A huge payday awaits at the 150th playing of the Open Championship next week

July 8, 2022

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The Champion Golfer of the Year is going to get richer.

Much, much richer.

The R&A announced Friday the winner of next week’s 150^th playing of the Open Championship, to be conducted on the Old Course in St. Andrews, will take home the largest first-place check in tournament history along with the Claret Jug.

The payday? $2.5 million.

The total purse will be $14 million, a 22 percent increase on 2021 and a 60 percent increase on 2016.

“There have been significant changes in prize money over the last year. We have made this substantial investment while balancing our wider commitments to developing golf at all levels around the world and to continuing to elevate the AIG Women’s Open,” said Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A.

The bump in the purse – whether influenced by LIV Golf, the Saudi Arabia-backed league doling out huge purses – continues a trend in some of the game’s biggest tournaments.

Matthew Fitzpatrick won a record $3.15 million for winning the U.S. Open at The Country Club. The purse was $17.5 million, up $5 million from the year before.

Justin Thomas earned a record $2.7 million with his playoff victory against Will Zalatoris in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills. The total purse was $15 million, up $3 million from 2021.

The Masters bumped its purse by $3.5 million to $15 million. And Cameron Smith won a record $3.6 million of the record $20 million purse in The Players Championship at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

Prize money

Place	USD	Place	USD
1	$2,500,000	36	$73,500
2	$1,455,000	37	$70,000
3	$933,000	38	$66,500
4	$725,000	39	$64,000
5	$583,000	40	$62,000
6	$505,000	41	$59,500
7	$434,000	42	$56,500
8	$366,000	43	$54,000
9	$321,000	44	$51,000
10	$290,000	45	$48,000
11	$264,000	46	$45,500
12	$234,000	47	$43,700
13	$220,000	48	$42,000
14	$206,000	49	$40,000
15	$191,500	50	$39,100
16	$176,000	51	$38,200
17	$167,500	52	$37,600
18	$159,750	53	$37,000
19	$153,000	54	$36,500
20	$145,750	55	$35,900
21	$139,000	56	$35,400
22	$132,000	57	$35,000
23	$125,000	58	$34,750
24	$118,000	59	$34,500
25	$114,000	60	$34,250
26	$109,000	61	$34,000
27	$105,000	62	$33,900
28	$101,500	63	$33,750
29	$97,000	64	$33,600
30	$92,000	65	$33,400
31	$89,000	66	$33,100
32	$84,500	67	$32,900
33	$81,500	68	$32,600
34	$79,250	69	$32,400
35	$76,500	70	$32,200