Dustin Johnson is uncharacteristically missing from this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, having failed to win a PGA Tour event in the 2021 calendar year. It’s the first time he hasn’t qualified to play at Kapalua’s Plantation Course since 2015 and just the third time in the last 13 years he won’t be starting in Hawaii. That means the 20-time PGA Tour winner won’t be able to add to the sizeable career money haul he’s enjoyed in the TOC.
In his 11 career appearances in the no-cut event, Johnson has made $4,047,583.34 in prize money payouts, making him the tournament’s career money leader. The TOC had been one of two PGA Tour events that DJ was the all-time money leader in, having also earned more than any golfer in the history of The Northern Trust. But with that tournament being dropped from the FedEx Cup Playoffs, DJ won’t be able to add to the $6.1 million he’s made in that event, either.
As it turns out, Johnson is one of 35 tour pros who are the career money leaders in at least one of the PGA Tour’s 46 events that have carried over from the 2021 super season. Not surprisingly, there is one player who holds in the top spot in several tournaments: Tiger Woods is the money leader at nine tour stops (he was at 11, but the WGC-Championship event, played over the years at Doral Resort, in Mexico and last year at The Concession Club, is no longer on the PGA Tour schedule and he was passed at the Zozo Championship by Hideki Matsuyama). Four other players can boast that they’re No. 1 at two tournaments:
Sergio Garcia: Players Championship, AT&T Byron Nelson
Jim Furyk: RBC Heritage, RBC Canadian Open
Rory McIlroy: WGC-HSBC Champions, Wells Fargo Championship
Phil Mickelson: Waste Management Phoenix Open, AT&T Pebble Beach
A deeper dive into the list of golfers who are the all-time money leaders at current PGA Tour stops reveals a fair number of names that might surprise you. For instance, would you have guessed that Michael Bradley is No. 1 in earnings at a tour stop? (The folks at the Puerto Rico Classic wouldn’t.) How about Aaron Baddeley (Barbasol Championship) or J.J. Henry (Barracuda Championship)? Or that Ernie Els tops the all-time earnings in a major championship?
Since the last time we published this list in September 2021, seven tournaments have seen their top earner change: Matsuyama (Zozo), Jordan Spieth (Colonial), Viktor Hovland (Mayakoba), Billy Horschel (Zurich Classic), Kevin Kisner (RSM Classic), Sam Burns (Sanderson Farms) and Lucas Herbert (Bermuda).
Below is the complete list for the curious. We’re guessing you’ll get the same kick that we did out of the members of this unusual club.
One more aside: Justin Thomas sits second in Kapalua prize money earned at $3,680,083.33. So if he were to finish solo fourth or better this week, he could pass Johnson and become a career money leader in a second tour event.