LIV golfers score big on Forbes’ list of world’s highest-paid athletes
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Dustin Johnson's US$107 million earnings put him at No. 6 on Forbes' annual ranking of the world's highest-paid athletes.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK – Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson’s controversial move from the PGA Tour to the upstart Saudi-backed LIV Golf League has paid off handsomely.
The pair were ranked sixth and seventh respectively on Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid athletes.
Johnson raked in US$107 million (S$143.8 million) and Mickelson US$106 million over the past 12 months, almost all of it on the course with little in endorsements.
Footballers Cristiano Ronaldo (US$136 million), Lionel Messi (US$130 million) and Kylian Mbappe (US$120 million) led the list, followed by Los Angeles Lakers basketball star LeBron James (US$119.5 million) and boxer Canelo Alvarez (US$110 million).
Following Johnson and Mickelson on the list to round out the top 10 were Golden State Warriors basketball guard Stephen Curry (US$100.4 million), retired tennis great Roger Federer (US$95.1 million) and Kevin Durant (US$89.1 million) of the National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns.
For Federer, US$95 million came in the form of endorsement money; the Swiss earned just US$100,000 on the court ahead of his retirement announcement last September.
In all, a dozen golfers finished among the top 50 richest athletes, with seven of them on the fledgling LIV tour.
Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy ranked 15th (US$80.8 million), followed by American veteran Tiger Woods (US$76.1 million). At No. 17 was LIV’s Cameron Smith (US$73 million), with No. 18 Brooks Koepka (US$72 million) and No. 20 Bryson DeChambeau (US$69 million).
The PGA Tour’s Jon Rahm (No. 28), Jordan Spieth (No. 43) and Scottie Scheffler (No. 45) also ranked in the top 50, as did LIV’s Patrick Reed (No. 32) and Sergio Garcia (No. 46).
The earnings of the golfers dwarf those of tennis players. Only Federer and the also-retired Serena Williams cracked the top 50. She was the only woman in the top 50.
Among other team sports, No. 12 Russell Wilson (US$85 million), a quarterback with the National Football League’s Denver Broncos, was the biggest-earning American football player.
New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer was the only baseballer on the list, ranking No. 26 with earnings of US$56.7 million. REUTERS
