The top 10 money earners in FedEx Cup history

August 16, 2021

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It's Year 15 of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. We took the occasion to look back and identify the players who have made the most money—tournament prizes and bonuses—since the playoffs inception in 2007.

Photo By: Sam Greenwood

10: Billy Horschel

Total earnings: $18,725,859 Playoff starts: 26 Tournament earnings: $6,517,859 Memorable moment: Horschel is the rare FedEx Cup champion to have rallied from far down the points list at the start of the playoffs and win. In 2014, he started the playoffs in 69th place, but won the BMW and Tour Championship to walk off with the title. Just one other FedEx Cup champion (Rory McIlroy, 2016) started the playoffs outside the top 20 on the points list and went on to win.

Photo By: Sam Greenwood

9: Brandt Snedeker

Total earnings: $19,290,045 Playoff starts: 39 Tournament earnings: $6,440,546 Memorable moment: A four-putt on the final hole of the 2009 BMW Championship kept him out of the Tour Championship, but Snedeker would bounce back in a big way three years later. A birdie chip-in on the 17th hole at East Lake in 2012 helped seal a FedEx Cup title by vaulting past a red-hot Rory McIlroy.

Photo By: Kevin C. Cox

8: Henrik Stenson

Total earnings: $19,829,164 Playoff starts: 21 Tournament earnings: $6,029,165 Memorable moment: After finishing runner-up and third at the final two majors of 2013, Stenson kept the momentum going by winning two playoff events, including the Tour Championship. It was the first trip to East Lake for Stenson, who previously had battled a prolonged slump and also wasn't a PGA Tour member every year. In 2015, Stenson added a second-place finish, bringing home another $3 million in bonus money.

Photo By: Sam Greenwood

7: Jordan Spieth

Total earnings: $22,076,967 Playoff starts: 26 Tournament earnings: $7,143,968 Memorable moment: If Spieth didn't win the FedEx Cup in 2015—the same year he won the Masters and U.S. Open, just missed a playoff at The Open and finished second to Jason Day at the PGA—the system probably needed an overhaul. Day spiced things up by winning two playoff events, but Spieth asserted himself at the Tour Championship, shooting a closing 69 to win by a comfortable four shots. After failing to reach East Lake the last two years, he enters this year's playoffs second on the points list.

Photo By: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

6: Jim Furyk

Total earnings: $23,514,493 Playoff starts: 37 Tournament earnings: $8,107,493 Memorable moment: The 2010 FedEx Cup Playoffs got off to a disastrous start for Furyk when he was disqualified from the Barclays after he overslept and missed his pro-am tee time. But Furyk recovered to win the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup and the then $10 million bonus. With rain falling at East Lake, Furyk turned his hat around backward and sank a par putt to cap the victory and set off an emotional celebration.

Photo By: Kevin C. Cox

5: Justin Rose

Total earnings: $25,386,512 Playoff starts: 44 Tournament earnings: $10,344,012 Memorable moment: No golfer on this list has played in more FedEx Cup Playoff events than Rose with 44. And no other has competed in the playoffs all 14 years. But Rose's streak of making the playoffs every season came to an end this year when he missed out on the No. 125 spot on the points list by 1 point. Rose has just one playoff win (2011 BMW), but his FedEx Cup highlight came in 2018, when his T-4 showing at the Tour Championship (after runners-up at the Dell and the BMW) clinched the title.

Photo By: Tim Bradbury/Getty Images

4: Justin Thomas

Total earnings: $25,563,044 Playoff starts: 21 Tournament earnings: $6,418,044 Memorable moment: Shortly after winning the PGA Championship, Thomas claimed the FedEx Cup title to cap a stellar 2017 season. In 2019, in the first year of the new staggered start format for the Tour Championship, Thomas, No. 1 in FedEx Cup points, began play at East Lake with a two-stroke advantage on his nearest competitor. He admitted feeling uneasy about leading a tournament before it started, and eventually finished T-3, shooting only three under at East Lake during the week. In 2020, he tied for second at the Tour Championship to earn another $4.5 million in FedEx Cup bonus money and move up from seventh in career FedEx Cup earnings to fourth.

Photo By: Sam Greenwood

3: Tiger Woods

Total earnings: $39,042,804 Playoff starts: 26 Tournament earnings: $10,448,804 Memorable moment: Woods is one of two two-time FedEx Cup winners, and his dominance en route to victory in 2007 and 2009 has still not really been matched (45 under par while winning the 2007 BMW and Tour Championship; eight-shot win at the 2009 BMW). Still, it's hard not to think that his greatest personal triumph in the FedEx Cup came in 2018, when Woods was victorious at the Tour Championship at East Lake for his first PGA Tour win since 2013 and his 80th career PGA Tour title.

Photo By: Stan Badz

2: Dustin Johnson

Total earnings: $40,444,641 Playoff starts: 42 Tournament earnings: $14,487,641 Memorable moment: After years of impressive performances in the playoffs, including four tournament wins and making more money in playoff events than any other golfer, DJ finally claimed the FedEx Cup last August. And it came in dominating fashion—a win at The Northern Trust, followed by a second at the BMW and then victory at the Tour Championship. DJ took home $17.7 million in prize and bonus money last year alone, vaulting him from fifth on the all-time earnings list to No. 2, passing Tiger and just coming short of this next guy.

Photo By: Kevin C. Cox

1: Rory McIlroy

Total earnings: $41,724,157 Playoff starts: 33 Tournament earnings: $9,864,157 Memorable moment: McIlroy joined Tiger as the only other player to win the FedEx Cup title twice when he closed with a 66 at East Lake to beat Xander Schauffele in 2019. The Northern Irishman was the first to win the title in the revised format, starting the Tour Championship five strokes back of Justin Thomas before hitting a shot, but shooting no worse than 68 in any of the four rounds. He finished second in the overall race in 2012 and third in 2014 before claiming his other victory in 2016.

Photo By: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

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The American Express

The top 10 money earners in FedEx Cup history

10: Billy Horschel

9: Brandt Snedeker

8: Henrik Stenson

7: Jordan Spieth

6: Jim Furyk

5: Justin Rose

4: Justin Thomas

3: Tiger Woods

2: Dustin Johnson

1: Rory McIlroy

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