Good Good Golf Loses 4 Partnerships After Controversial Driver Ad

Q: How did Scottie Scheffler break Tiger Woods' all-time earnings record in a year without winning a single major championship?

Scottie Scheffler broke Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour earnings record through volume, consistency and the modern payout structure, not by winning a major in 2026. His Tour Championship victory at East Lake was the decisive step. The win paid $10 million in official money, lifting his career PGA Tour earnings to $130,390,661 and moving him past Woods’ $120,999,166. Scheffler had entered the week only about $600,000 behind Woods, so any strong finish would have been enough; the win sent him well clear. The bigger reason is that Scheffler piled up money all season even without a major title. He won three times in 2026, including the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and finished runner-up five times. He posted three top-five finishes in the majors and finished inside the top 15 in all four. That level of consistency drove his season earnings to a PGA Tour-record $30.94 million in official prize money. He also benefited from an era of dramatically larger purses. The PGA Tour now features multiple $20 million signature-event purses, and the Tour Championship carries a $40 million purse with $10 million to the winner. Woods dominated in a much lower-money era, and the official career money list does not adjust for inflation or include endorsement income. So Scheffler passed Woods not because he had a better season than Woods at his peak, but because he played elite golf all year in a far richer PGA Tour economy.

3 articles · Updated · GOLF.com · Aug 31

Good Good Golf’s fallout widened after its driver ad circulated: Callaway dropped the group, some stores pulled its merchandise, the PGA Tour ended a planned November event partnership, and Golf Channel canceled “Big Break” before airing.
The backlash has become a case study in creator-led sports marketing, with editors describing a traditional brand’s attempt to reach younger fans through influencers as a strategy that spun out of control.
Writers said the ad itself was poorly received and the response came too slowly to contain the damage, allowing the controversy to spread well beyond golf audiences onto TikTok and other social platforms.
The episode also highlighted a broader tension in golf’s push to “grow the game” — balancing commercial appeal and internet-native creators against reputational risk for established companies and tours.