Who holds the record for the most career earnings on the LPGA Tour?
The LPGA Tour’s rapid increase in popularity in recent years has made it a more lucrative venture for the players involved, with prize purses on offer reaching new record heights and other opportunities for golfers to earn also opening up.
While the LPGA Tour still had ground to make up on the men’s version, the most high-profile events on the circuit now have similar financial clout, providing both seasoned pros and emerging starlets with chances to pursue serious amounts of prize money.
The evolution of LPGA prize money
This year, LPGA golfers will compete for a searing $131 million in total prize money, setting a new record for the highest prize money pot for a calendar year in the Tour’s 75-year history.
Incredibly, the LPGA prize money total has already jumped a mammoth 90% since 2021, when purses totalling a comparably modest $69 million were up for grabs across the year. Indeed, the odds of players involved bagging substantial payouts have never been better.
When you dissect the forecasted prize pot for 2025, the figures make for even more impressive reading. Non-major tournaments this year will pay out north of $83 million alone, which is a giant leap from the $45.8 million that was available to play for in 2021.
The FM Championship, for instance, is one of several individual events to kick things up a notch, and in 2025, that tournament will break new ground to become the second non-major (after the CME Group Tour Championship) to exceed a $4 million purse.
The year’s climactic event, the CME Group Tour Championship, which has an $11 million purse for players to contest in 2025, remains the most lucrative non-major event on the schedule and will pay out a whopping $4 million to the winner this year.
Dominating the LPGA earnings leaderboard
The Highest Career Earners in LPGA History
Rank | Player  | Career Earnings | Career Events Played |
1 | Annika Sorenstam | $22,583,693 | 307 |
2 | Karrie Webb | $20,293,617 | 494 |
3 | Lydia Ko | $20,228,186 | 247 |
4 | Cristie Kerr | $20,179,848 | 599 |
5 | Inbee Park | $18,262,344 | 305 |
Whether you’re a passionate golf fan or a viewer watching on with interest from a sports betting angle, following these money leaders will be key to understanding where the LPGA is headed next.
While the financial landscape of the LPGA Tour has undergone significant renovations in recent years, a retiree still reigns supreme at the summit of the all-time LPGA earnings leaderboard.
The peerless Swede Annika Sorenstam, who hung up her pro clubs all the way back in 2008, holds the title as the highest earner in LPGA history with a career haul of $22,583,693 from a massive 307 events.
It is interesting to note that Sorenstam picked up a prize purse of $560,000 when she clinched her third U.S. Women’s Open title in 2006. If Sorenstam was competing in 2025, her cut might have been far bigger.
Lydia Ko, who has collected $20,228,186 in career earnings, is the youngest player on the list of the LPGA’s all-time five most successful golfers from a financial perspective. Ko has boosted her winnings by a major margin since the start of 2024, thanks to her gold medal success at the Olympics and her trio of LPGA titles last year.
Players to watch with interest in 2025
Just outside the top five earners, South Korea’s Amy Yang has been making moves and climbed from 11th place up to 6th on the career earnings leaderboard following an epic 2024 for the 35-year-old.
Yang won $1,560,000 alone when she landed the 2024 Women’s PGA Championship and if she can successfully defend her title this year, she could replace Inbee Park in the top five rankings.
Lorena Ochoa meanwhile, has pocketed an impressive $14,863,331 from just 175 events, thanks in large part to a dominant spell between 2007 and 2010, while 29-year-old Jin Young Ko has earned $13,805,916 across just 123 events.
With the LPGA Tour’s prize money continuing to climb to unprecedented levels, future stars have better odds of climbing the all-time earnings leaderboard, making the game more competitive—and rewarding—than ever before.