Rory McIlroy’s team finished last in TGL. He earned $375,000. Nelly Korda finished 5th in the Aon Risk Reward Challenge—elite company, top 4% of the tour. She earned $0. One tour rewards failure. The other punishes near-perfection.

The 2025 season delivered a harsh lesson in golf economics. Rory McIlroy banked $35.9 million in on-course earnings. Nelly Korda collected $2.8 million. That’s a 12.6-times earnings gap between two elite performers who both delivered statistically exceptional seasons. Here’s the part that stings. McIlroy earned more in a single week than Korda made all year.

His Players Championship victory in March brought a $4.5 million check. Korda’s entire 19-tournament season totaled $2.83 million. That’s one Sunday versus 19 weeks of grinding.

McIlroy won four times in 2025  — 3 PGA Tour wins, and 1 DP World Tour win. The Masters brought $4.2 million. Pebble Beach added $3.6 million. The Irish Open delivered $1.02 million. Those victories alone would’ve made his season lucrative. But tournament wins told only half the story.

Season-long bonuses delivered another $15.5 million to his account. Additionally, FedEx Cup paid $7.5 million, and Comcast’s Top 10 added $6 million. Race to Dubai brought $2 million more. Those bonuses represented 43% of his total earnings—nearly matching his actual prize money.

Korda’s bonus total? Zero dollars.

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Rory McIlroy vs. Nelly Korda: The safety net divide

PGA Tour bonus pools distribute wealth down the rankings. However, the LPGA operates without those safety nets. Korda finished fifth in the Aon Risk Reward Challenge after dominating the competition all season. Her -0.853 score placed her in the top 4% of tour players. The winner collected $1 million. Everyone else—including fifth place—got nothing.

Her major championship results followed similar patterns. Runner-up at the Chevron Championship in April brought $104,783. She missed a birdie putt on the 72nd hole that would’ve forced a playoff. One putt is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And then came the U.S. Women’s Open in June. Another runner-up finish delivered $1,052,621—her biggest check of the year.

Now, this significant purse gap alone tells a story about compensation inequality.

Nelly Korda’s 2025 Earnings: The Performance Paradox

McIlroy played 24 events across the PGA and DP World Tours. He earned $1,494,877 per start. Korda competed in 19 LPGA tournaments at $148,966 per event. McIlroy earned Korda’s average weekly paycheck every time he played roughly two holes of golf.

Yet Korda’s statistical performance ranked among the tour’s absolute best. She posted a 69.8 scoring average—elite territory by any measure. She made all 19 cuts. She finished in the top 10 9 times. Yet, the brutal reality? Zero victories.

Week after week, she positioned herself to win. Week after week, the putts didn’t fall. The financial consequences compounded with each near-miss. Meanwhile, McIlroy’s 68.9 scoring average edged Korda’s by less than a stroke. Both dominated ball-striking in their respective fields. Both maintained sub-70 averages throughout the season. The performance gap between them was minimal.

The compensation structure created a chasm. McIlroy’s four victories triggered massive payouts. His consistent top finishes activated bonus pools worth millions. Even mediocre weeks generated six-figure checks thanks to guaranteed minimums.

Korda’s excellence without victories meant watching potential earnings evaporate. No wins meant no breakthrough paychecks. No bonus ecosystem meant no safety net cushioning the fall. Her winless 2025 represented a 37% earnings drop from her seven-win 2024 campaign, despite posting better statistics.

In 2025, winning wasn’t everything. It was the only thing that mattered.