Xander Schauffele Has A Point About Hypocrisy Surrounding Money In Golf, But It's Not Changing Anytime Soon

Money has always been a talking point within professional golf, but it has taken over seemingly every aspect of the sport in recent years. The emergence of LIV Golf and guaranteed paydays for its players, which has forced the PGA Tour to increase its own purses and introduce signature events, has made it virtually impossible to have a conversation about the professional side of the game without talking money.

Rory McIlroy said it best back in April: "I think the one thing we’ve learned in golf over the last two years is there’s never enough [money]."

Speaking of money, Xander Schauffele has earned plenty of it this season. With two major championship victories and 11 more Top 10 finishes this season, Schauffele has deposited $17.6 million and that number will only increase with two events left in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. This week's BMW Championship has a purse of $20 million while next week's Tour Championship and FedEx Cup winner will collect a check for $25 million.

While the FedEx Cup is Scottie Scheffler's to lose, it wouldn't be all that surprising to see Schauffele take home the crown in Atlanta next week, which would take his season earning over the $40 million clip. 

Xander Schauffele isn't complaining about the money in golf, but how it is perceived. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Schauffele has nothing to complain about when it comes to finances - and he wasn't (entirely) doing so during his media availability ahead of the BMW Championship - but he did bring up an interesting thought involving the money in golf compared to the money in the NFL.

Schauffele Sees Hypocrisy In The Way Money Is Discussed In Golf

The NFL's sponsorship deals and TV revenue make the PGA Tour's revenue from those same avenues look like the budget of a high school baseball team, but Schauffele's comments do make you take a step back.

"You look at the top-10 quarterbacks in the NFL," Schauffele said. "Scottie [Scheffler] has won seven times, I think that’s including Olympic gold. And he’s made significantly more than everyone else. If you look at how much 10th has made, the 10th-best player in the world has made, it’s not going to sniff how much Scottie has made. That just shows you how well Scottie has played in these big tournaments."

For reference, Scheffler has made just over $29 million this season while the No. 10 player on this season's money list, Shane Lowry, has earned $5.7 million.

This next part is where the interesting pieces of Schauffele's comments come through, promise.

"When I look at other sports, when someone gets a $300 million contract, there’s all these positive comments about how someone got their bag or they’ve worked so hard to get this and they deserve it, things like that," Schauffele said. "It’s interesting to me. I think maybe golf is a gentleman’s game and you’re not supposed to talk about money, but all the media wants to do is talk about money."

No lies detected there.

Golf's Obsession With Money Isn't Stopping

Professional golf is money-obsessed, and it may be the first time in the game's history you can say that with 100 percent certainty. 

Xander Schauffele, like the rest of the golf world, wishes the money chatter would slow down. (Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)

LIV Golf is all about the money and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) has endless amounts of it. Players who joined LIV for guaranteed paydays are viewed in a negative light. The same can be said when it comes to the PGA Tour as it seemed to magically find millions of more dollars to add to player purses moments after LIV became a legitimate threat.

Nothing about the surplus of money in the sport is talked about as a positive, it's always a negative conversation.

What is downright scary to think about if you're a golf fan is that none of this negativity and money-hungry chatter is going away. In fact, it'll only get worse if and when the Tour and Saudi PIF come to terms on an agreement.

Now, the smart golf fan out there would say, "The hell with it, I'm not going to pay attention to the money-driven conversations." But that's easier said than done given the divide and uncertainty across the sport when that divide and uncertainty is single-handedly based around dollar bills.