Jon Rahm has last laugh as Rory McIlroy left in the dust after incredible £13m year

Rory McIlroy had the best year of his career by becoming the Masters champion and helping Team Europe win an away Ryder Cup, but Jon Rahm outearned him once again

Jon Rahm has earned double the prize money Rory McIlroy has this year due to playing in the LIV Golf League rather than the PGA Tour. The former Masters champion managed to earn almost £25million, compared to the current Green Jacket holder’s total winnings of roughly £13million.

Rahm did so despite not winning a single tournament outright, too, with his consistency across almost all 20 starts earning him significant prize money. His biggest payday came after being crowned the LIV Golf individual champion for a second consecutive season and collecting a £13.4million bonus.

That success came at LIV Golf Indianapolis after the Spaniard finished second to Sebastian Munoz, who then won a play-off between the pair. Rahm earned another £1.68million as runner-up, meaning he made more on that Sunday than McIlroy did all year.

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The Northern Irishman had big wins of his own, banking £9.9million by mid-April after winning The Masters, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players Championship. Similar success, however, remained elusive after the high of completing the career Grand Slam at Augusta National.

As for Rahm, other huge wins came at LIV Golf Riyadh (£1.4million), LIV Golf Andalucia (£1.68million) and LIV Golf Chicago (£1.4million). Second-place finishes there – the former and latter ties for that spot – earned almost another £4.5million.

He faced criticism for joining the LIV Golf League, but two years later is laughing all the way to the bank. The switch has also not stopped him from starring for Team Europe at the Ryder Cup.

Their former captain, Paul McGinley, called out the Spaniard’s move back in May. “There’s nothing easy in life,” he said to the Golf Channel.

“Yes, they can say they’ve made a lot of money, but they’re hurting on the other side in terms of coming to these major championships not on the cutting edge, as they would have been had they stayed on the PGA Tour.”

McGinley went on: “Coming back with all the jet lag is not that easy. It’s a whole lot easier staying in one country, then playing the major in that same country.

“Going to LIV, yes, there’s a lot of upside and they’ve got a lot of money to do so, but because it’s a start-up and they have to travel around the world, it gives a lot of disadvantages when it comes to these major championships. Bar Brooks (Koepka) and Bryson (DeChambeau), the rest have not turned up seriously since they’ve gone to LIV in these major championships.”

Rahm responded at the time, saying: “Me going to LIV and playing worse in majors had nothing to do with where I was playing golf. My swing was simply not at the level it had to be for me to compete.

“It’s easier to post a score on non-major championship courses and venues, and I think when you get to the biggest stages like this one and these courses, those flaws are going to get exposed, and it did.

“There have been weeks where I was able to play better, like The Open last year. The Masters obviously, it wasn’t a good start, but it got better as the week went on, and I’m still working and trying to get my swing to a better spot.”