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Christine Wang had the best week of her career on the Epson Tour when she finished T-4 at the Otter Creek Championship in June. Recently, the 24-year-old in her second year on the LPGA developmental tour posted a breakdown of her expenses from the week on social media and how they stacked up against her winnings. Unlike other sports that have the benefits of salaries and signing bonuses, golfers have to spend money in order to have the opportunity to make money. And as you can imagine, the smaller the tour a player is on, the harder it is to break even.
As she explained, before Wang got to the tournament, she had to pay a $350 entry fee. And when she got on site, she bought the $35 yardage book. These are unavoidable expenses. She was, however, able to cut a lot of corners on other expenses. Her flights, for example, totalled $2.50 because she flew using points. She spent nothing on a car rental, because a friend on tour had her own car that week, only needing to chip in on gas ($52.42).
Housing costs were mitigated by sharing an Airbnb with two other players, so her total there was $360. She said she opted for takeout that week, so food costs were higher than they would’ve been if she’d cooked her own food: $198.41.
Her caddie costs could’ve been zero, because she used a local volunteer caddie. But, because he did a good job on the bag and helped her get that T-4 finish, Wang tipped him $200.
All in, her expenses added up to $1,198.45, while her finish paid out $12,032. So, she made $10,833.55. And mind you, we’re doing all of this math in a dystopian universe where taxes don’t exist. So it’s even harder to break even than this math is giving credit for.
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We followed up with Wang to explore the topic a little more. Wang told us that this was one of the weeks on tour that she actually spent the least. Usually, her expenses coming in just shy of $2,000. Out of 15 tournaments in 2025—in which she won a total of $31,380 to finish 54th on the money list—her earnings outpaced her average spending only five times. Mind you, she made more than 70 percent of the players on the Epson Tour in 2025.
When Wang was playing college golf at USC and preparing for life as a professional golfer, she asked some Trojan alumni how much she should expect her expenses to be for a year on the Epson Tour. The range was wide: from about $50,000 to $80,000. Players spending on the higher end have professional caddies and get hotel rooms instead of utilising free housing options.
Wang is on the $50,000 track. To save money, she uses volunteer caddies when it makes sense. She rents cars with other players who are older than her, to avoid the extra fee that renters younger than 25 years old have to pay. She either uses free housing, which is when the local community organises places for players to stay, like a guest room in the home of a member at the course they’re playing that week. When she does rent an Airbnb, she rents it with other players to keep costs down. And with a kitchen, she’s able to cook her dinners instead of eating out. She takes full advantage of the free breakfasts and lunches at the tournaments.
“I know on the LPGA Tour, when I talked to the my older former teammates, nobody really travels together. But on Epson, everyone’s kind of in it together so we share cars, we split housing, we work together,” Wang said.
Without that camaraderie, it would financially impossible for some players to make life on tour work.
When she first came out on Epson, she had six starts and no sponsors. “Nobody knows who you are, even if I came from a big school, it’s just not happening,” Wang said.
She spent money in her savings account, her parents gave her some money, as did a few people at their club and USC alumni.
“The financial stress of it, because I was thinking about how much money I was spending on every event and I was missing cuts and then that made me more desperate. And if you’ve ever played golf you know that the more you try, the worse you play,” Wang said. “It really affects you. I think most players are lying if they say they’re not thinking about how much money they’re spending.”
The financial stress has eased a bit this year for Wang, as she secured some sponsors, including the supplement drink, AG1, and soccer training facility, Agility. “It’s made life a lot easier,” Wang said. “I can go to a tournament and know for sure that if I miss the cut, I’m still okay.”
Relieving that stress makes it easier and lets her focus more on golf, but she’s still going to budget as much as she can. It’s the only way to make it work.
Main Image: USC Women’s Golf
