John Catlin has added another feather to his cap after beating Indian Jeev Milkha Singh’s 16-year-old single season earnings record.

The American locked up the Asian Tour Order of Merit title two weeks ago at the International Series Qatar, which was the penultimate event of the season, and yesterday the US$36,000 he earned for joint 34^th place at the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers saw him finish 2024 with total earnings of US$1,456,800. A final round six-under-par 65 at Riyadh Golf Club could not have come at a better time, allowing him to break the record with the last round of the season.

It took him past Singh’s US$1,452,701.69 from 2008 by US$4,098.31 – setting a new target for his peers to chase.

Catlin played in 14 Asian Tour events, winning two: the Saudi Open presented by PIF and the International Series Macau presented by Wynn, back-to-back, while he was defeated in two play-offs, at the International Series Morocco and the Black Mountain Championship.

John Catlin. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

He was also runner-up in the Yeangder TPC, joint third in the season-opening Malaysian Open and equal fourth in the SJM Macao Open.

His victory at the International Series Macau presented by Wynn was highlighted by a stunning 59 on day three – the first ever sub-60 on the Asian Tour.

Catlin’s winnings significantly surpassed his previous best season, which was in 2018 when he accumulated US$403,666.01, helped by winning three times. He was named the Player’s Player of the Year that year, and is hot favourite to win that again this year.

He led The International Series Rankings for most of the year but after a frantically close race over the closing stages he eventually ended in fourth place.

The 34-year-old will have another chance to win a place on next year’s LIV Golf League at the LIV Golf Promotions event, which starts next Thursday at Riyadh Golf Club.