The rapid rise in prize money payouts in golf have been a provocative topic in all circles of the sport. The launch of LIV Golf and its megamillion-dollar purses forced the PGA Tour to offer more as well, creating exponential leaps that in the short run made sense to stave off a looking competitor but in the long run created questions of fiscal sustainability.
Meanwhile, caught in the backdraft were the major championships, previously sporting among the largest paydays in the game only to fall behind and have to make tough decisions on whether they’d increase their purses at a similar rate.
New R&A chief Mark Darbon lamented the problem, noting the zero-sum effect that increase in prize money have on funding the governing bodies other initiatives.
Not surprisingly, then, when new PGA of America CEO Terry Clark met with the media for the first time on Wednesday ahead of the PGA Championship, he, too, was asked about purses and how much longer they could continue going up.
The topic came with a subtle change in context given LIV Golf’s uncertain future now that the PIF won’t be funding them past this year and whether prize money payout had finally plateaued.
The specific question for Clark was what was his approach in general to making sure the PGA Championship continues competitive with its purse but staying financially responsible? Here’s his response:
“Yeah, it’s a balanced approach. … We’re really focused on all aspects of how do we improve and continue to look at improvement at the assets we have, including PGA Championships. This is a really important one. Obviously, it’s something we look at every year.”
Despite the cautious tone, the PGA of America announced on Saturday morning that this year’s prize money payout would be a record $20.5 million, a $1.5 million increase from a year ago, with the winner, Aaron Rai, earning $3.69 million. However, this still puts the PGA Championship third highest among the majors behind the U.S. Open ($21.5 million) and the Masters ($21.5 million last month 2026). The Open Championship paid out $17 million at Royal Portrush last July.
Clark, on the job since January, said the decision on prize money isn’t necessarily tied to what the other majors payout or what the PGA Tour does with its $20 million signature events and $25 million Players Championship payday.
“It’s not always in comparison to all of those,” Clark said. “It’s what are the factor that’s make sense. We do look at it as an annual focus around how do we get at competitive purses.”
For the curious, here’s a quick look at the history of the prize money payout at the PGA Championship:
Year: Winner’s Pay, Total Purse
1916: $500, $2,580 (first year of the event)
1931: $1,000, $7,200 (first year winner’s pay increased)
1953: $5,000, $20,700 (first year winner’s pay was $5K)
1958: $5,500, $39,388 (first year of stroke play, also the winner’s amount actually decreased that year)
1965: $25,000, $149,700
1978: $50,000, $300,240
1983: $100,000, $608,099
1988: $160,000, $1,000,000 (first year with a $1M total purse)
1993: $300,000, $1,702,750
1998: $540,000, $2,886,800
2000: $900,000, $5,031,100 (first year with a $5M total purse)
2003: $1,080,000, $5,938,300 (first year with $1M-plus to the winner)
2009: $1,350,000, $7,484,500
2014: $1,800,000, $9,913,000
2018: $1,980,000, $11 million
2021: $2,160,000, $12 million
2022: $2,700,000, $15 million
2023: $3,150,000, $17 million
2024: $3,300,000, $18 million
2025: $3,420,000, $19 million
Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer this year. Come back after play ends on Sunday and we’ll update the list with names and individual paydays:
Win: Aaron Rai, -9, $3,690,000
T-2 : Jon Rahm, -6, $1,804,000
T-2 : Alex Smalley, -6, $1,804,000
T-4: Justin Thomas, -5, $843,866
T-4: Ludvig Aberg, -5, $843,866
T-4: Matti Schmid, -5, $843,866
T-7: Cameron Smith, -4, $637,050
T-7: Rory McIlroy, -4, $637,050
T-7: Xander Schauffele, -4, $637,050
T-10: Kurt Kitayama, -3, $496,707
T-10: Chris Gotterup, -3, $496,707
T-10: Justin Rose, -3, $496,707
T-10: Patrick Reed, -3, $496,707
T-14: Matt Fitzpatrick, -2, $364,762
T-14: Scottie Scheffler, -2, $364,762
T-14: Max Greyserman, -2, $364,762
T-14: Ben Griffin, -2, $364,762
T-18: Maverick McNealy, -1, $229,128
T-18: Jordan Spieth, -1, $229,128
T-18: Stephan Jaeger, -1, $229,128
T-18: Padraigh Harrington, -1, $229,128
T-18: David Puig, -1, $229,128
T-18: Harris English, -1, $229,128
T-18: Min Woo Lee, -1, $229,128
T-18: Joaquin Niemann, -1, $229,128
T-26: Nick Taylor, E, $125,523
T-26: Alex Noren, E, $125,523
T-26: Cameron Young, E, $125,523
T-26: Andrew Novak, E, $125,523
T-26: Daniel Hiller, E, $125,523
T-26: Tom Hoge, E, $125,523
T-26: Sam Burns, E, $125,523
T-26: Hideki Matsuyama, E , $125,523
T-26: Bud Cauley, E, $125,523
T-35: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, +1, $78,805
T-35: Patrick Cantlay, +1, $78,805
T-35: Ryo Hisatsune, +1, $78,805
T-35: Daniel Berger, +1, $78,805
T-35: Ryan Fox, +1, $78,805
T-35: Haotong Li, +1, $78,805
T-35: Aldrich Potgieter, +1, $78,805
T-35: Si Woo Kim, +1, $78,805
T-35: Martin Kaymer, +1, $78,805
T-44: Chris Kirk, +2, $53,743
T-44: Matt Wallace, v2, $53,743
T-44: Shane Lowry, +2, $53,743
T-44: Jhonattan Vegas, +2, $53,743
T-44: Denny McCarthy, +2, $53,743
T-44: Chandler Blachet, +2, $53,743
T-44: Taylor Pendrith, +2, $53,743
T-44: Dustin Johnson, +2, $53,743
T-44: Nicolai Hojgaard, +2, $53,743
T-44: Michael Kim, +2, $53,743
T-44: Kristoffer Reitan, +2, $53,743
T-55: Collin Morikawa, +3, $34,186
T-55: Corey Conners, +3, $34,186
T-55: Andrew Putnam, +3, $34,186
T-55: Brooks Koepka, +3, $34,186
T-55: Mikael Lindberg, +3, $34,186
T-60: Sami Valimaki, +4, $29,218
T-60: Sahith Theegala, +4, $29,218
T-60: Rico Hoey, +4, $29,218
T-60: Rickie Fowler, +4, $29,218
T-60: Brian Harman, +4, $29,218
T-65: Casey Jarvis, +6, $26,900
T-65: Jason Day, +6, $26,900
T-65: Rasmus Hojgaard, +6, $26,900
T-65: Keith Mitchell, +6, $26,900
T-65: Sam Stevens, +6, $26,900
T-70: Luke Donald, +7, $25,070
T-70: Ryan Gerard, +7, $25,070
T-70: John Parry, +7, $25,070
T-70: William Mouw, +7, $25,070
T-70: Kazuki Higa, +7, $25,070
T-75: Elvis Smylie, +8, $24,158
T-75: Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, +8, $24,158
T-75: Alex Fitzpatrick, +8, $24,158
T-75: Daniel Brown, +8, $24,158
79: John Keefer, +9, $23,970
80: Ben Kern, +10, $23,930
81: Michael Brennan, +11, $23,910
82: Brian Campebll, +18, $23,900
Players missing the cut and turning in a 36-hole score will be paid $4,300 each. Any player making the cut, but failing to submit a 72-hole score, will also be paid $4,300.
