The second major championship of the golf season, the 108th PGA Championship, is being played now at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. Running from May 14 to 17, it’s one of the four major championships in men’s golf, played after the Masters and before the U.S. Open and The Open Championship. It features a full field of 156 players, including many of the sport’s biggest names, such as Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Spieth.
As the players compete, their advisors, CPAs, and other professionals are crunching the numbers. That includes advisors like Frank Marzano, a CPA with a master’s in taxation, who has worked in the wealth management industry for over 25 years and is now with Wellspire. Importantly, he’s also a golfer, so he knows his way around the greens as well as a tax form.
Golfer Income And Sourcing
The two most common sources of earned income for a professional golfer, Marzano says, are winnings and endorsements. The latter includes ads, commercials and logo placement on clothes and golf bags.
When it comes to winnings, there is no fixed dollar award. Instead, the golfers receive a share of the purse, which is the total amount of prize money awarded to the professional players competing in the event. The winner gets the largest share and the rest get a piece of the remainder based on their finishing position.
The winner at Aronimink is expected to take home roughly $3.42 million if the winnings mirror those from the PGA Championship in 2025. At this event, the winner’s share has typically been about 18% of the purse, so a $19 million purse would produce a winner’s payout of roughly $3.42 million. The rest is paid down the leaderboard, with second place receiving less than the winner, third less than second, and so on. If players tie, the money for the tied positions is pooled and split evenly among them.
Golfer Expenses
While the game can make some golfers a lot of money, it can also be expensive. To play in a big golf event, like the PGA Championship, you need to qualify. Once there, golfers don’t pay entry fees to enter tournaments, but they do have to cover their own expenses, such as travel, accommodations, and meals. And accounting for those expenses is important, Marzano explains, because you want to ensure the players receive the appropriate tax deductions.
In addition to paying for their caddies and travel expenses, golfers may also need to pay agents, coaches, lawyers, tax professionals, and financial advisors. Those costs may be deductible when they are ordinary and necessary business expenses, but the details matter: The expense must be tied to the golfer’s trade or business, properly documented, and separated from personal or investment-related costs.
One expense that might be surprising? Country club-related fees. Marzano says that country club dues are typically not deductible for taxpayers, even if the club is used for networking, client meetings, or access to a course. Golfers may, however, be able to deduct separate fees for practice, instruction, or other expenses incurred while at the club, provided, of course, that they are business-related rather than personal. In other words, the membership may be personal, but a separately substantiated business expense may still belong on the tax ledger.
That makes keeping great records important. A golfer who travels for tournaments and earns income from both competition and endorsements needs to be able to justify expenses (including travel) and be able to match those expenses with the appropriate income. Not all costs may be treated the same way.
Given the money and multiple income streams, most high-level golfers don’t file a Schedule C because they operate separate entities. (Yes, plural.) Commonly, that may mean one entity for their golf winnings and on-course earnings, and another for their endorsements. The separation is important for identifying expenses and matching them to the appropriate income stream.
Golf Caddies Have To Be Paid
Another expense that might be surprising? Caddies.
A professional golfer also needs a caddie. Their basic job is to help a golfer get around the course, which may include carrying or managing the bag, cleaning clubs and balls, reading yardages, and tracking wind and slope. At higher levels, especially on professional tours, the caddie is also involved in course management, including which club or iron to use, when to play safe, and how a shot might react.
You do not need a formal degree to become a caddie. Most professional caddies get there through relationships and tournament experience. As a result, pay varies wildly. At ordinary clubs, caddies are often paid per round, typically with a base fee plus a tip. But professional tour caddies are different.
According to Marzano, caddies are typically paid by the player which means that it comes out of their income. And because of the nature of the job, most of the time, a caddie is issued a Form 1099. A PGA Tour caddie usually negotiates a weekly base fee with the player they support, and may also receive a percentage of the player’s winnings. As a result, a PGA Tour caddie can make six figures or more if and when their player wins big.
Golfer Travel and Taxes
Professional golf requires extensive travel both in the U.S. and abroad. That can make accounting for income and expenses complicated.
For federal income tax purposes, a U.S. person is taxed on their worldwide income, even when it is earned overseas and even when they are self-employed. That means that, for a U.S. golfer playing abroad, tournament winnings, appearance fees, and endorsement income may also be taxed or withheld in the foreign country where the services are performed. To avoid double taxation, the golfer will typically look to a tax treaty, claim a foreign tax credit, or consider the foreign earned income exclusion. Self-employed taxpayers like golfers also need to remember that the foreign earned income exclusion does not eliminate U.S. self-employment tax.
For a non-U.S. golfer like Rory McIlroy, who is from Northern Ireland, prize money from a tournament played in the U.S. is generally taxable by the U.S. The tournament or payor may have withholding obligations of 30% (a reduced rate or exemption may apply, depending on the circumstances) and the golfer may need to file a U.S. nonresident return to report the income, claim deductions, or obtain treaty-based relief. Fortunately for McIlroy, the U.S.-U.K. Income Tax Treaty is pretty comprehensive.
A U.S. golfer also needs to consider state taxes. Typically, your home or resident state taxes all of your income, no matter where earned, and the state where you work or perform services taxes income earned inside its borders. To prevent paying tax twice, your home state often gives you a credit for taxes paid to another state. If your home state doesn’t have an income tax, you still pay income tax to your work state on income sourced to that state, assuming the state imposes an income tax and its filing thresholds are met.
Because the PGA Championship is being played in Pennsylvania, winnings will generally be treated as Pennsylvania-source income. Fortunately for many at the tournament, Pennsylvania has a flat tax rate of just 3.07%, which is relatively modest compared to many other states.
If the winner is from Florida, he would pay Pennsylvania tax but no Florida income tax. Assuming that the top prize is $3.42 million, that means $104,994 in Pennsylvania taxes.
If the winner is from California, he would still pay $104,994 to Pennsylvania, but California would also want its share. The top tax rate in the Golden State is 12.3% (plus an additional 1% Mental Health Services Tax), resulting in $426,255 in California taxes. After deducting the credit for Pennsylvania taxes paid, the winner must still write a check to California for a whopping $321,261 (not taking into account other deductions or local taxes).
When it comes to endorsements and similar income, those are often taxed by the golfer’s resident state, but sourcing can depend on the contract, where services are performed, where rights are used, and applicable state rules. The same is true for most investment income, which is generally taxed by the golfer’s state of residence rather than the tournament state.
It is why golfers seem to love Florida—it’s one of nine states without a broad-based individual income tax. The remaining states are Alaska, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. That said, “no broad-based income tax” does not always mean “no state-level tax at all”—Washington, for example, taxes certain capital gains.
Marzano jokes that golfers “would prefer, all things being equal, to live in a state that has warm weather and no taxes.” It helps to be able to practice there year-round.
Tiger Woods seems to think so. Woods purchased property on Jupiter Island, Florida, in 2006, and his custom estate and practice facility were completed around 2010. By 2011, he was widely reported to have moved into the Jupiter Island mansion. He has suggested that taxes also played a role.
Just over a decade after his move, he officially became a billionaire.
Always Get Professional Advice
The business of professional golf does not end when the last putt drops. For golfers and their caddies, success can mean more income and more tax reporting. The best players know how to manage a course, while the best-advised players know that managing the money (and the associated taxes) can be just as strategic.
