It pays to be good at golf. Pays a lot. For those lucky enough to be invited to Tiger’s soiree in Albany, each of the competitors made a minimum of $120k, with Scheff taking home $1M, runner-up Sepp Straka pocketing $450k, and the resurgent JT flying home with $300k in his checking account.
What is not openly known by us fans is if participants were paid any appearance fees. Since this is not a PGA TOUR event, pre-tourney payouts are legal, and at a minimum, each of the 20 competitors had their full travel and misc. costs covered by the TGR Foundation, funded by sponsors and TV rights fees. Life could certainly be worse for Tiger’s friends on tour who get invited to play in the tourney. A 6-day, all-expenses-paid, 1st class trip to the Bahamas — just for playing in a fun golf tourney and attending a few cocktail parties. Nice…
2023 Hero World Challenge Payouts:
| Position | Player | Score | Earnings |
| 1 | Scottie Scheffler | -20 | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | Sepp Straka | -17 | $450,000 |
| 3 | Justin Thomas | -16 | $300,000 |
| T-4 | Tony Finau | -15 | $212,500 |
| T-4 | Matt Fitzpatrick | -15 | $212,500 |
| 6 | Jordan Spieth | -14 | $190,000 |
| 7 | Collin Morikawa | -12 | $185,000 |
| T-8 | Justin Rose | -11 | $177,500 |
| T-8 | Brian Harman | -11 | $177,500 |
| 10 | Viktor Hovland | -9 | $170,000 |
| 11 | Jason Day | -8 | $165,000 |
| 12 | Lucas Glover | -7 | $160,000 |
| T-13 | Max Homa | -6 | $152,500 |
| T-13 | Keegan Bradley | -6 | $152,500 |
| 15 | Cameron Young | -5 | $145,000 |
| 16 | Sam Burns | -4 | $140,000 |
| 17 | Rickie Fowler | -2 | $135,000 |
| 18 | Tiger Woods | E | $130,000 |
| 19 | Wyndham Clark | 2 | $125,000 |
| 20 | Will Zalatoris | 11 | $120,000 |