Is this the best time to be a young Pga Touring Pro?

I'd leave college tomorrow if I could earn like this, not to mention endorsements...

So far this season....good work, if you can get it......Average age 28.5 in the top 20.

1 Justin Thomas 26 $2,032,750.00

2 Lanto Griffin 31 $1,828,952.00

3 Joaquin Niemann 20 $1,562,360.00

4 Sebastian Munoz 26 $1,500,569.00

5 Kevin Na 36 $1,492,660.00

6 Cameron Champ 24 $1,297,489.00

7 Danny Lee 29 $1,098,439.00

8 Adam Hadwin 31 $1,013,983.00

9 Mark Hubbard -- $1,007,825.00

10 Harris English 30 $895,660.00

11 Sung-jae Im 21 $867,191.00

12 Tom Hoge 30 $844,230.00

13 Byeong-Hun An 28 $813,248.00

14 Patrick Cantlay 27 $789,730.00

15 Scott Harrington 38 $779,372.00

16 Cameron Smith 26 $703,815.00

17 Carlos Ortiz 28 $643,925.00

18 Xin-Jun Zhang 32 $626,325.00

19 Hideki Matsuyama 27 $624,250.00

20 Brian Harman 32 $565,221.00

RK PLAYER AGE EVENTS ROUNDS

Yes.

If money is your motivation, probably yes.

If I could be Rory, Spieth, Koepka, Thomas in another generation, no

I was just saying to myself, "self, it's been almost a week since I've seen a thread rooted in vicarious living."

Maybe.

Declining Tiger, aging Phil. Money is good and tournaments seem ripe for the taking. Whether that should preempt a college ride is different though. It would be interesting to see how many pros are more successful by skipping that experience and going straight to pro. You better be good.

The guy at the top of the list did not skip college and is a proven winner. And the guy at the top of the mountain did not skip college either.

If that list was the leaderboard at the Masters, no one would watch.

List skewed by the reach around season.

Regardless, yes they play for loads more money. Is that "best"?

Better get their Christmas thank you cards signed and off to Tiger.

I'm not so sure now is the best time for a young player, the strength in depth at a competitive level is scary.

For every young player earning a fortune on tour there are hundreds losing money year on year chasing the dream on different local tours

Read up on Mr. Griffin's journey to the PGA Tour. It seems less than desirable. No slight to him intended just an observation that it is not likely all super models and courtesy cars for everyone.

Most people don’t understand the sacrifices one makes to earn what they earn such as meaningful relationships with loved ones. If you look at Kevin Na, he has two kids and seemingly is on the road most of the year. As a father, I couldn’t imagine being away from my wife and daughter but then again I don’t have $40MM OG earnings to ease that type of pain.

If you're on twitter follow "Monday Q Info" @acaseofthegolf1. He shows the difficulty of becoming a professional and that even the best players dont ever make a living. Pro golf is the toughest it has ever been right now and many people are struggling trying to make it.

> @ckay said:

> Most people don’t understand the sacrifices one makes to earn what they earn such as meaningful relationships with loved ones. If you look at Kevin Na, he has two kids and seemingly is on the road most of the year. As a father, I couldn’t imagine being away from my wife and daughter but then again I don’t have $40MM OG earnings to ease that type of pain.

I understand. I understand. I bring up the marriage thing all the time.

This is a great time to be an **outstanding** young player on the PGA Tour. But competition is pretty dang tough, and there are tons of really good young pros who are hoping to have a good week here or there and earn enough to keep their card. Does anyone think its a **great time** to be Smylie Kauffman, competing in the South Carolina Open and getting a check for $820? Would anyone leave college to be in HIS shoes?

> @dmecca2 said:

> If you're on twitter follow "Monday Q Info" @acaseofthegolf1. He shows the difficulty of becoming a professional and that even the best players dont ever make a living. Pro golf is the toughest it has ever been right now and many people are struggling trying to make it.

Yeah, but if you are good enough you can play a game for a living well into your forties.....

> @davep043 said:

> This is a great time to be an **outstanding** young player on the PGA Tour. But competition is pretty dang tough, and there are tons of really good young pros who are hoping to have a good week here or there and earn enough to keep their card. Does anyone think its a **great time** to be Smylie Kauffman, competing in the South Carolina Open and getting a check for $820? Would anyone leave college to be in HIS shoes?

You also need that college education in case things don't work out...

> @Titleist99 said:

> > @dmecca2 said:

> > If you're on twitter follow "Monday Q Info" @acaseofthegolf1. He shows the difficulty of becoming a professional and that even the best players dont ever make a living. Pro golf is the toughest it has ever been right now and many people are struggling trying to make it.

>

> Yeah, but if you are good enough you can play a game for a living well into your forties.....

Good enough just isnt enough anymore. It's all about playing well and getting lucky at the right times. I'm willing to bet that if you took everyone on the PGA tour and took away all of their status and exemptions and made them start over with everyone else trying right now, less than half of them would make it back to the tour.

Most will definitely need that education.

> @ckay said:

> Most people don’t understand the sacrifices one makes to earn what they earn such as meaningful relationships with loved ones. If you look at Kevin Na, he has two kids and seemingly is on the road most of the year. As a father, I couldn’t imagine being away from my wife and daughter but then again I don’t have $40MM OG earnings to ease that type of pain.

Nothing is free ...... Sacrifices must be made. Just wondering what is the weekly expenses of a struggling Touring Pro consist of: Travel expense (caddy?), food, lodging, If you know of any other please post....

> @Jimjam651 said:

> I'm not so sure now is the best time for a young player, the strength in depth at a competitive level is scary.

>

> For every young player earning a fortune on tour there are hundreds losing money year on year chasing the dream on different local tours

Do you mean that we only hear about the success stories....LOL!

> @Titleist99 said:

> > @davep043 said:

> > This is a great time to be an **outstanding** young player on the PGA Tour. But competition is pretty dang tough, and there are tons of really good young pros who are hoping to have a good week here or there and earn enough to keep their card. Does anyone think its a **great time** to be Smylie Kauffman, competing in the South Carolina Open and getting a check for $820? Would anyone leave college to be in HIS shoes?

>

> You also need that college education in case things don't work out...

That's right. Nail on the head. STAY IN SCHOOL.

Case in point - Dick Berglund. Scratch at age 12, tried the tour after college, and failed.

Just like Billy Beane in baseball.

Dick is now a research scientist, and been happily married for 39 years.

> @Vindog said:

> Maybe.

>

> Declining Tiger, aging Phil. Money is good and tournaments seem ripe for the taking. Whether that should preempt a college ride is different though. It would be interesting to see how many pros are more successful by skipping that experience and going straight to pro. You better be good.

>

> The guy at the top of the list did not skip college and is a proven winner. And the guy at the top of the mountain did not skip college either.

I thought that Matt Kuchar would leave college early but he stayed, now he's a money machine....

> @Ferguson said:

> I was just saying to myself, "self, it's been almost a week since I've seen a thread rooted in vicarious living."

Nah, the point is that we are only six tournaments into the season and there is player that's doing okay in their chosen sport of golf. By the end of the season the top fifty on that list will earn well over $2.5M...Golf wasn't always this lucrative. As far as me living vicariously through a PGA Touring Pro….. Nah, I couldn't stand the ridiculous travel, living in airports……

On a side Note: Stop talking to yourself!

These guys are elite. Yes the money is good but I look at the list and it scares me. These are all very solid players and the bottom of the list is at $500,00.00. Where are the next 1000 and the guys struggling on the mini tours? Then keep in mind that the difference between these guys and someone waaaaaay down the list is only a couple strokes a round. The pressure of having to play well to not only earn money but not lose everything would be nuts. These guys need to pay for travel, coaching, accommodations and food, medical, candies etc. I know that they get help from sponsors and at the top the help from sponsors dwarfs the winnings but man that's a lot of pressure. Kudos to anyone there for making it but for every person on this list, t here is 100 that didn't make it.

I think joining the world poker tour would be less stressfull and that's called gambling.

It's way too hard to make it. Most pro's are losing money chasing their dream. Even making it to the PGA doesn't mean you're set. There are even guys who have won multiple times fighting for tour cards (of course, if they managed their money decently they should be OK with some meager winning post victory). It's tough though. I think if they can keep it up on tour for say 4-5 years, they can be set. Otherwise, it's a crapshoot and a club pro job waiting for them.

What does the Korn Ferry top 10 list look like? Where does the earnings overlay on the PGA Tour list? Meaning is the top ten equivalent to the 75-50 earners on the PGA Tour Money List?

it was the best of times it was the worst of times

probably best in terms of purse sizes. Worst in terms of depth to make it. I would say you could probably ask the same question in 10 years and we would give the same answer purse goes up, talent pool gets deeper. Will all depend on if they can "grow the game" or interest in the game post-Tiger

that's not a whole hell of alotta money if you live in California.

> @smashdn said:

> What does the Korn Ferry top 10 list look like? Where does the earnings overlay on the PGA Tour list? Meaning is the top ten equivalent to the 75-50 earners on the PGA Tour Money List?

The top earner on the KF made $565,338 and the 10th place guy made $265,892 which compares to around 161 on the Tour for 1st on the KF and 194 on the Tour for 10th on the KF. When you're that far down in the PGA money list, you're talking about guys who are getting in to fields on alternate field events, playing golf on the KF, etc.