Quiz! Can You Name The Top Ten On The DP World Tour Career Money List?

Can you name those who have earned the most prize money on the European Tour?

Jon Rahm
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Roderick Easdale
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published

Remember when doing this golf quiz that prize money in golf has rocketed recently. But it had been steadily rising over the decades, not only through inflation but in real terms. This is reflected in the lives of the top pro golfers. Once upon a time many of those top golfers, the ones who you see in the list of Major winners from way back, had a day job. They worked as a club pro. James Braid won five Majors and was one of the top players of his day and part of the Great Triumvirate with Harry Vardon and John Henry Taylor. He also spent 45 years working as the club pro at Walton Heath, in Surrey.

The last of Braid’s five Open wins was in 1910. It earned him £50 in prize money. Translate what he won in 1910 into modern-day prices and it is the equivalent of £7,750. The total prize money on offer at that Open was £135. This figure did not rise until 1920. When, in 1914, Harry Vardon won his sixth Open, and the last of his seven Major titles, it earned him the equivalent of £7,500 today.

The winner of the 1939 Open took home the equivalent of £8,750 in modern prices. When Arnold Palmer successfully defended his Champion Golfer of The Year title in 1962, at Royal Troon, he won £1,400, which translates to £40,750 in 2024 UK prices. When Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus in the Duel In The Sun at Turnberry in 1977 he won £10,000, the equivalent of £94,000 today.

To put these figures in context, the six golfers who finished tied 25th in this year’s Open earned more, in real terms, than Watson had for winning it in 1977. In coming 80th, Darren Fichardt earned almost four times, in real terms, what Harry Vardon had won for winning his final Major.

So, when looking for answers to this quiz – don’t look too far into the past! For example, Seve Ballesteros may have won six Order of Merits on the European Tour, but he is in 155th place on the career money list.

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Roderick Easdale
Roderick Easdale

Contributing Writer Roderick is the author of the critically acclaimed comic golf novel, Summer At Tangents. Golf courses and travel are Roderick’s particular interests. He writes travel articles and general features for the magazine, travel supplement and website. He also compiles the magazine's crossword. He is a member of Trevose Golf & Country Club and has played golf in around two dozen countries. Cricket is his other main sporting love. He is also the author of five non-fiction books, four of which are still in print: The Novel Life of PG Wodehouse; The Don: Beyond Boundaries; Wally Hammond: Gentleman & Player and England’s Greatest Post-War All Rounder.

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