Forbes highest-paid athletes of 2018 list includes five golfers
Okay, so the top two names on this list are absolutely no surprise. They’re a pair of all-time legends, and this one happens to already be in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Phil Mickelson is in the middle of a resurgent year, after a few dry seasons. In the second half of the 2017 season, Lefty was only able to come up with a pair of top-ten finishes in nine starts. However, 2018 has been a completely different story, with six top-tens in 14 events to date. Mickelson’s win at the WGC-Mexico Championship in March was his first since the 2013 Open, and really, he’s been good all year. With $3.8 million in earnings in the 2017-18 season alone, it’s almost like he’s turning back the clock a few years – which is definitely a good thing with the U.S. Open at Shinnecock just days away.
Of course, the vast majority of Mickelson’s wealth is no longer from his tournament winnings. He’s got his face on just about everything these days. He re-signed with Callaway last fall that will carry through “the remainder of his competitive playing career”, and his deals with the likes of KPMG, Rolex, and Amgen (the company that makes Enbrel) certainly aren’t anything to sneeze at. Add in his new deal with Mizzen+Main, the makers of his infamous dress shirt he debuted at the Masters, and the dollar signs continue to multiply.
Even as he gets ready for his 48th birthday, things aren’t slowing down for Mickelson in any way.