PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and LIV Golf professionals are making millions in official earnings. But long before they reach that stage, they have to fight a long financial battle. English pro Piers Berrington laid that harsh reality bare.

“You see a lot of guys who will start the season and run out of money. They’ll start the season, let’s say they have £20,000 and once that’s gone – if they haven’t had a good season where they’re not making any money – they can’t play anymore. I think that’s what you see more. You see more at the end of the season the fields drop off a lot because boys just can’t afford to do it anymore,” the 29-year-old revealed to Golf Monthly on June 10, 2026.

Giving the example of a Clutch event, he said that £500 ($670) goes for entry to play the event alone. Then there’s £20 ($27) on top of that for the course guide. With transportation, accommodation, food, coaches, and more, the ballpark number, according to him, goes anywhere around £900 ($1200) a week and £40,000 ($53,590) for a season.

Sure, they might have equipment sponsorship, but that support alone wouldn’t get them far on their journey, not with the prize pool on the line. Signature Events on the PGA Tour have a $20 million purse, while LIV Golf events have $30 million on the line. Even the DP World Tour events now have over $3 million in prize money in many tournaments. But it’s significantly less on mini-tours.

On the Clutch Tour, for example, Piers Berrington revealed that the total prize money is £58,000 ($67,000). Of these, the winner gets just £8,000.

“I finished T6th last week and won £1,600, I think it was. So you’ve covered your costs, but you’ve had to finish sixth that week,” he added.

But doing that consistently in a field with over 150 professionals is tough, which is why many even have to leave their dream of playing on the biggest stages.

Berrington turned professional in 2018 and has been playing on multiple mini-tours since then. Over the years, he claimed 10 professional titles. However, it’s not just the money from these wins that has kept him going. He has built himself a good sponsorship portfolio. Based on his Instagram profile, he has the following four sponsorships:

• J. Lindeberg (clothing)
• All Avenues Golf (YouTube/content brand)
• IM8 Health (nutrition)
• Callaway Golf (club deal)

The struggle spans continents. Pros on mini-tours worldwide report identical math.

Other professionals who spoke about financial struggles on mini tours

Fredrik Lindblom, a Swedish mini-tour pro, spoke on the same in early May 2026. Uploading an Instagram post, he revealed he finished 9th out of 168 players at the SoCal Open. The purpose of the post was to calculate his profits.

He revealed that the entry fee was $800, and his earnings for 9th place were $843. This means that by eliminating the entry fee alone, he had only a $43 profit. Now, there were other expenses, such as Airbnb, food, gas, practice rounds, and yardage booking. Collectively, they cost him $945. So, despite a 9th finish, the outcome was -$902.

Kenzie Wright wrote about the Epson Tour in February 2023. Sharing insights about her 2022 spending, she said that she spent $16,826.47 on entry fees and yardage alone across 14 tournaments. However, her winnings were only $8,015.

Even when a professional goes to the next tier, like the Korn Ferry Tour, the earnings aren’t that much. James Nicholas shared his earnings and expenses for the 2025 season in an Instagram post. His total expenses were $151,249, and his total earnings were $255,057. This left him with just over $103,000 in net income at the second tier of professional golf.

This extends to the top tier, too.

Speaking on the Full Send podcast, Bryson DeChambeau said that “Anybody that is outside the top 165 on the money list, is losing money every year. They don’t make money. They are losing money.”

The American professional said that golfers are independent contractors who must cover all their expenses. So, when all expenses are deducted, professionals who don’t play consistently find it challenging to break even.

Ben Griffin’s remarks on his finances for the 2026 season prove DeChambeau’s point. Griffin finished T3 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, earning $524,700. But before that, he had made $2.5 million in 2026 and spent around $750,000 of that on unavoidable expenses. And he currently ranks 15th in the world.

For Berrington, those stories reinforce the reality he described on the Clutch Tour. Whether it’s mini-tours, developmental circuits, or even golf’s highest levels, the path to success depends as much on financial survival as it does on performance on the course.