Although he finished second to Sepp Straka at the American Express, two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas made PGA Tour history.
Cha-ching! Thomas became the 11th player to earn a salary of $959,200. Over $60 million During his career, according to Golf Channel's Brently Romine. Thomas is currently in 10th place on the all-time money list, ahead of Matt Kuchar thanks to his runner-up finish in Palm Springs.
- Tiger Woods, $120,999,166
- Rory McIlroy, $90,989,348
- Scotty Scheffler, $71,793,586
- Jim Furyk, $71,507,269
- Vijay Singh, $71,281,216
- Adam Scott, $68,248,165
- Justin Rose, $64,878,042
- Jordan Spieth, $62,741,970
- Jason Day, $61,731,563
- Justin Thomas, $60,827,898
- Matt Kuchar, $60,335,682
Considering how big the PGA Tour's money has become, this list includes players who were active at some point in the 21st century. Unsurprisingly, Tiger Woods remains number one in the clubhouse, while Rory McIlroy trails the 15-time major champion by about $30 million. Scotty Scheffler is third, but his career winnings have increased significantly as a result of the signature event. The Signature Event is a $20 million event created in recent years by the PGA Tour to ensure the best players compete against each other while thwarting the threat of LIV golf.
Thomas could move even higher on this list if he performs well in these signature events this season. He's also moving in that direction. This week's solo second place was his best finish since May 2022, when he defeated Will Zalatoris in a playoff at Southern Hills. He also finished second to Scheffler at last month's Hero World Challenge, but the 20-man exhibition in the Bahamas is not considered an official PGA Tour event. Before that, Thomas tied for 2nd place in Japan at the ZOZO Championship.
But after shooting a bogey-free 66 on Sunday, Thomas said he didn't have “the best” this week. Despite this comment, Thomas ranked in the top 22 in the total strokes gained metric, with 7.640 strokes gained overall, tied for fifth within the field.
“I had my chances. Obviously not a great game on the back nine, but I was proud of myself. “Today on the front nine, I did what I was supposed to do and at least make some noise and stay on the leaderboard.” I was able to go a little bit higher than that,” Thomas said. .
“Obviously, it was unfortunate that I stalled there after 11 o’clock. I played really, really good golf today, hit some really good shots, made some great putts, but I didn’t go in, which was great. I feel like I hit some putts too…” I managed everything really well and only had two bogeys all week so I was able to get around. But oh, you have to be pretty sharp overall in a place like this, and I just keep piling on. ”
When Thomas arrived at the 12th hole, a short 346-yard par 4, he had just made his sixth birdie of the day on the 11th and was looking for more. But a 15-foot shot for birdie there slipped through the hole, and Thomas went on to make six more pars before stalling as he had hinted.
“Keep doing what I'm doing. You don't have to change anything, you don't have to do anything different. Just keep building, keep working, and strengthen some things,” Thomas said. talked about what they have to do to get over the hump and win.
“I feel like my game with the wedge is nowhere near where I would like it to be, so yeah, just focus on that, because there’s a lot going on. I’m looking forward to it.”
Thomas is not participating in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, but he is scheduled to compete in his second signature event of the season next week at Pebble Beach. A win there would not only give him plenty of confidence, but also move him further up the career prize list with a $4 million paycheck.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
