Rory McIlroy surpasses Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson on-course earning milestone despite Travelers Championship near-miss

Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson (via Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson (via Getty Images)

Rory McIlroy has recently surpassed legendary golfer Tiger Woods and the 2022 highest earner in golf, Phil Mickelson, in lifetime on-course earnings. He earned $650,000 in the recently concluded Travelers Championship to take his total on-course earnings to $75 million.

Despite not winning a single PGA Tour title in 2023, McIlroy has had some stellar performances that have earned him fortunes. His best result came in the US Open, where he finished runner-up to Wyndham Clark, losing by just one shot.

Rory McIlroy at the 2023 Travelers Championship (via Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy at the 2023 Travelers Championship (via Getty Images)

Interestingly, as the PGA Tour's highest on-course earner, he is now placed third. On the all-time golfers' list, he is just behind LIV golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and is followed by another LIV golfer, Dustin Johnson.

Here are the top 10 lifetime on-course earners:

  1. Tiger Woods
  2. Phil Mickelson
  3. Rory McIlroy
  4. Dustin Johnson
  5. Jim Furyk
  6. Vijay Singh
  7. Adam Scott
  8. Justin Rose
  9. Jordan Spieth
  10. Matt Kuchar

Analyzing Rory McIlroy's performance and earnings across all tournaments in 2023

Northern Irish professional golfer Rory McIlroy has played 11 tournaments on the PGA Tour. In total, he won $6,922,758 from these tournaments. His best performance and earnings came in the 2023 US Open, where he finished runner-up and won $2.16 million.

In six out of 11 tournaments he played, he finished in the top 10 positions on the leaderboard. He missed the cut in two of the tournaments; the Masters and The Players Championship.

Rory McIlroy at the 123rd US Open Championship (via Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy at the 123rd US Open Championship (via Getty Images)

Despite fans and experts criticizing his 2023 form, Rory McIlroy has finished as runner-up twice and had a season so far.

Here are all his tournaments standings and earnings on the PGA Tour:

  • Travelers Championship - T7 ($650,000)
  • US Open - 2 ($2,160,000)
  • RBC Canadian Open - T9 ($245,250)
  • The Memorial Tournament - T7 ($650,000)
  • PGA Championship - T7 ($555,000)
  • Wells Fargo Championship - T47 ($51,222)
  • Masters Tournament - Missed Cut
  • THE PLAYERS Championship - Missed Cut
  • Arnold Palmer Invitational - T2 ($1,780,000)
  • The Genesis Invitational - T29 ($134,000)
  • WM Phoenix Open - T32 ($109,286)

Rory McIlroy's disappointed with the TPC River Highlands course of the 2023 Travelers Championship

The 2023 Travelers Championship was a unique tournament of its own kind. The TPC River Highlands course was a golfer delight as the winner Keegan Bradley himself shot par under 23 and carded 27 birdies.

Rory McIlroy, who finished T7 after an aggregate of under 18 spoke with the media and shared his opinions on the course. He said:

"I don't particularly like when a tournament is like this. Unfortunately, technology has passed this course by, right? It sort of has made it obsolete, especially as soft as it has been with a little bit of rain that we had."

The TPC River Highlands is just 6,852 yards, which is one of the shortest golf courses. He shared that he does not like the tournaments on short courses and bashed the technology that prepared them.

"So, again, like the conversations going back to, you know, limiting the golf ball and stuff like that, when we come to courses like this they just don't present the challenge that they used to," Rory McIlroy concluded.

Keegan Bradley won the 2023 Travelers Championship and won a huge paycheck of $3.6 million. He cared a score of 257(-23) which in itself is a record.

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