$25 million as just a bonus from East Lake! What could we possibly be alluding to? Any guesses? Well, these are but the dollar bills that the current world No. 1 received as part of his TOUR Championship winnings in the Jay Monahan-led circuit this season. But…beyond all that richness of the mind-boggling $100 million, now seems to lie an unpleasant reality about the men’s circuit. Enter the PGA Tour’s Fall season!

You might say there were too many golf tournaments going on the PGA Tour circuit with too much money in the bags, especially after the inception of LIV Golf. The truth, however, appears to be far from that. A tweet from Nosferatu revealed how “quite the opposite is happening for most of the Fall events this year.” And as many as five of the events from the nine Fall tournaments will experience a significant drop in prize money.

The 2024 Procore Championship taking place at Silverado Resort and Spa – North Course will be the hardest hit on the list. The prize money will drop from $8.4 million to $6 million. That’s a whopping 28.6% drop in the dollar bills. Quite a bit of sad news for the athlete who will take the trophy from Sahith Theegala’s (read defending champion’s) hands.

That’s not all, to be quite honest. The next event that will be most affected will be the Shriners Children’s Open, a 16.7% drop from $8.4 million to $7 million. Then comes the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico with a 12.2% decrease, the Sanderson Farms Championship with a 7.3% drop, and finally, (but not fortunately!) the RSM Classic witnessing a 4.8% drop.

Seems too sad to be true, doesn’t it? Well, it is a tough piece of luck for those outside the top 50 of the 2024 FedEx Cup standings, but that is what the reports indicate. But as all of this is set to play out on one side of the PGA Tour, the case was much different for the other side as the regular season saw a huge increase in the dollar bills. And who was the man who profited the most from it? Scottie Scheffler!

Scheffler’s winnings on the Jay Monahan-led PGA Tour’s 2024 season

7 wins. A gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Bonus from winning the FedEx Cup and for becoming the leader on the Comcast Business Tour Top 10. How much do you think Scheffler might have earned from all of these? Look no more! For the golfer raked in as much as $62.2 million this year with $25 million as the bonus for winning the FedEx Cup. It also includes a winner’s cut of $29.2 million in earnings for his finishes at the various starts, $38,000 for the Olympic finish from his country, and $8 million in winnings from the Comcast Tour. Surprising right?

Now he’s not the only one who has benefited from the increase in the dollar bills. His looper, Ted Scott, through the finishes they dished out together, now boasts earnings of a total of $6,042,450 in 2024, per the usual caddie rates. Richer than many professionals on the men’s circuit, one can say with surety!

Anyhow, the upcoming season of the Jay Monahan-led circuit will surely be witnessing a significant decrease in prize money except for a couple of tourneys. The Hero World Challenge and the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, meanwhile, will have a slight increase in the purse with the former having an 11.1% upward shift and the latter, a 6.2%. A small respite for the athletes in what is, otherwise, a sad situation!