Prize Money: Golf Versus Tennis
There have been many comparisons between Tiger Woods and Roger Federer during the past few years. At the same time, their “rivalry” also highlights the discrepancies between the earnings of the top male and female pro golfers and tennis players. There is more sponsorship money in the professional golf world and the prize money distribution varies a bit between the men’s and women’s pro golf and tennis players. In 2006, Tiger
Woods earned over $11 million compared to $8 million for Federer. In fact, all of the top male golfers earned at least three times as much as their respective members at the top of the ATP Tour rankings. Conversely, World Number One, Justine Henin, earned over $4 million compared to $2.5 for Lorena Ochoa who topped the LPGA Tour in 2006. Although the tenth-ranked female golfer earned $1.1 million compared to tenth-ranked tennis pro, Patty Schnyder, who took home $884,000, the rest of the prize money lists varied in other ways. For example, the 50th ranked female golfer earned approximately $275,000 which was almost $25,000 more than the similarly ranked female tennis pro while the 100th ranked female tennis pro earned almost $50,000 more than equivalent female golf professional. This data is not that surprising given that women’s professional tennis is the most successful international professional sport for women. Nonetheless, the sport of tennis as a whole, especially men’s professional tennis, clearly still lags golf in terms of overall prize money. In addition, although female tennis pros now earn equal prize money with the men at all of the Grand Slams, overall prize money for female tennis pros trails their male counterparts by a wide margin. It will be interesting to note how the growth of tennis in Asia over the next decade impacts prize money in the sport of tennis.
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