You could accuse officials at the PGA Tour of being like a crazy eBay user unable to keep from outbidding themselves when it comes to the purse at the Players Championship. The tour’s flagship tournament had laid claim to the most lucrative overall purse in professional golf starting in 2019 when Rory McIlroy won $US2.25 million for his one-stroke win over Jim Furyk from an overall prize money payout of $12.5 million. The USGA matched that with its US Open purse later that year, only to watch the tour up the ante at TPC Sawgrass to a purse of $15 million and a $2.7 million prize money payout for the winner starting in 2020.
Ahead of this year’s Players, the PGA Tour without prompting has one-upped itself again, increasing the overall purse by 33 percent to $US20 million while handing out to the winner a first-place prize of $US3.6 million ($5 million!). (Mind you, eventual champion Cameron Smith certainly had to earn it this week with the tournament spilling into Monday and the general craziness of the entire event.)
Just how big a payday is this? Here is the most recent prizemoney payout from the other three Majors:
Masters: $11.5 million/$2.070 million
PGA Championship: $12 million/ $2.16 million
US Open: $12.5 million/$2.25 million
Open Championship: $11.5 million/$2.070
Put another way, you can finish in foruth place this week at TPC Sawgrass and nearly make $US1 million. Or how about this: You can finish 25th or better and make more money in one tournament than Arnold Palmer made in his winningest single season on the PGA Tour ($162,896 in 1971).
It’s impressive, too, when you consider the evolution of the Players prizemoney payout since the tournament’s inception in 1974.
Year: Total Purse/First place
1974: $250,000/Jack Nicklaus, $50,000
1982: $500,000/Jerry Pate, $90,000
1987: $1 million/Sandy Lyle, $180,000
1993: $2.5 million/Nick Price, $450,000
2000: $6 million/Hal Sutton, $1.08 million
2007: $9 million/Phil Mickelson, $1.62 million
2014: $10 million/Martin Kaymer, $1.8 million
2018: $11 million/Webb Simpson, $1.89 million
2019: $12.5 million/Rory McIlroy, $2.25 million
2021: $15 million/Justin Thomas, $2.7 million
The payday at TPC Sawgrass also now exceeds the previous biggest first-place cheque in pro golf, which had been the $3 million given to the winner of the DP World Tour Championship on the DP World Tour.
Here is the prizemoney payout for any golfer making the cut this week at TPC Sawgrass.
[All figures in US dollars]
Win: Cameron Smith, -13, $3,600,000
2: Anirban Lahiri, -12, $2,180,000
3: Paul Casey, -10, $1,380,000
4: Kevin Kisner, -9, $980,000
5: Keegan Bradley, -8, $820,000
T-6: Doug Ghim, 280/-8, $675,000
T-6: Russell Knox, 280/-8, $675,000
T-6: Harold Varner III, 280/-8, $675,000
T-9: Adam Hadwin, 281/-7, $525,000
T-9: Viktor Hovland, 281/-7, $525,000
T-9: Dustin Johnson, 281/-7, $525,000
T-9: Sepp Straka, 281/-7, $525,000
T-13: Russell Henley, 282/-6, $327,222.23
T-13: Taylor Pendrith, 282/-6, $327,222.23
T-13: Daniel Berger, 282/-6, $327,222.22
T-13: Tyrrell Hatton, 282/-6, $327,222.22
T-13: Max Homa, 282/-6, $327,222.22
T-13: Shane Lowry, 282/-6, $327,222.22
T-13: Keith Mitchell, 282/-6, $327,222.22
T-13: Brendan Steele, 282/-6, $327,222.22
T-13: Erik van Rooyen, 282/-6, $327,222.22
T-22: Tommy Fleetwood, 283/-5, $201,000
T-22: Patton Kizzire, 283/-5, $201,000
T-22: Joaquin Niemann, 283/-5, $201,000
T-22: Kevin Streelman, 283/-5, $201,000
T-26: Sam Burns, 284/-4, $143,000
T-26: Corey Conners, 284/-4, $143,000
T-26: Sergio Garcia, 284/-4, $143,000
T-26: Alex Noren, 284/-4, $143,000
T-26: Doc Redman, 284/-4, $143,000
T-26: Patrick Reed, 284/-4, $143,000
T-26: Will Zalatoris, 284/-4, $143,000
T-33: Abraham Ancer, 285/-3, $100,111.12
T-33: Joel Dahmen, 285/-3, $100,111.11
T-33: Tom Hoge, 285/-3, $100,111.11
T-33: Rory McIlroy, 285/-3, $100,111.11
T-33: Sebastián Muñoz, 285/-3, $100,111.11
T-33: Pat Perez, 285/-3, $100,111.11
T-33: Ian Poulter, 285/-3, $100,111.11
T-33: Seamus Power, 285/-3, $100,111.11
T-33: Justin Thomas, 285/-3, $100,111.11
T-42: Kramer Hickok, 286/-2, $73,000
T-42: Francesco Molinari, 286/-2, $73,000
T-42: Louis Oosthuizen, 286/-2, $73,000
T-42: Scott Stallings, 286/-2, $73,000
T-46: Adam Long, 287/-1, $57,700
T-46: Peter Malnati, 287/-1, $57,700
T-46: Maverick McNealy, 287/-1, $57,700
T-46: Troy Merritt, 287/-1, $57,700
T-50: Dylan Frittelli, 288/E, $50,200
T-50: Brice Garnett, 288/E, $50,200
T-50: Aaron Wise, 288/E, $50,200
T-53: Branden Grace, 289/+1, $47,800
T-53: Jason Kokrak, 289/+1, $47,800
T-55: Sungjae Im, 290/+2, $46,200
T-55: K.H. Lee, 290/+2, $46,200
T-55: Jon Rahm, 290/+2, $46,200
T-55: Scottie Scheffler, 290/+2, $46,200
T-55: Jimmy Walker, 290/+2, $46,200
T-60: Denny McCarthy, 291/+3, $44,600
T-60: Sam Ryder, 291/+3, $44,600
T-60: Michael Thompson, 291/+3, $44,600
T-63: Chesson Hadley, 292/+4, $43,400
T-63: Brian Harman, 292/+4, $43,400
T-63: Hank Lebioda, 292/+4, $43,400
T-66: Hayden Buckley, 293/+5, $42,400
T-68: Lucas Herbert, 295/+7, $41,600
T-68: Bubba Watson, 295/+7, $41,600
70: Lee Hodges, 297/+9, $41,000
[IMAGE: Getty Images]
