Players Championship money: J.J. Spaun lost huge amount in Monday playoff

A massive amount of Players Championship money was up for grabs during Monday’s playoff at the 2025 Players Championship. As the loser, J.J. Spaun nearly lost as much money as he won. Here’s what you need to know about the ramifications of the playoff.

How much money Rory McIlroy won on Monday

The Players Championship has the biggest purse in golf, with $25 million total on the line during tournament week. The winner, of course, gets by far the largest share.

This year’s winner was Rory McIlroy. By coming out on top of the three-hole Monday playoff, McIlroy walked away with $4.5 million. The story was not as good for Spaun, depending on how you look at it.

Though he lost on Monday, Spaun still walked away with $2.725 million. That’s a much larger amount than most other tournaments offer for second place. In fact, it’s almost double what winners of regular PGA Tour events get. It’s also Spaun’s biggest PGA Tour paycheck to date.

How much money J.J. Spaun lost on Monday

While Spaun will no doubt be happy to see that amount drop into his bank account, it will hurt to know how much he lost. By losing the three-hole aggregate playoff to McIlroy, Spaun missed out on an extra $1.775 million, or $591,667 per hole.

For perspective, that amount is more than Joe Highsmith earned for winning the 2025 Cognizant Classic at the Palm Beaches a few weeks ago ($1.656 million).

It’s also more than Spaun took home for his only PGA Tour victory, the 2022 Valero Texas Open. That week he earned $1.548 million.

Players Championship purse (2025)

1st: $4,500,000
2nd: $2,725,000
3rd: $1,725,000
4th: $1,225,000
5th: $1,025,000
6th: $906,250
7th: $843,750
8th: $781,250
9th: $731,250
10th: $681,250
11th: $631,250
12th: $581,250
13th: $531,250
14th: $481,250
15th: $456,250
16th: $431,250
17th: $406,250
18th: $381,250
19th: $356,250
20th: $331,250
21st: $306,250
22nd: $281,250
23rd: $261,250
24th: $241,250
25th: $221,250
26th: $201,250
27th: $193,750
28th: $186,250
29th: $178,750
30th: $171,250
31st: $163,750
32nd: $156,250
33rd: $148,750
34th: $142,500
35th: $136,250
36th: $130,000
37th: $123,750
38th: $118,750
39th: $113,750
40th: $108,750
41st: $103,750
42nd: $98,750
43rd: $93,750
44th: $88,750
45th: $83,750
46th: $78,750
47th: $73,750
48th: $69,750
49th: $66,250
50th: $64,250
51st: $62,750
52nd: $61,250
53rd: $60,250
54th: $59,250
55th: $58,750
56th: $58,250
57th: $57,750
58th: $57,250
59th: $56,750
60th: $56,250
61st: $55,750
62nd: $55,250
63rd: $54,750
64th: $54,250
65th: $53,750
66th: $53,250
67th: $52,750
68th: $52,250
69th: $51,750
70th: $51,250
71st: $50,750
72nd: $50,250