The life of a PGA Tour pro can seem glamorous, darting across the globe and back all year long chasing giant purses. But to accomplish all that jetting around, pro golfers rely on, well, jets. And all that airline travel, plus the hotel stays once they arrive, comes at a shocking cost.
We know that thanks to Tour pro Michael Kim. Kim has become one of the best follows on social media for golfers. He regularly dispenses valuable and interesting insight into the behind-the-scenes life of a PGA Tour pro, both the good and the bad.
It’s the kind of transparency modern sports fans love to see, and Kim provided his latest dose this week to his followers on X.
In a post on Friday morning, Kim shared a screenshot of a graph showing the total money he spent on flights and hotels for PGA Tour events in the 2024 season, revealing a staggering sum: $92,698.11.
That enormous cost accumulated while Kim played in 30 different PGA Tour events in 2024, including stops in Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda and points all across the continental U.S.
Kim added that the $92K+ total he spent featured “zero dollars spent on private flights, and rarely business class.” Unlike some Tour stars, Kim always flies commercial, presumably making his travel costs far lower than others, as he noted in his post.
“Can’t imagine some of the top guys’ costs,” Kim wrote.
Kim’s example is helpful to educate golf fans on how costly it can be to be a pro golfer outside of the elite ranks. You have to spend big to have any chance of making a living, and little money is guaranteed.
Kim, who has one career Tour victory, still ended up in the green for the 2024 season. Despite missing 13 cuts and only capturing two top-10 finishes, Kim’s official money for the season came out to $1,484,233.
The lion’s share of those earnings, though, came from just five tournaments, further showing the financial insecurity many players on the lower rungs of the Tour face.
Ironically, his biggest paycheck of the season was $310,800 for a T6-finish at the American Express, which was just his second start of the year and was played in California, the state where he grew up.
