If you thinkgolfisn't a dramatic sport, you're wrong.
Thestrict rulesandregulations of the gameandhuge prize earningsmean that anything from accidents on the green tocolorful languageand roughing one another up on a round can result in hefty fines for offenders.
Some of the most legendary golfers have been slapped with financial penalties for forgetting to sign scorecards and missing games. Most fines aren't made public, though there are known ranges for certain infractions.
To get a feel for just how stringent golf rules can be:Tiger Woodswasfined somewhere between $400 and $16,000for spitting on the green during the 2011 Dubai Desert Classic and issued a public apology afterward.
Some of the highest finesever, not just in golf but in sports overall, have been issued to players who defected to LIV Golf from the PGA and DP World Tours.
From administrative errors and angry outbursts to cheating allegations and contract breaches, these are some of the biggest fines in golf so far.
John Daly: $5,000
In 1997, John Daly channeled his inner rock star and trashed a hotel room during the Players' Championship, according toTheAugusta Chronicle. He was hit with a $5,000 fine and had to pay $1,500 in damages.
John Daly: $5,600
Daly shot a 78 in the 2002 Australian PGA, theLos Angeles Timesreported, but his score didn't matter in the end: He was disqualified for forgetting to sign his scorecard. A furious Daly hurled his ball and putter into a lake, leading the Australasian PGA to slap him with a $5,600 fine.
David Robertson: $7,000
In 1985, one of David Robertson's caddies accused the Scottish golfer of cheating at least five times in qualifying rounds for the British Open by moving his ball for a better lie multiple times, theLos Angeles Timesreported. The charge followed prior allegations of lying on his score cards and improperly marking his balls on the green. The European PGA Tour fined Robertson $7,000 and banned him from competing for two decades. Robertson has repeatedly denied the claims.
Mac O'Grady: $10,000
Mac O'Grady called then-PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman a "thief with a capital T" in March 1986, per theLos Angeles Times— and that spelled trouble. O'Grady, who reportedly also called Beman a Communist and a Nazi, was fined $10,000 for his remarks and suspended for six tournaments. O'Grady claimed that the punishment violated his freedom of speech.
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Matt Every: $20,000
Matt Every revealed on theSubparpodcastthat his two priciest fines were each for $20,000 and that he had several $5,000 fines for smaller infractions. One of the "biggest ones," he recalled, was for throwing one of his clubs at the 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson tournament, photos of which went viral. He explained that he was frustrated after a bad shot and "just blacked out for a second."
John Daly: $20,000
Daly was fined $20,000 after getting into a physical altercation with Jeff Roth and Roth's father Bob at the 1994 World Series of Golf, according toThe Florida Times-Union. The scuffle ended up costing even more than that, as Daly was banned from playing for the rest of the season following the skirmish.
John Daly: $30,000
In one of the biggest and most infamous fines ever at the time it happened, Daly had to cough up $30,000 for hitting balls over spectators' heads in 1993, according to theNew York Post. The infraction occurred at a clinic during the Fred Meyer Challenge in Portland.
Simon Dyson: $49,000
At the BMW Masters in October 2013, Simon Dyson tapped down a spike mark on the eighth hole. Though Dyson denied he did so deliberately, he was fined $49,000 and put on an 18-month probation period, theAssociated Pressreported. The European Tour called the incident a "serious breach" of their conduct code, but acknowledged that they didn't believe Dyson was actively trying to cheat in the tournament.
Sergio Garcia: $1.2 million
The DP World Tour fined Sergio Garcia a total of nearly $1.2 million for competing in Saudi Arabian LIV Golf tournaments without permission, claiming his participation breached their conflicting tournament regulation, per a 2024Telegraphreport. According toESPN, while 17 other players were reportedly also fined for doing the same, Garcia was the only one from the group who didn't pay an initial fine of about $130,000.
Jon Rahm: $3 million
Since joining LIV Golf in December 2023, Jon Rahm told theGolf Channelhe accrued an estimated $3 million in fines from the DP Tour for similar reasons as Garcia. In February 2026, Rahm said he was pleased to see that DP and LIV were in the process of working out an arrangement in which individual players could get pre-approved permission to compete in specific events without penalty, but specifics haven't yet been confirmed.
Brooks Koepka: $5 million
Brooks Koepkareceived one of the biggest fines not just in golf history, but also in sports history overall.
According to theAssociated Press, Koepka signed with LIV Golf in June 2022 for "at least $100 million," later telling YouTuber and boxer Jake Paul he "signed for the dough."
In January 2026,with the help of palTiger Woods, Koepka returned to the PGA Tour, and it came at a cost: Koepka will have to earn his way back into tournaments and will be added to lineups, not included in the field by default like other PGA players. He also has to pay a $5 million fine (which, like other PGA fines, will go to charity) and will forfeit FedEx Cup bonuses and equity for his first year back, which can mean missing out on a payday of $50 million or more.
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If you thinkgolfisn't a dramatic sport, you're wrong. Thestrict rulesandregulations of the gameandhuge prize earningsmean...
