Another illustration is the gap in prize money accumulated by Tiger Woods and Justin Rose in these two majors. Tiger Woods missed the cut in the US Open and finished second in the PGA. His second place was worth $1.188m. Justin Rose collected about one-third of that for finishing 10th and 19th. Sporting performance translates into prize money in a non-linear fashion as the picture below illustrates.
All this suggests that there is a need to be careful about the use of financial rewards as a measure of golfing ability. This is particularly so for short periods of time. However, over longer periods of time there should be a better relationship.