Everyone has their favorite golf major and while Augusta National and the Masters gets most of the attention, links enthusiasts circle one weekend and one weekend alone on their calendar, knowing they'll have to set their alarms to get up and gorge on The Open Championship. Play begins Thursday at Royal Liverpool to close the 2023 major season. The fairways will have some run. The bunkers will be deep as heck and impossible to escape. There will be a rogue stone wall in the way. Weather will change in the blink of an eye and the wind will be fierce. Whomever wins will also take home a tremendous amount of money.
How much, exactly? Well, last year Cameron Smith earned $2.5 million of the then-record $14 million purse, the highest payday of any victor. The R&A, by the way, began to cut the checks in U.S. dollars in 2016.
The Open Championship Prize Money
The total purse for The Open Championship '23 is a whopping $16.5 million. The golfer with the lowest 72-hole score will get their grubby paws on a $3 million check (or cheque). Martin Slumbers, CEO of The R&A, said: “Our aim is to ensure The Open remains at the pinnacle of world golf and we have almost doubled the prize fund since 2016. While we are seeing substantial increases in prize money across the men’s professional game, we are fulfilling our wider obligation to the sport by elevating the AIG Women’s Open, strengthening pathways in the elite amateur game and encouraging more people around the world to play golf."
Now, no one is going to cry over this, but The Open Championship has the lowest combined purse of any of the majors.
Here's the payout breakdown based off final standings.
The Open Championship Payout By Finishing Position
1 $3,000,000
2 $1,708,000
3 $1,095,000
4 $851,000
5 $684,500
6 $593,000
7 $509,500
8 $429,700
9 $377,000
10 $340,500
11 $310,000
12 $274,700
13 $258,300
14 $241,800
15 $224,800
16 $206,600
17 $196,600
18 $187,500
19 $179,600
20 $171,100
21 $163,100
22 $155,000
23 $146,700
24 $138,500
25 $133,800
26 $128,000
27 $123,300
28 $119,100
29 $113,900
30 $108,000
31 $104,500
32 $99,200
33 $95,700
34 $93,000
35 $89,800
36 $86,200
37 $82,200
38 $78,000
39 $75,200
40 $72,800
41 $69,800
42 $66,400
43 $63,400
44 $59,800
45 $56,400
46 $53,400
47 $51,300
48 $49,300
49 $47,000
50 $45,900
51 $44,900
52 $44,100
53 $43,400
54 $42,800
55 $42,100
56 $41,500
57 $41,100
58 $40,800
59 $40,500
60 $40,200
61 $40,000
62 $39,800
63 $39,600
64 $39,400
65 $39,200
66 $38,900
67 $38,600
68 $38,300
69 $38,000
70 $37,800
This article was originally published on thebiglead as The Open Championship Prize Money, Purse Breakdown: How Much Does the Winner Make?.
