The Open Championship Purse 2023: How Much Prize Money Does the Winner Make?

Brian Harman earned $3 million as the winner of The 151st Open Championship as part of a $16.5 million purse of prize money for the 2023 golf tournament, according to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, the British organization that oversees the tournament. The 2023 tournament is being played from July 18 to July 23 at Royal Liverpool.

R&A CEO Martin Slumbers said in a statement, according to Reuters, “Our aim is to ensure The Open remains at the pinnacle of world golf and we have almost doubled the prize fund since 2016. While we are seeing substantial increases in prize money across the men’s professional game, we are fulfilling our wider obligation to the sport by elevating the AIG Women’s Open, strengthening pathways in the elite amateur game and encouraging more people around the world to play golf.”

Slumbers added, “We believe that getting this balance right is vital to the long-term future of the sport.” The $3 million prize for the 2023 winner is an 18% increase from 2022, when Cameron Smith took home $2.5 million, according to Reuters.

Harman, entered the final round of play on July 23 with a five shot lead and finished six shots ahead at 13 under par. Jon Rahm, Tom Kim, Sepp Straka and Jason Day tied for second at 7 under, with Emiliano Grillo and Rory McIlroy one shot behind them in a tie for sixth at 6 under. Shubhankar Sharma and Cameron Young, both 5 under, and Max Homa, Matthew Jordan and Tommy Fleetwood, all 4 under, rounded out the top 10.

Entering the fourth round, Harman told ESPN about the potential of lifting the Claret Jug, “You’d be foolish not to envision [it], and I’ve thought about winning majors for my whole entire life. It’s the whole reason I work as hard as I do and why I practice as much as I do and why I sacrifice as much as I do. Tomorrow, if that’s going to come to fruition for me, it has to be all about the golf. It has to be execution and just staying in the moment.”

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The Open Championship 2023 Prize Purse

The R&A released the following purse distribution for the top 50 players in the 2023 tournament:

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

 

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The Open Championship Has the Lowest Prize Money Pool Out of the 4 Major Golf Tournaments

The Open Championship is the smallest prize pool out of the four major golf championships. The U.S. Open has the largest prize pool, with winner Wyndham Clark taking home a $3.6 million payout from a purse of $20 million.

The Masters winner Jon Rahm took home a $3.24 million check out of an $18 million purse in June 2023. PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka won $3.15 million out of a $17.5 million prize pool in May 2023.

Slumbers, the R&A CEO, told Golf Channel about the changing financial dynamics in golf, “I think the world has changed in the last year. It’s not just golf. You’re seeing it in football. You’re seeing it in F1. You’re seeing it in cricket. I’m sure tennis won’t be that far behind.”

Slumbers added, “The world of sport has changed dramatically in the last 12 months, and it is not feasible for the R&A or golf to just ignore what is a societal change on a global basis. We will be considering within all the parameters that we look at all the options that we have.”

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