Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and others have seen their pockets grow with the move to the LIV golf league.
Forbes released its list of top-10 most-paid athletes for 2023 on Tuesday. Johnson and Mickelson both made the cut. This is not surprising, since LIV is funded in Saudi Arabia by the Public Investment Fund and each golfer received a large signing bonus when they decided to leave the PGA Tour for the breakaway circuit.
The additional money they receive is equivalent to the compensation of elite athletes around the world.
Johnson, who earned $107 million in 2018, is ranked sixth. The majority of the earnings, except for $5 million, came from golf course revenues. Forbes reported that Johnson earned $29 million last year off the field. Sponsors weren’t happy with Johnson and other signing with LIV Golf.
Johnson won the LIV best prize money of $35.6 million, which included $18 million as a result of winning the individual championship for a season.
Mickelson is ranked seventh with a total of $106 million. The remaining $2 million was earned on the course. Last month, he earned $1.6m for his T-2 finish at the Masters. Last year, he ranked 31st with $45.3 millions earned.
The list includes soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo at the top, followed by Leonel Mbappe and Kylian MBappe.
Stephen Curry, basketball’s star, is ranked eighth behind Mickelson.
