How much money will Olympic golf medalists earn? It depends

Golf is making its third appearance at the Olympic Games this year after more than a century of absence from international sporting competition. And while professional golfers on the course are devoting a portion of their interests to playing for their countries this week, there is some money on the line in Paris.

But how much a player will earn by making the course at Le Golf National depends largely on one thing: which country he represents.

To be fair, most Olympic golf competitors play for millions of dollars week in and week out on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. And they certainly don’t play those kinds of figures in the Olympics. And even for golfers from outside the elite ranks who don’t have many millions stacked in their bank accounts, winning a medal at the Paris Olympics isn’t about the money.

That being said, a lot of money will be taken, but mostly for certain Olympic golfers. It turns out, some countries reward all their Olympic medal winners financially, with fixed amounts for winning gold, silver or bronze in any sport. And it is the same amount for men and women.

If Xander Schauffele, for example, goes ahead and wins his second straight gold medal Sunday in France, he will earn $38,000, the same amount earned by American gymnast Simone Biles for each of her golds this week. The same goes for defending women’s gold medalist Nelly Korda next week during the women’s Olympic golf event.

And if the World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who finished second, will take home a US silver check worth $23,000. Bronze would see any member of the US golf team earn $15,000.

But the US has the fewest medalists in the Olympics. Should Spain’s Jon Rahm win gold, he will take home a total of $102,000, or $52,000 for silver and $33,000 for bronze.

Australian golfers, including former World No. 1 Jason Day, they play for very small sums: $13,000 for gold, $10,000 for silver and $7,000 for bronze.

Which Olympic golfer has the chance to win the most money in Paris? That would be Shannon Tan, who will compete in the women’s event as Singapore’s first Olympic golfer. Singapore pays gold medalists a total of $745,000. Even a bronze medal would see Tan take home $185,000.

Below you can see a list of Olympic medal winning countries, courtesy of CNBC (all figures are in USD and rounded to the nearest thousand).

2024 Olympic golf scholarship, fees, money

Hong Kong: Gold – $768,000; Silver – $384,000; Bronze – $192,000
Singapore: Gold – $745,000; Silver – ; Bronze – $186,000
Indonesia: Gold – $300,000; Silver – $150,000; Bronze – $60,000
Israel: Gold – $271,000; Silver – $216,000; Bronze – $135,000
Republic of Kazakhstan: Gold – $250,000; Silver – $150,000; Bronze – $75,000
Malaysia: Gold – $216,000; Silver – $65,000; Bronze – $22,000
Spain: Gold – $102,000; Silver – $52,000; Bronze – $33,000
France: Gold – $87,000; Silver – $43,000; Bronze – $22,000
South Korea: Gold – $45,000; Silver – $25,000; Bronze – $18,000
United States: Gold – $38,000; Silver – $23,000; Bronze – $15,000
Japan: Gold – $32,000; Silver – $13,000; Bronze – $6,000
Poland: Gold – $25,000; Silver – $19,000; Bronze – $14,000
Germany: Gold – $22,000; Silver – $16,000; Bronze – $11,000
Australia: Gold – $13,000; Silver – $10,000; Bronze – $7,000

Kevin Cunningham

Golf.com Editor

As executive producer of GOLF.com, Cunningham edits, writes and publishes stories on GOLF.com, and manages the brand’s e-newsletter, which reaches more than 1.4 million subscribers each month. A two-time alumni, he also helps keep GOLF.com buzzing with breaking news and service content provided by our reporters and writers, and works with the technology team to develop new products and new ways to deliver engagement. site to our audience.