AUGUSTA, Ga. — To win the Masters Tournament is to claim a piece of golf history. To win it back-to-back years, as Rory McIlroy accomplished on Sunday with a one-stroke victory over Scottie Schefler, is to venture into golf immortality.
The tangible rewards of victory are significant and humbling: your own green jacket, a place in the Champions Locker Room and an invitation to visit Augusta National each April for the rest of your life being the most well-known and perhaps the most coveted. And then there are the intangible benefits of saying you’re a Masters champion; you’ll be able to book speaking appearance for decades, dusting off Masters tales into perpetuity.
Not to be forgotten, though, is the financial benefit of winning at Augusta. Suffice it to say, the first-place prize money payout that goes to the Masters champion is significant and humbling.
It’s a fun fact we’ve written before that players don’t officially have any idea how much prize money their playing for at Augusta National before teeing off in the opening round. Typically, the club waits until after a 36-hole cut has been made before announcing anything formally.
That happened again this year, the Masters officially releasing the 2026 prize money payout on Saturday morning—and revealing a new record overall purse. The 54 players who made the cut are now playing for $22.5 million, a increase of $1.5 million from 2025, a $7.5 million jump from 2022 and a more than $11 million increase from 2021. That overall number now exceeds the $20 million purses offered in the PGA Tour’s signature events.
The Masters' increase now makes it the top paying men’s major championship, passing the U.S. Open, with the USGA giving out $21.5 million in prize money during last year’s championship at Oakmont. The PGA Championship bumped up its purse last year at Quail Hollow to $19 million while the Open Championship continued to pay $17 million in 2025. All the majors are currently outpaced by the Players Championship, which paid out $25 million in March with winner Cameron Young earning $4.5 million.
The evolution of the payday for a Masters champion is fascinating. Horton Smith made $1,500 when he won the first playing in 1934 compared to McIlroy's $4.2 million in 2025.
Below is the prize money payouts for everybody who made the cut in 2026 at Augusta National.
Win: Rory McIlroy, -12/276, $4.5 million
2: Scottie Scheffler, -11/277, $2.43 million
T-3: Tyrrell Hatton, -10/278, $1.08 million
T-3: Russell Henley, -10/278, $1.08 million
T-3: Justin Rose, -10/278, $1.08 million
T-3: Cameron Young, -10/278, $1.08 million
T-7: Collin Morikawa, -9/279 $725,625
T-7: Sam Burns, -9/279 $725,625
T-9: Xander Schauffele, -8/280, $630,000
T-9: Max Homa, -8/280, $630,000
11: Jake Knapp, -7/281, $562,500
T-12: Jordan Spieth, -5/283, $427,500
T-12: Brooks Koepka, -5/283, $427,500
T-12: Hideki Matsuyama, -5/283, $427,500
T-12: Patrick Reed, -5/283, $427,500
T-12: Patrick Cantlay, -5/283, $427,500
T-12: Jason Day, -5/283, $427,500
T-18: Viktor Hovland, -4/284, $315,000
T-18: Maverick McNealy, -4/284, $315,000
T-18: Matt Fitzpatrick, -4/284, $315,000
T-21: Keegan Bradley, -3/285, $252,000
T-21: Ludvig Aberg, -3/285, $252,000
T-21: Wyndham Clark, -3/285, $252,000
T-24: Matt McCarty, -2/286, $182,250
T-24: Adam Scott, -2/286, $182,250
T-24: Sam Stevens, -2/286, $182,250
T-24: Chris Gotterup, -2/286, $182,250
T-24: Michael Brennan, -2/286, $182,250
T-24: Brian Campbell, -2/286, $182,250
T-30: Alex Noren, -1/287, $146,250
T-30: Harris English, -1/287, $146,250
T-30: Shane Lowry, -1/287, $146,250
T-33: Gary Woodland, E/288, $121,500
T-33: Dustin Johnson, E/288, $121,500
T-33: Brian Harman, E/288, $121,500
T-33: Tommy Fleetwood, E/288, $121,500
T-33: Ben Griffin, E/288, $121,500
T-38: Jon Rahm, +1/289, $101,250
T-38: Ryan Gerard, +1/289, $101,250
T-38: Haotong Li, +1/289, $101,250
T-41: Justin Thomas, +2/290, $83,250
T-41: Sepp Straka, +2/290, $83,250
T-41: Jacob Bridgeman, +2/290, $83,250
T-41: Kristoffer Reitan, +2/290, $83,250
T-41: Nick Taylor, +2/290, $83,250
46: Sungjae Im, +3/291, $69,750
47: Si Woo Kim, +4/292, $65,250
48: Aaron Rai, +5/293, $61,650
T-49: Corey Conners, +6/294, $57,600
T-49: Marco Penge, +6/294, $57,600
51: Kurt Kitayama, +7/295, $55,350
52: Sergio Garcia, +8/296, $54,000
53: Rasmus Hojgaard, +10/298, $53,100
54: Charl Schwartzel, +12/300, $52,200
All professionals who did not qualify for the final 36 holes will receive $25,000.