Payday at Bay Hill
Here's the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational
Michael Cohen/R&A
Barely into Year 1 of the designated event era, the PGA Tour is making a significant shift in the structure of these big-money tournaments that will play out in Year 2. On Wednesday, commissioner Jay Monahan notified players that the Policy Board had approved changes in the “designated events” model. Come 2024, the majority of these tournaments will be played with reduced fields of roughly 70 to 80 players and without a 36-hole cut.
While that’s what PGA Tour pros have to look forward to next season, at this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational it was business as usual—or as usual as can be for those still adjusting to the launch of these $20 million events in the first place. Yet for the fourth time in four tries, golf fans were treated to an incredibly entertaining final round with several top-ranked players in the mix—just the way the tour had hoped these designated events would play out.
But when the dust settled, it was a first-time winner Kurt Kitayama who was the champion, outlasting a leaderboard that included Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler, Harris English, Patrick Cantlay and Tyrrell Hatton. A closing even-par 72 (including a triple bogey on the ninth hole) was good enough to give the 30-year-old Chico, Calif., native a nine under total as Bay Hill Club & Lodge provided a “major-championship” caliber test on Sunday.
As was the case at the WM Phoenix Open and Genesis Invitational, a $20 million purse was up for grabs at the API, with Kitayama claiming the first-place prize money payout of $3.6 million. (His career earnings on the PGA Tour before this week was $4.19 million.)
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So here’s the part where we try to give context to how crazy large these prize money payouts are. Arnold Palmer, the legendary host of this week’s event who passed away in 2016, of course had one of the greatest careers of all time on the PGA Tour. In 50 years playing professionally on the PGA Tour, he made 726 tournament starts and played a total of 2,553 rounds. He won 62 tour titles, fifth most in tour history, while finishing second or third 38 and 27 times, respectively. For those celebrated efforts, the seven-time major champion’s career earnings totaled … $1,861,857.
Here’s the breakdown for the prize money each golfer who made the cut will earn this week. Come back shortly after the conclusion of the tournament on Sunday and we’ll update this list with individual names and money earned.
Win: Kurt Kitayama, 279/-9, $3,600,000
T-2: Harris English, 280/-8, $1,780,000
T-2: Rory McIlroy, 280/-8, $1,780,000
T-4: Patrick Cantlay, 281/-7, $800,000
T-4: Tyrrell Hatton, 281/-7, $800,000
T-4: Scottie Scheffler, 281/-7, $800,000
T-4: Jordan Spieth, 281/-7, $800,000
T-8: Trey Mullinax, 282/-6, $605,000
T-8: Davis Riley, 282/-6, $605,000
T-10: Keegan Bradley, 283/-5, $485,000
T-10: Jason Day, 283/-5, $485,000
T-10: Viktor Hovland, 283/-5, $485,000
T-10: Cameron Young, 283/-5, $485,000
T-14: Pierceson Coody, 284/-4, $325,000
T-14: Matt Fitzpatrick, 284/-4, $325,000
T-14: Ryan Fox, 284/-4, $325,000
T-14: Ben Griffin, 284/-4, $325,000
T-14: Max Homa, 284/-4, $325,000
T-14: Francesco Molinari, 284/-4, $325,000
T-14: Sahith Theegala, 284/-4, $325,000
T-21: Sungjae Im, 285/-3, $226,333.34
T-21: Corey Conners, 285/-3, $226,333.33
T-21: Justin Thomas, 285/-3, $226,333.33
T-24: Thomas Detry, 286/-2, $163,000
T-24: Tony Finau, 286/-2, $163,000
T-24: Keith Mitchell, 286/-2, $163,000
T-24: Webb Simpson, 286/-2, $163,000
T-24: Justin Suh, 286/-2, $163,000
T-24: Adam Svensson, 286/-2, $163,000
T-24: Ludvig Aberg - a, 286/-2, Amateur
T-31: Rickie Fowler, 287/-1, $131,000
T-31: Adam Schenk, 287/-1, $131,000
T-31: Adam Scott, 287/-1, $131,000
T-34: Aaron Baddeley, 288/E, $109,000
T-34: Wyndham Clark, 288/E, $109,000
T-34: Tom Kim, 288/E, $109,000
T-34: Andrew Putnam, 288/E, $109,000
T-34: Danny Willett, 288/E, $109,000
T-39: Si Woo Kim, 289/+1, $70,028.58
T-39: Brendon Todd, 289/+1, $70,028.58
T-39: Luke Donald, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: Emiliano Grillo, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: S.H. Kim, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: Chris Kirk, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: Martin Laird, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: Taylor Montgomery, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: Taylor Moore, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: Matthew NeSmith, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: Jon Rahm, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: Xander Schauffele, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: Robby Shelton, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-39: Kyle Westmoreland, 289/+1, $70,028.57
T-53: Padraig Harrington, 290/+2, $46,950
T-53: Russell Henley, 290/+2, $46,950
T-53: K.H. Lee, 290/+2, $46,950
T-53: Ryan Palmer, 290/+2, $46,950
T-53: Aaron Rai, 290/+2, $46,950
T-53: Ben Taylor, 290/+2, $46,950
T-53: Davis Thompson, 290/+2, $46,950
T-53: Will Zalatoris, 290/+2, $46,950
T-61: Tommy Fleetwood, 291/+3, $44,400
T-61: Mackenzie Hughes, 291/+3, $44,400
T-61: Alex Noren, 291/+3, $44,400
T-61: Greyson Sigg, 291/+3, $44,400
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T-65: Cole Hammer, 292/+4, $43,200
T-65: David Lipsky, 292/+4, $43,200
67: Shane Lowry, 293/+5, $42,600
T-68: Zach Johnson, 296/+8, $42,000
T-68: Greg Koch, 296/+8, $42,000
T-70: Will Gordon, 298/+10, $41,200
T-70: David Lingmerth, 298/+10, $41,200
72: Seamus Power, 300/+12, $40,600