Posted by
Ed Lilly on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 9:18:43 AM
Listening to PGA Tour radio last week, I heard a couple of facts that surprised me, but in retrospect they shouldn't have. I remember years ago hearing that Tom Kite had managed to make it to the top of the Tour lifetime money list, so I understand that you can be a good player, but not a legend, and in today's world of ever-higher prize money you wind up looking like potentially the best golfer of all time.
But I was still surprised to hear that Jack Nicklaus, winner of 18 professional majors and runner-up in another 19 (I think), along with winning many other tournaments and championships over the course of his career, earned "only" $5.7 million on Tour in winnings. Over the long trajectory of his career, that's not as much as I would have guessed given his success. I realize the dollars available on Tour have exploded with the rise of Tiger, but I would have speculated that Nicklaus easily earned about twice the number cited.
And to really blow me away, the news blurb on PGA Tour radio noted that Nicklaus is now number 155 on the Tour Money List, having just been passed by Anthony Kim (oops - my original post mistakenly referred to "Andrew" Kim).