The Players Championship is set to begin on Thursday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, as the PGA Tour’s Florida swing rolls along. It has one of the best fields in all of professional golf, and the Players Championship purse is now THE biggest that professional golf has ever seen for a single tournament.
Earlier this year, the Tour announced that the Players Championship purse would be increased by 13.6 percent from $11 million to $12.5 million. As a result, the winner will be taking home $2.25 million for coming out on top at the Stadium Course. Last year’s champion, Webb Simpson, took home $1.98 million for winning at TPC Sawgrass.
So yes, the Players Championship purse is larger than any of the four majors’ prize money. The Open Championship’s purse is set at $10.5 million, the Masters and PGA Championship are both at $11 million, and the U.S. Open tops the group at $12 million.
Each major will have its own opportunity to raise the stakes later this year, but they typically don’t announce purse sizes until much closer to their week on the schedule.
But until then, the Players will have the distinction of possessing the largest prize money of any event on the PGA Tour.
