Forbes highest-paid athletes of 2018 list includes five golfers

Forbes Magazine has released its annual list of the highest-paid athletes in the world, and five golfers made the 2018 ranking. Here’s a closer look at what these players are bringing into the bank, and how they’re doing it.

Forbes just released their list of the 100 highest-paid athletes in the world for 2018. While it’s nice to get a little glimpse at just how much money is out there across a variety of sports, it’s also a bit jarring. For reference, Forbes took all earnings from an athlete’s “work” – salary, tournament winnings, etc. – and added in outside income directly related to the athlete’s status. For instance, Tiger Woods will have his earnings from designing Bluejack National counted in this sum, but any of Phil Mickelson’s gambling winnings (or losses) will not be included.

Seriously, though, it’s clearly very, very nice to be an upper-echelon golfer. The Forbes top-100 list includes athletes from all over the world, and golf came in fifth with five players represented. The NBA led the way with 40 players, which is an impressive sum considering an average of about 420 to 450 total players on active rosters. The NFL, baseball (primarily MLB) and soccer took the other spots in the top four.

What sets golfers apart, of course, is how they primarily earn their money. Don’t get it wrong, anybody who maintains active status on the PGA TOUR is doing quite well for themselves, at least before taxes, agent fees and caddie cuts are accounted for. However, four of the five players on this list earned significantly more from their off-course exploits than their work on the greens. We’ll get into that in a moment.

Let’s take a look at just how good this last year was to the world’s five highest-paid golfers, as well as how they compare to the rest of the sporting world.