Jon Rahm is the athlete who rose the highest in Forbes’ yearly World’s Highest-Paid Athletes ranking. We’ll let you guess at the reason.
The 29-year-old Spaniard Rahm ranked second on the newly published list, with an estimated $218 million in earnings over the previous 12 months. Twenty million of those came from sources beyond the course, such endorsements, while $198 million came from his on-course earnings and contracts, according to Forbes.
Forbes monitored income from May 1, 2023, to May 1, 2024, in order to create its ranking. Forbes projected that the best LIV players received half of their guaranteed contracts up front, with the remaining signing bonus money to be paid over the life of the contracts, based on interviews with industry sources.
Cristiano Ronaldo, a soccer player, tops the list with an earnings of $260 million.
Rahm surprised the golf world by signing with LIV Golf in December of last year, despite not being on the ranking from the previous year. The deal’s contents are still unknown, but prior reports have stated that it was for at least $300 million spread over a number of years. Between January 2023 to April 2023, Rahm won four times on the PGA Tour, including his second major championship at the Masters. On the PGA Tour, he officially took home $16.5 million in prize money last season. According to Forbes, Callaway, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, and Santander Group were his sponsors during that time.
Since switching to LIV Golf, Rahm has not won, but in his seven starts, he has not placed lower than tenth. He had two third-place finishes.
Rahm has made two significant appearances since joining LIV; he was cut at the PGA Championship this past week and tied for 45th at the Masters.
Rahm was one of five golfers on the Forbes list of the world’s 50 greatest players. The other four were Cameron Smith (43rd, $48 million), Scottie Scheffler (29th, $59.2 million), Tiger Woods (23rd, $67.2 million), and Rory McIlroy (19th, $80.1 million total).
Smith departed the PGA Tour for LIV, much like Rahm did. Smith joined with LIV at the conclusion of the PGA Tour season after winning the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews. There have been rumors that Smith received a nine-figure signing bonus.
The only golfers ranked in the top 10 on Forbes’ 2023 list, which was published last year, were Dustin Johnson (No. 6, $107 million) and Phil Mickelson (No. 7, $106 million), who had recently signed deals with LIV. Additionally, Woods wasn’t listed as the highest-paid golfer in the world last year for the first time in six years.
Over the past year, there has been little movement on the possible merger between the Saudi PIF, which finances LIV Golf, and the PGA Tour. Rahm did not make the cut at Valhalla last week, but he did make news when he stated that he still thinks of himself as a member of the PGA Tour, earning him harsh criticism from Golf Channel experts.
Rahm declared on Tuesday, “Suspended or not, I’m still a member of the PGA Tour.” “I believe it’s critical to distinguish that I still want to support the PGA Tour. I don’t sense that I’ve crossed over. Simply put, I’m not playing there.
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