Players Championship payout 2014: Winning share at TPC Sawgrass is $1.8 million of richest purse in golf

The Players Championship is the most lucrative golf tournament in the world, and this year’s purse is even deeper. At the end of 2013, both the PGA Tour and PGA of America announced that they were pushing the total pot to $10 million at their marquee events. So The Players no longer has the solo distinction of being the richest purse in golf, but it still shares the title with the season’s fourth major.

The $10M purse is a $500k increase from last year, when The Players was far and away the richest game on Tour. Tiger Woods banked $1.7 million last year, and the 2014 winner will take home $1.8 million. While The Players and the PGA lead the way, the richest purses are increasing all over the schedule. The Masters added $1M more this year to its prize money total, paying $1.62 million of its new $9 million purse out to Bubba Watson. The WGC events, the Match Play, Cadillac Championship at Doral and Bridgestone Invitational, also now have $9M purses, doling out $1.53M to their winners (last year, the WGC purses were larger than all four majors, and slightly less than The Players). All these huge payout increases, of course, are largely due to the one guy absent this week, defending Players champion Tiger Woods.

The Players and PGA Tour continually fight for status in the game as the “fifth major,” and dangling the most cash is a big part of its appeal. It plays into how The Players is able to draw the strongest field of the year, and adds to the annual importance of the stop at TPC Sawgrass. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem touted the purse when he made the announcement alongside PGA of America president Ted Bishop last fall, stating, “Also, I’d like to say that, you know, for years and years The Players Championship has been the No. 1 purse in golf. We like that designation. So I’m happy to announce that we will be at 10 million dollars, maybe 10 million dollars and one.”

As the leaders hit the back nine on Sunday, Martin Kaymer is in line for the first-place cash. It would be a wire-to-wire win for the lanky German, who opened on Thursday with a course record-matching round of 63. A bogey on the 18th on Saturday dropped him into a share of the lead, but he regained the advantage over Jordan Spieth in the final round and made the turn with a two-shot lead. Kaymer has won a major and hit a Ryder Cup-clinching putt, and now he’s in line to cash the biggest check in golf. He has almost $19 million in career earnings on the PGA Tour, but just $475k this season. We’re just a couple hours away from that total changing in a big way.

On top of that massive winner’s check, no other tournament hands out more six-figure checks, and if there’s no tie for second, this would be the first time the runner-up walks away with a seven-figure check. The top 23 players will all make six figures this week. Here are the complete payouts with Martin Kaymer hanging on for the win to claim the top prize: