes, Mickelson ($43.5m) and Spieth ($34.5m) are superstars of the game and their earnings put even the likes of Usain Bolt ($34.2m), Gareth Bale, Conor McGregor (both $34m), Zlatan Ibrahimovic ($32m) and Rafael Nadal ($31.5m) in the shade.

 

 

                                      World no 1 Dustin Johnson earns more than Serena Williams and Wayne Rooney

 

Dustin Johnson ($27.6m), who is currently world number 1 in the Official World Golf ranking, earned more than Tennis superstar Serena Williams ($27m), ace footballer Wayne Rooney ($23.6m) and star boxer Anthony Joshua ($22m) in the last year.

 

Even the odd tournament win over a long career on the PGA Tour can ensure a player earns riches beyond most people's wildest dreams.