Inside Scottie Scheffler's incredible 2024 earnings: Unstoppable world No 1 has earned $16m in the last 44 DAYS - more than Lionel Messi's entire yearly salary... and over DOUBLE Stephen Curry and Patrick Mahomes

Scottie Scheffler is in the form of his life, and that has translated very quickly into some incredible earnings on the PGA Tour.

His impressive run of four wins in five starts in recent weeks has seen him pull on his second Green Jacket at the Masters, beat the rest of the field at the Players Championship, and now lift the trophy at the RBC Heritage too.

Incredibly, all of those wins come with plenty of background noise too, as his wife Meredith prepares to give birth to their first child any day now.

When the baby does finally arrive, it will already be set for life - given Scottie has scooped an insane $16million in winnings over the last 44 days alone.

To put that into context, that is more than Lionel Messi's entire annual salary at Inter Miami, with the Argentine World Cup winner taking home $12m-a-year in base earnings.

Scottie Scheffler won the RBC Heritage to take his earnings to $16m in the last 44 days alone

Scheffler and his wife Meredith (left) are expecting their first child in the coming days

Scheffler's recent earnings dwarf that of the NBA's highest-paid player Stephen Curry (above)

It is also double most other top American sports star, easily beating all MLB or NBA players.

In the NBA, ESPN report that Stephen Curry has the highest player salary of anyone in the 2023-24 season, picking up an eyewatering $51,915,615 across the year.

When broken down to the last 44 days, though, Curry has 'only' earned $6,258,320 - less than half of what Scheffler has won through his golf successes.

In the NFL, Spotrac report that Joe Burrow is 2024's highest earner in total cash, bringing in $65,714,000 with the Cincinnati Bengals.

While closer to Scheffler's $12m, Burrow has taken home $7,921,672 in the last 44 days - still more than $4m off the golf star.

Patrick Mahomes, meanwhile, earns $45,750,000 a year, with his last-44-day earnings coming in at $5,515,048.

He will, of course, not go hungry on that kind of money, but it puts into perspective the incredible success Scheffler has enjoyed at the top of the golf rankings.

He has also earned more than double Patrick Mahomes, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback

Scheffler lifts The Masters trophy above his head after pulling on his second Green Jacket

Scheffler and wife Meredith are turning their priorities to their new baby in the coming days

In terms of MLB rivals, Shohei Ohtani - although deferring a large portion of his salary - is technically the best-paid player in the league after signing his 10-year, $700m deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Even if he were to take the entire $70m he is owed this year, his earnings over the last 44 days would be $8.4m - much less than golf's No 1.

Scheffler's wild 2024 ride began on March 10 when he topped the tree at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, scooping $4m in prize money for his four days' work.

From there, he went straight to the Players Championship at Sawgrass and, just a week later, took home a further $4.5m.

He then enjoyed a week off before the Texas Children's Houston Open, where he managed a second-placed finish, just missing out on a playoff opportunity to beat eventual winner Stephan Jaeger.

Despite failing to win, that T2 finish earned Scheffler a further $553,735.

The world No. 1 has won four of his last five tournaments, and will next play at Valhalla in May

Scheffler has earned more than Lionel Messi's entire yearly salary in the last 44 days alone

Even if Shohei Ohtani was taking home his entire yearly $70m salary, he'd have earned less than Scheffler over the last two months

It was back to winning ways at The Masters, though, with the American's second victory at Augusta National seeing him scoop $3.6m on the Sunday.

It was another quick turnaround to get to Hilton Head a few days later, but it was worth it as he topped the tree again and took home another $3.6m.

Looking ahead, Scheffler's priorities are set to change as he focuses on his family, and by the time he plays another competitive round of golf, his family of two will have become a family of three.

Scheffler is not due to play again until the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville next month, where he will attempt to win the second major of the year against all the biggest players in the world.