Payday at Southern Hills
PGA Championship 2022: Here's the record-breaking prize money payout for each golfer at Southern Hills
Andrew Redington
TULSA — The PGA Championship already sports the biggest trophy of the four men’s majors—the Wanamaker stands nearly 2½ feet tall and weighs 34 pounds. Now it shares the honor for the biggest prize money payout in major championship golf.
On Saturday, the PGA of America announced it was bumping its purse for the championship to $15 million, an increase of $3 million from a year ago at Kiawah Island and $4 million more than it doled out at Harding Park in 2020.
Along with the Wanamaker, Justin Thomas, the playoff winner over Will Zalatoris on Sunday at Southern Hills is taking home a first-place check of $2.7 million. A year ago, Phil Mickelson banked $2.16 million for his victory.
With the boost in pay, the PGA Championship matches the Masters in terms of biggest major paydays. This past April, Augusta National increased its prize money payout from $11.5 million to $15 million.
It’s not so coincidental that these two events would make such substantial moves with their prize money payouts. Much has been made of late about how much is being made by professional golfers. Discussion around prize money payouts have helping fuel potential rival leagues to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. In turn, PGA Tour officials have countered by upping their antes, boosting the overall prize money payouts on tour from $367 million to $427 million.
The question now is will the USGA and R&A follow along and boost their purses, too? The U.S. Open handed out $12.5 million at Torrey Pines last June, with Jon Rahm earning $2.25 million for his victory. The PGA Championship paid out $12 million in May at Kiawah Island with Phil Mickelson receiving $2.16 million. The Open Championship awarded $11.5 million in 2021 at Royal St. George’s.
Interestingly, the largest payday in men’s golf doesn’t come at a major. The Players Championship on the PGA Tour has a prize money payout of $20 million with Cameron Smith winning $3.6 million for his victory in March.
The evolution of the prize money payout in the PGA Championship offers an interesting look at the trajectory of golf purses in general over the years. Suffice it to say, when Tiger Woods entered the mix in the 1990s, it did much to help bring new fans (and new sponsors) to professional golf. The payouts from the PGA of America went up exponentially after his arrival in pro golf, as you can see from the information below. Here's a look at what the payouts had been in the past.
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, $11,000,000
2021: $2,160,000, $12,000,000
2022: $2,700,000, $15,000,000
Here is a breakdown of the prize money payouts for each place in the field. (We’ll update this on Sunday when we know what each player specifically earned for his efforts at Southern Hills.)
Win: Justin Thomas, -5, $2,700,000
P-2: Will Zalatoris, -5, $1,620,000
T-3: Mito Pereira, 276/+-4, $870,000.00
T-3: Cameron Young, 276/+-4, $870,000.00
T-5: Matt Fitzpatrick, 277/+-3, $530,416.67
T-5: Tommy Fleetwood, 277/+-3, $530,416.67
T-5: Chris Kirk, 277/+-3, $530,416.67
8: Rory McIlroy, 278/+-2, $436,600.00
T-9: Abraham Ancer, 279/+-1, $357,812.50
T-9: Tom Hoge, 279/+-1, $357,812.50
T-9: Seamus Power, 279/+-1, $357,812.50
T-9: Brendan Steele, 279/+-1, $357,812.50
T-13: Tyrrell Hatton, 280/+E, $253,750.00
T-13: Lucas Herbert, 280/+E, $253,750.00
T-13: Max Homa, 280/+E, $253,750.00
T-13: Davis Riley, 280/+E, $253,750.00
T-13: Justin Rose, 280/+E, $253,750.00
T-13: Xander Schauffele, 280/+E, $253,750.00
T-13: Cameron Smith, 280/+E, $253,750.00
T-20: Sam Burns, 281/+1, $191,250.00
T-20: Talor Gooch, 281/+1, $191,250.00
T-20: Webb Simpson, 281/+1, $191,250.00
T-23: Stewart Cink, 282/+2, $129,767.86
T-23: Rickie Fowler, 282/+2, $129,767.86
T-23: Lucas Glover, 282/+2, $129,767.86
T-23: Shane Lowry, 282/+2, $129,767.86
T-23: Kevin Na, 282/+2, $129,767.86
T-23: Joaquin Niemann, 282/+2, $129,767.86
T-23: Aaron Wise, 282/+2, $129,767.86
T-30: Adri Arnaus, 283/+3, $83,750.00
T-30: Tony Finau, 283/+3, $83,750.00
T-30: Bubba Watson, 283/+3, $83,750.00
T-30: Bernd Wiesberger, 283/+3, $83,750.00
T-34: Brian Harman, 284/+4, $61,607.14
T-34: Matt Kuchar, 284/+4, $61,607.14
T-34: Marc Leishman, 284/+4, $61,607.14
T-34: Keith Mitchell, 284/+4, $61,607.14
T-34: Patrick Reed, 284/+4, $61,607.14
T-34: Jordan Spieth, 284/+4, $61,607.14
T-34: Gary Woodland, 284/+4, $61,607.14
T-41: Viktor Hovland, 285/+5, $43,839.29
T-41: K.H. Lee, 285/+5, $43,839.29
T-41: Luke List, 285/+5, $43,839.29
T-41: Troy Merritt, 285/+5, $43,839.29
T-41: Adam Schenk, 285/+5, $43,839.29
T-41: Kevin Streelman, 285/+5, $43,839.29
T-41: Cameron Tringale, 285/+5, $43,839.29
T-48: Keegan Bradley, 286/+6, $32,145.83
T-48: Laurie Canter, 286/+6, $32,145.83
T-48: Cam Davis, 286/+6, $32,145.83
T-48: Denny McCarthy, 286/+6, $32,145.83
T-48: Jon Rahm, 286/+6, $32,145.83
T-48: Harold Varner III, 286/+6, $32,145.83
54: Ryan Fox, 287/+7, $29,250.00
T-55: Jason Day, 288/+8, $27,925.00
T-55: Brooks Koepka, 288/+8, $27,925.00
T-55: Francesco Molinari, 288/+8, $27,925.00
T-55: Collin Morikawa, 288/+8, $27,925.00
T-55: Sebastián Muñoz, 288/+8, $27,925.00
T-60: Lanto Griffin, 289/+9, $26,125.00
T-60: Russell Henley, 289/+9, $26,125.00
T-60: Rikuya Hoshino, 289/+9, $26,125.00
T-60: Si Woo Kim, 289/+9, $26,125.00
T-60: Jason Kokrak, 289/+9, $26,125.00
T-60: Hideki Matsuyama, 289/+9, $26,125.00
T-60: Louis Oosthuizen, 289/+9, $26,125.00
T-60: Charl Schwartzel, 289/+9, $26,125.00
68: Billy Horschel, 290/+10, $25,000.00
T-69: Kramer Hickok, 291/+11, $24,625.00
T-69: Beau Hossler, 291/+11, $24,625.00
T-71: Adam Hadwin, 292/+12, $24,250.00
T-71: Justin Harding, 292/+12, $24,250.00
T-71: Shaun Norris, 292/+12, $24,250.00
T-71: Thomas Pieters, 292/+12, $24,250.00
T-75: Patton Kizzire, 295/+15, $23,950.00
T-75: Maverick McNealy, 295/+15, $23,950.00
77: Robert MacIntyre, 297/+17, $23,800.00
78: Sepp Straka, 298/+18, $23,700.00
MORE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE FROM GOLF DIGEST