PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Pop quiz: Can you name the all-time leader in prize money earned at the Players Championship? And how much has this tour pro banked over the tournament’s five-plus decades?
The answer entering this week’s event at TPC Sawgrass was … drum roll please … Scottie Scheffler, who had taken home $9.2 million in prize money ($9,286,450 to be specific). After the week, he remains on top following a 22nd-place tie after earning $271,250.
But the championship was about who ended on top, and that was Cameron Young, who birdied the historic par-3 17th hole to hold on and top Matt Fitzpatrick by a shot to win the biggest title of his career. Young shot 68-67-72-68 to finish at 13-under total. Fitzpatrick bogeyed the 72nd hole to come up just short. Ludvig Aberg started the final round with a three-shot lead but hit balls into the water on both 11 and 12 to unravel. He tied for fifth place.
The overall purse for the 52nd Players was $25 million (the largest total on tour) with Young claiming an eye-popping $4.5 million first-place prize money payout.
By way of comparison, at the first playing of the Players in 1974, Jack Nicklaus claimed $50,000 for the victory from an overall purse of $250,000. That was the 54th of 73 PGA Tour titles Nicklaus won in his career, and the $50K payday matched the largest check the Golden Bear had earned in a tour event up to that point in in the then 34-year-old’s career. This year just making the cut earned at least $50K.
Nice work if you can get it.
Here’s how the prize money payout has grown over the years, including the exponential increases in the last decade, fueled in part by the rise of LIV Golf and the overall bump in PGA Tour paydays.
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
2022: $20 million/Cameron Smith, $3.6 million
2024: $25 million/Scottie Scheffler, $4.5 million
Here then is the prize money payout for each player who made the cut this week at TPC Sawgrass.
More Players Championship Preview stories
Win: Cameron Young, -13/275, $4.5 million
2: Matt Fitzpatrick, -12/276, $2.725 million
3: Xander Schauffele, -11/277, $1.725 million
4: Robert MacIntyre, -10/278, $1.225 million
T-5: Sudarshan Yellamaraju, -9/279, $925,000
T-5: Jacob Bridgeman, -9/279, $925,000
T-5: Ludvig Aberg, -9/279, $925,000
T-8: Tommy Fleetwood, -8/280, $731,250
T-8: Sepp Straka, -8/280, $731,250
T-8: Justin Thomas, -8/280, $731,250
Dom Furore / Golf Digest
Dom Furore / Golf Digest
Courtesy of TPC Sawgrass
Courtesy of TPC Sawgrass
Courtesy of TPC Sawgrass
T-11: Patrick Rodgers, -7/281, $606,250
T-11: Brian Harman, -7/281, $606,250
T-13: Sam Burns, -6/282, $409,027.78
T-13: Akshay Bhatia, -6/282, $409,027.78
T-13: Brooks Koepka, -6/282, $409,027.78
T-13: Ryo Hisatsune, -6/282, $409,027.78
T-13: Russell Henley, -6/282, $409,027.78
T-13: Justin Rose, -6/282, $409,027.78
T-13: Austin Smotherman, -6/282, $409,027.78
T-13: Corey Conners, -6/282, $409,027.78
T-13: Viktor Hovland, -6/282, $409,027.78
T-22: Scottie Scheffler, -5/283, $271,250
T-22: Michael Thorbjornsen, -5/283, $271,250
T-24: Alex Smalley, -4/284, $221,250
T-24: J.J. Spaun, -4/284, $221,250
T-24: William Mouw, -4/284, $221,250
T-27: Hideki Matsuyama, -3/285, $178,750
T-27: Nicolai Hojgaard, -3/285, $178,750
T-27: Chris Kirk, -3/285, $178,750
T-27: Ryan Gerard, -3/285, $178,750
T-27: Chad Ramey, -3/285, $178,750
T-32: Jordan Spieth, -2/286, $128,250
T-32: Eric Cole, -2/286, $128,250
T-32: Bud Cauley, -2/286, $128,250
T-32: Patrick Cantlay, -2/286, $128,250
T-32: Andrew Putnam, -2/286, $128,250
T-32: Alex Noren, -2/286, $128,250
T-32: Max Homa, -2/286, $128,250
T-32: Min Woo Lee, -2/286, $128,250
T-32: Maverick McNealy, -2/286, $128,250
T-32: Sahith Theegala, -2/286, $128,250
T-42: Rickie Fowler, -1/287, $91,250
T-42: Wyndham Clark, -1/287, $91,250
T-42: Nick Taylor, -1/287, $91,250
T-42: Joe Highsmith, -1/287, $91,250
T-46: Rory McIlroy, E/288, $72,125
T-46: Taylor Pendrith, E/288, $72,125
T-46: Matti Schmid, E/288, $72,125
T-46: Keith Mitchell, E/288, $72,125
T-50: J.T. Poston, +1/289, $61,083.33
T-50: Taylor Moore, +1/289, $61,083.33
T-50: Zach Banchou, +1/289, $61,083.33
T-50: Max McGreevy, +1/289, $61,083.33
T-50: Si Woo Kim, +1/289, $61,083.33
T-50: Keegan Bradley, +1/289, $61,083.33
T-56: Adam Scott, +2/290, $58,000
T-56: Chris Gotterup, +2/290, $58,000
58: Sam Stevens, +3/291, $57,250
T-59: Kevin Roy, +4/292, $56,250
T-59: Lee Hodges, +4/292, $56,250
T-59: Jason Day, +4/292, $56,250
T-62: Danny Walker, +5/293, $54,500
T-62: Steven Fisk, +5/293, $54,500
T-62: Rico Hoey, +5/293, $54,500
T-62: Stephan Jaeger, +5/293, $54,500
T-66: Kristoffer Reitan, +6/294, $52,750
T-66: Daniel Berger, +6/294, $52,750
T-66: Nico Echavarria, +6/294, $52,750
69: Michael Brennan, +7/295, $51,750
T-70: Ricky Castillo, +8/296, $50,750
T-70: Tony Finau, +8/296, $50,750
T-70: Seamus Power, +8/296, $50,750
73: Takumi Kanaya, +10/298, $49,750