PGA Championship star is 'world's second richest golfer' worth billions
A decent golf player can set several generations of their family up for life, but one star of the game would be able to do that even if they never win another event
A strong performance at the 2025 PGA Championship could make any golfer a millionaire overnight - but that's a drop in the ocean for billionaire heir Maverick McNealy. The first-round action at Quail Hollow saw the big names struggle, as Masters champ Rory McIlroy opened with a wobbly 74, leaving him 10 strokes behind current leader Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela.
McIlroy, 36, recently vowed he is determined to become a six-time major winner, but now has a huge mountain to climb if he hopes to emerge from Charlotte victorious. While the prize pot is yet to be confirmed, Xander Schauffele won $3.3m (£2.48m) out of a total of $18.5m (£13.90m) for winning last year - and the financial rewards are expected to rise again.
Not that McNealy would be too bothered by the money, anyway. The PGA Tour star is so financially set up that he can essentially play top-level golf as a hobby. The American is hardly one of the sport's standout names, but he is believed to be the second wealthiest on the planet.
With a humongous net worth of around $1.1billion (£830m), only Tiger Woods is believed to be wealthier. It's also significantly more than McIlroy who, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, saw his net worth rise to £260m in the last 12 months.
While Woods' and McIlroy's wealth derives from their winnings and the lucrative sponsorships and endorsements they have amassed along the way, McNealy is the son of Scott McNealy, a tech entrepreneur who founded Sun Microsystems in 1982.
In 2010, he sold the company to Oracle Corporation for a whopping $7.4bn (£5.56bn). The McNealy family are therefore made for life, meaning Maverick is able to pursue his dream of becoming a world- class golfer.
He was raised in a jaw-dropping 28,000 square-foot home in Palo Alto, which is understood to have been worth around $86m (£64.62m). McNealy is yet to really make a splash in the world of golf, but he does boast one victory on the PGA Tour.
The California native was victorious in the 2024 RSM Classic, where he birdied the last hole to beat fellow American Luke Clanton by one shot. He also managed to bank himself a healthy check of $1.368m, which would have barely been noticed as a result of his colossal net worth.
As well as his victory at Sea Island Golf Club, golf fans may remember McNealy from the 2014 US Open, where he qualified for the major at the age of 18 years old. McNealy was also close to winning the 2024 Genesis Invitational, recording an impressive score of 11-under par.
Unfortunately for him, Ludvig Aberg was slightly better, scooping up the $4m prize with a score of 12-under. McNealy will never let any disappointment shatter his confidence or self-belief.
After all, his own father did not allow him to live a life of luxury and opulence, despite his spectacular childhood home. In an interview with Golf Digest in 2018, he said: "My dad often tells me the most well-funded start-ups always fail, and that a short cash runway lights a fire under your rear that's hard to emulate.
"I don't judge my success in golf by how much money I've made. I judge it by my effort and commitment. My brothers and I never got an allowance, and we were told that once we graduated from college, we'd have one summer to find a job and then we'd be on our own. My dad would've made me pay rent to live at home after school - I'm not kidding!"
McNealy began his PGA Championship campaign by finishing one-under par in the first-round. He is currently six strokes behind Vegas, whose impressive opening round ended with him seven-under par.
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