Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia join the $50 Million Club

Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia find themselves in some exclusive company, as they are the most recent members of the $50 million earnings club.

Heading into the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai last week, Sergio Garcia sat ahead of Rory McIlroy in career earnings, albeit not by a large amount. Sergio was at $49,950,005 and would likely pass the threshold with his next cash-out. Sergio was in 10th all-time, just behind Ernie Els.

Rory was right behind Sergio, having made $49,285,260 throughout his career. Rory was going to pass Sergio and it was just a matter of time.

Rory McIlroy ended up winning this week, earning a cool $1.745 million in the process. This jumped him over both Ernie Els, Matt Kuchar, and Sergio, into 8th place all-time. Sergio just made it with a T-53rd finish, netting him around $53,000, just enough to cross the threshold, and dollars ahead of Kuchar.

There is also another interesting aspect of this list, and that is when you change it up to money made per start. Rory McIlroy is actually second all-time in earnings per start, taking home just over $300,000 per. He still sits ~$55,500 behind Tiger Woods, who has made an astonishing $357,000 per start. This also gets him to the top of the all-time earnings list, at ~$120 Million.

What’s most astonishing to me about this is Tiger. That he has made so much and started doing it when prizes were lower, truly shows what he has done for the game of golf.

In case you were curious, the list goes as follows. I provided the most accurate numbers I could find, for the reason that some of these guys are really close to each other in career earnings.

1. Tiger Woods – $120,459,468
2. Phil Mickelson – $90,761,239
3. Vijay Singh – $71,216,128
4. Jim Furyk – $71,177,537
5. Dustin Johnson – $61,755,908
6. Justin Rose – $53,564,076
7. Adam Scott – $53,493,262
8. Rory McIlroy – $51,030,260
9. Sergio Garcia – $50,002,880
10. Matt Kuchar – $50,002,667

Rory McIlroy has a long way to go if he wants to catch Tiger, as he isn’t quite halfway there. He should be able to climb up the list, as he is younger than anyone else on here. He is going to have his work cut out for him on catching Tiger, Phil, and DJ though.

Jason Day looks to be the next golfer likely to join the list and is currently 12th. Only 31, he needs just over $4 million to make it into this group. It might take a couple of years, but I’m very confident in saying that he will make it.

Jordan Spieth would be next in line at 18th, needing around $9.5 million to get there. He showed a ton of promise when he burst onto the scene, but has been up-and-down over the last few years. Again, I’m quite confident he gets there as well.

He’s being chased by Rickie Fowler, who sits at 21st. Rickie needs $12 million and change to break into the group. Justin Thomas, in 28th, has a real chance at getting there before Rickie, even though he needs ~$17.7 to get there.

Brooks Koepka just breaks into the group of people I’m currently watching out for who could make it. Already at $30 million, Koepka is 36th overall and will continue to climb this list like Steph Curry on the all-time three-pointer list. Quickly.

Congratulations to Rory McIlroy, and to be perfectly honest, a lot less enthusiastic congratulations to Sergio Garcia. The $50 million earnings club is quite impressive.