When you think of the highest-paid golfers in the game today, you might not consider Rory McIlroy. But according to Golf Digest's latest list, McIlroy was the highest-paid golfer in both on-course and off-course money in 2016. He is No. 1 on the list entering 2017.

McIlroy earned $17.5 million on the course (thanks in part to his FedEx Cup win which was worth $10 million) and $32 million off the course for a total of nearly $50 million.

This ranked nearly $10 million ahead of Arnold Palmer and almost $15 million ahead of Tiger Woods, who made 99 percent of his cash off the course.

Here is the full top 10 list. Note that it includes three or four inactive golfers (depending on how active you feel Woods was in 2016). This goes to show how much cash can be made away from the game if you're successful enough when you're in it.

RankGolferIncome
1Rory McIlroy$49.5 million
2Arnold Palmer$40 million
3Phil Mickelson$37.8 million
4Tiger Woods$34.6 million
5Jordan Spieth$30.4 million
6Jack Nicklaus$20 million
7Dustin Johnson$19.8 million
8Jason Day$19.6 million
9Adam Scott$15.1 million
10Gary Player$15 million

McIlroy's sponsors include Bose, Nike, EA Sports and Omega.

I was actually surprised Jason Day was so low on this list. He is the No. 1 golfer in the world and brought in less than Dustin Johnson? That was likely remedied in the offseason, however, as Day signed what is reportedly a $10 million per year contract with Nike to wear their gear.

Finally, I bet Phil Mickelson takes a little too much pleasure in blowing ahead of Tiger Woods by $3 million. We'll see if those numbers hold as Woods plays a real schedule in 2017.

This is uncharted territory for Big Cat.

For the first 12 years of the ranking, Woods was No. 1, usually by a wide margin. But reduced play because of injuries and the loss of more than half a dozen A-list endorsement partners after the 2009 scandal caught up to him in 2016, when he fell to No. 3 behind Jordan Spieth and Mickelson. This year, Woods is No. 4 behind Rory McIlroy, Arnold Palmer and Mickelson.

I'm fascinated to see which way these numbers go over the next 10 years. I still maintain there is slack in the rope from the late 90s Woods Effect that has yet to be pulled out. The money is still rolling in for the big stars, but whether it stays that way in the long term remains to be seen.