Massive Open Championship purse increase announced for next week’s major at Royal Liverpool

Big money is pouring into the game of golf right now, with the pros on the PGA Tour reaping some serious paydays. While the Open Championship purse has lagged far behind the other majors and this year’s designated events, that’s all about to change.

On Wednesday, the R&A announced a massive Open Championship purse increase for next week’s event at Royal Liverpool. The total purse will jump an impressive 18% to $16.5 million.

This year’s winner, who will hoist the historic Claret Jug as the Champion Golfer of the Year, will receive an Open-record $3 million.

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The Open’s purse has seen enormous growth over the past few seasons. Last year’s champion Cameron Smith took home $2.5 million for his troubles, which was almost $500,000 more than Collin Morikawa earned for his victory in 2021. That comes out to nearly a 50% increase in the winner’s share at the Open in just two years.

And the winner isn’t the only one whose bank account will experience some major growth at Royal Liverpool.

The runner-up will receive $1,708,000, and third place will also break the seven-figure mark, earning $1,095,00. You have to go all the way down to 32nd for the winnings to drop below $100,000.

While the Open has made up some serious ground in the last two years, other events feature even bigger purses.

Wyndham Clark earned $3.6 million of the $20 million total purse at last month’s U.S. Open. Even Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open champion, earned more this year’s Open winner will get, an impressive $3.15 million. That’s the same figure Brooks Koepka made for his 2023 PGA Championship victory.

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At the 2023 Masters in April, Jon Rahm took home $3.24 million out of the $18 million purse.

The PGA Tour’s many designated events this season topped most of the majors in terms of prize money, with $20 million purses and $3.6 million winner’s shares.

But far and away the largest purse on the PGA Tour for years has been found at the Players Championship. The 2022 Players was the first tournament in which the winner’s share surpassed $3 million. But this year’s Players Championship broke records yet again, with winner Scottie Scheffler getting a whopping $4.5 million out of a $25 million purse.

The 2023 Open Championship begins next Thursday, July 20, at historic Royal Liverpool in England. You can check out the complete purse and payout breakdown below.

2023 Open Championship purse

1 – $3,000,000
2 – $1,708,000
3 – $1,095,000
4 – $851,000
5 – $684,500
6 – $593,000
7 – $509,500
8 – $429,700
9 – $377,000
10 – $340,500
11 – $310,000
12 – $274,700
13 – $258,300
14 – $241,800
15 – $224,800
16 – $206,600
17 – $196,600
18 – $187,500
19 – $179,600
20 – $171,100
21 – $163,100
22 – $155,000
23 – $146,700
24 – $138,500
25 – $133,800
26 – $128,000
27 – $123,300
28 – $119,100
29 – $113,900
30 – $108,000
31 – $104,500
32 – $99,200
33 – $95,700
34 – $93,000
35 – $89,800
36 – $86,200
37 – $82,200
38 – $78,000
39 – $75,200
40 – $72,800
41 – $69,800
42 – $66,400
43 – $63,400
44 – $59,800
45 – $56,400
46 – $53,400
47 – $51,300
48 – $49,300
49 – $47,000
50 – $45,900
51 – $44,900
52 – $44,100
53 – $43,400
54 – $42,800
55 – $42,100
56 – $41,500
57 – $41,100
58 – $40,800
59 – $40,500
60 – $40,200
61 – $40,000
62 – $39,800
63 – $39,600
64 – $39,400
65 – $39,200
66 – $38,900
67 – $38,600
68 – $38,300
69 – $38,000
70 – $37,800

Kevin Cunningham

Golf.com Editor

As managing producer for GOLF.com, Cunningham edits, writes and publishes stories on GOLF.com, and manages the brand’s e-newsletters, which reach more than 1.4 million subscribers each month. A former two-time intern, he also helps keep GOLF.com humming outside the news-breaking stories and service content provided by our reporters and writers, and works with the tech team in the development of new products and innovative ways to deliver an engaging site to our audience.