When Roger Maltbie won the inaugural edition of the Memorial Tournament in 1976, beating Hale Irwin with a birdie on the fourth extra hole, he earned $40,000 from an overall prize money payout of $200,000.
Suffice it to say, times have changed.
With the 50th anniversary of the tournament that Jack Nicklaus’ built going on this week, the now PGA Tour signature event has a $20 million purse with the winner, J.T. Poston in a playoff over Ryan Gerard, claiming a $4 million prize money payout.
In fact, with the cutline at Muirfield Village set at the top 50 and ties or any player within 10 shots of the 36-hole leader, no player who played all four rounds walked away with less money than Maltbie earned five decades ago. And every player finishing 22nd or better will make more than the entire purse that was offered back in Year 1.
Entering this year’s tournament, two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler was trying to join Tiger Woods as the only golfer to win the Memorial in three consecutive years, but wound up tied for 12th, eight shots behind the winner. Woods won it five times (1999-2001, 2009, 2012) during his career, but did it in an era where the prize money wasn’t as inflated as it is today. Woods’ career earnings in 18 Memorial starts come in at $5.4 million, which is paltry compared to the $10.09 million that Scheffler has made in his five career starts (it helps when your two wins earned you $8 million).
Here’s the paydays for each golfer who made the cut this week in Ohio.
This is the course that Jack built, and rebuilt, and rebuilt again and again. Since its opening in 1974, Jack Nicklaus has remodeled every hole at Muirfield Village, some more than once, using play at the PGA Tour’s annual Memorial Tournament for some guidance. The renovation in 2020 was one of the most extensive and included the rebuilding of every hole, the shifting of greens and tees, strategic changes to the iconic par 5s and a new, more player-friendly par-3 16th, though that hole, too, has been tweaked since. That’s how a championship course remains competitive. But with every change, Nicklaus always made sure the general membership could still play and enjoy the course.
Win: J.T. Poston, -12/276, $4 million
P-2: Ryan Gerard, -12/276, $2.2 million
3: Wyndham Clark, -11/277, $1.4 million
T-4: Tommy Fleetwood, -10/278, $920,000
T-4: Sam Burns, -10/278, $920,000
T-6: Alex Fitzpatrick, -8/280, $730,000
T-6: Kristoffer Reitan, -8/280, $730,000
8: Eric Cole, -7/281, $646,000
9: Alex Noren, -6/282, $600,000
T-10: Si Woo Kim, -5/283, $535,000
T-10: Maverick McNealy, -5/283, $535,000
T-12: Adam Scott, -4/284, $401,800
T-12: Rory McIlroy, -4/284, $401,800
T-12: Justin Rose, -4/284, $401,800
T-12: Scottie Scheffler, -4/284, $401,800
T-12: J.J. Spaun, -4/284, $401,800
T-17: Patrick Cantlay, -3/285, $319,000
T-17: Harris English, -3/285, $319,000
T-19: Aaron Rai, -2/286, $269,333
T-19: Justin Thomas, -2/286, $269,333
T-19: Keegan Bradley, -2/286, $269,333
T-22: Bud Cauley, -1/287, $200,200
T-22: Matt Kuchar, -1/287, $200,200
T-22: Russell Henley, -1/287, $200,200
T-22: Shane Lowry, -1/287, $200,200
T-22: Kurt Kitayama, -1/287, $200,200
T-27: Chris Gotterup, E/288, $157,500
T-27: Ryan Fox, E/288, $157,500
T-29: Tony Finau, +1/289, $133,000
T-29: Xander Schauffele, +1/289, $133,000
T-29: Sungjae Im, +1/289, $133,000
T-29: Harry Hall, +1/289, $133,000
T-29: Sahith Theegala, +1/289, $133,000
T-34: Denny McCarthy, +3/291, $111,500
T-34: Jacob Bridgeman, +3/291, $111,500
T-36: Matt Fitzpatrick, +4/292, $99,000
T-36: Gary Woodland, +4/292, $99,000
T-36: Brandt Snedeker, +4/292, $99,000
39: Ludvig Aberg, +5/293, $90,000
T-40: Sepp Straka, +6/294, $82,000
T-40: Sudarshan Yellamaraju, +6/294, $82,000
T-40: Nico Echavarria, +6/294, $82,000
T-43: Nick Taylor, +7/295, $70,000
T-43: Taylor Pendrith, +7/295, $70,000
T-43: Hideki Matsuayam, +7/295, $70,000
T-46: Lucas Glover, +8/296, $58,666
T-46: Cameron Young, +8/296, $58,666
T-46: Mac Meissner, +8/296, $58,666
T-49: Patrick Rodgers, +9/297, $53,000
T-49: Michael Kim, +9/297, $53,000
51: Tom Hoge, +10/298, $51,000
52: Ryo Hisatsune, +16/304, $50,000
53: Corey Conners, +18/306, $49,000
