Presented by BBSI BOISE.
This Day In Sports…May 29, 1955, 70 years ago today:
Arnold Palmer, the 1954 U.S. Amateur champion, wins his first money as a professional golfer, making $145 for finishing in a tie for 25th place in the Fort Wayne Open. Palmer’s first career victory would come about three months later at the Canadian Open, earning him $2,400. He captured his first major at the 1958 Masters and took home $11,250 ($125,000 in today’s dollars).
It would take Arnie 13 years to pass $1 million dollars in earnings. Today, the elite golfers make that much money in their sleep. According to his website, Palmer’s career earnings on the PGA Tour were just $2.13 million, with 62 victories. He won seven majors over a six-year period from 1958 to 1964. You can only imagine what that would be worth now. Palmer actually made more on the Senior tour, $2.27 million, as purses in golf continued to rise.
LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed tour formed in 2021 with seemingly bottomless pockets, makes Palmer’s winnings sadly laughable. LIV offered premiere PGA Tour stars guaranteed contracts of up to $100 million to defect. Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia were among those to take the bait in LIV’s inaugural year, and Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau followed them in 2022.
Palmer, who died in 2016, would not believe the civil war between the two tours, nor the riches it has wrought. Jon Rahm, who bolted for LIV after winning the 2023 Masters, has won $45.6 million over 19 events, averaging $2.4 million per event. Over his PGA Tour career, Rahm has earned $51.6 million—in 153 events (averaging $337,000). Not that it matters to LIV players, but they are kind of toiling in anonymity. A study by Golf.com Wednesday showed that Nielsen final-round TV audiences for the PGA Tour this year are almost 18 times larger than LIV.
Palmer was always in the spotlight—he was the catalyst for golf becoming a television staple in the late 1950s and 1960s. His rivalry with Jack Nicklaus was must-see TV. And to be sure, Palmer made plenty of money off the course during his career. He owned Bay Hill Golf Club in Orlando and helped create the Golf Channel. Palmer also designed more than 300 golf courses.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
VISIT OUR SCOTT SLANT SPONSOR SITES:
Bacon Boise
Zamzows
BBSI Boise
Commercial Tire
Harmon Travel
Corso Italian Steak
Pool Scouts
