There’s no sweeter deal in golf than playing the World Golf Championships. The three events in the United States are all lucrative no-cut affairs, meaning you’re guaranteed a hefty check no matter how bad you chop it up over the course of four days. Of course it’s difficult to qualify for the WGCs, which have some of the smaller and more exclusive fields of the season, but once you’re there, it’s basically free money and free world ranking points.
WGC Cadillac Championship purse: Winner earns massive $1.57 million payout at Doral
The WGC events boast some of the strongest fields in golf, and the enormous payouts guaranteed to every single player in this no-cut event are a big reason why.
Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Last season, only three tournaments had a bigger purse than the WGCs -- the British Open, The Players, and the PGA Championship. The WGC Match Play, Cadillac Championship, and Bridgestone Invitational all boasted $9 million purses, the same amount up for grabs at the Masters and U.S. Open. Here are the biggest purses from last year:
- Players Championship/PGA Championship -- winner took $1.8M of $10M purse
- Masters/U.S. Open -- winner took $1.62M of $9M purse
- 3 WGC events -- winner took $1.53M of $9M purse
Those majors and the Players, however, make you grind to make the cut or else you get nothing. We don’t have official amounts yet for how big the majors purses will be in 2015, but one can safely assume they will all be bumped up incrementally this year. The PGA and The Players, which started this arms race last year when they jointly announced they were making a big leap to $10 million, will likely stay the same amount.
This season, the WGC purses were bumped up another $250,000 for a total $9.25 million and a winner’s share of $1.57 million. The WGC-Cadillac Championship is the first one of the year, and as the leaders get on the back nine at Doral, it looks like we might have a back-to-back WGC winner.
Bubba Watson currently holds a two-shot lead over 54-hole leader J.B. Holmes. Bubba won the only WGC outside the USA back in November, the WGC-HSBC Champions event over in Shanghai. That purse was slightly smaller than the other three, but still awarded the winner $1.4 million. So Bubba has a chance to bag just under $3 million in his last two wins if he hangs on at Doral. Bubba’s current career earnings are $27,900,855, and a win on Sunday would bump his season total to $3,710,950. His other three starts this year have all been top 10 results with six-figure payouts, so he’s starting his 2014-15 wraparound season with some monster earnings.
A win for Holmes would be the biggest of his career, and also be his biggest payday. Holmes was bidding to go wire-to-wire after that ridiculous opening round 62 on Thursday. That score was 11.4 strokes better than the average that day and will definitely be the round of the year when it’s all done. Holmes has three wins on the PGA Tour, but a WGC title would be a different caliber of championship. Even if he ends up in second, it will still be one of the biggest paydays of his career. Barring no ties, the second-place finisher earns more than $900K.
Even if you come in last, and Hiroyuki Fujita finished a whopping 27-OVER, you’re still taking home more than $40k. That’s pretty good work for being really, really bad for four days. How about if you don’t even finish? Well, you’re still cashing out, as Thomas Bjorn did this week when he withdrew on Thursday.
Forget the race for DFL. Thomas Bjorn just yelled "PUT THE MONEY IN THE BAG" and walked off the course, collecting $42K.
— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) March 5, 2015 UPDATE: Well Bubba gave his lead away real quick on the back nine, and J.B. Holmes could not outgun his playing partner, Dustin Johnson. DJ gets his second WGC win and a PGA Tour victory for the eighth straight season. Here are the updated payout totals and results.
Place | Player | Score | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | 4th Round | Purse |
1 | Dustin Johnson | -9 | 68 | 73 | 69 | 69 | $1,570,000 |
2 | J.B. Holmes | -8 | 62 | 73 | 70 | 75 | $930,000 |
3 | Bubba Watson | -7 | 71 | 69 | 70 | 71 | $540,000 |
T4 | Adam Scott | -4 | 70 | 68 | 75 | 71 | $365,000 |
T4 | Henrik Stenson | -4 | 69 | 71 | 72 | 72 | $365,000 |
6 | Louis Oosthuizen | -3 | 71 | 74 | 67 | 73 | $270,000 |
T7 | Webb Simpson | -2 | 74 | 69 | 70 | 73 | $215,000 |
T7 | Bill Haas | -2 | 74 | 73 | 65 | 74 | $215,000 |
T9 | Kevin Na | -1 | 74 | 71 | 71 | 71 | $163,333 |
T9 | Rory McIlroy | -1 | 73 | 70 | 72 | 72 | $163,333 |
T9 | Ryan Moore | -1 | 66 | 71 | 74 | 76 | $163,333 |
T12 | Danny Willett | E | 73 | 76 | 71 | 68 | $123,000 |
T12 | Jim Furyk | E | 70 | 73 | 76 | 69 | $123,000 |
T12 | Rickie Fowler | E | 68 | 77 | 71 | 72 | $123,000 |
T12 | Ryan Palmer | E | 71 | 70 | 74 | 73 | $123,000 |
T12 | Lee Westwood | E | 71 | 72 | 70 | 75 | $123,000 |
T17 | Jordan Spieth | 1 | 75 | 69 | 73 | 72 | $97,500 |
T17 | Marc Warren | 1 | 73 | 75 | 69 | 72 | $97,500 |
T17 | Brandt Snedeker | 1 | 74 | 73 | 70 | 72 | $97,500 |
T17 | Brooks Koepka | 1 | 69 | 74 | 73 | 73 | $97,500 |
T17 | Morgan Hoffmann | 1 | 73 | 71 | 71 | 74 | $97,500 |
T17 | Shane Lowry | 1 | 71 | 74 | 70 | 74 | $97,500 |
T23 | Gary Woodland | 2 | 70 | 74 | 76 | 70 | $83,000 |
T23 | Hideki Matsuyama | 2 | 76 | 72 | 72 | 70 | $83,000 |
T23 | Thomas Aiken | 2 | 78 | 69 | 72 | 71 | $83,000 |
T23 | Matt Kuchar | 2 | 73 | 75 | 70 | 72 | $83,000 |
T23 | Ross Fisher | 2 | 78 | 71 | 69 | 72 | $83,000 |
T23 | Brendon Todd | 2 | 72 | 73 | 72 | 73 | $83,000 |
T23 | Mikko Ilonen | 2 | 78 | 72 | 67 | 73 | $83,000 |
T23 | Patrick Reed | 2 | 71 | 73 | 71 | 75 | $83,000 |
T31 | Jason Day | 3 | 76 | 74 | 70 | 71 | $72,000 |
T31 | Bernd Wiesberger | 3 | 74 | 74 | 71 | 72 | $72,000 |
T31 | Phil Mickelson | 3 | 74 | 74 | 71 | 72 | $72,000 |
T31 | Martin Kaymer | 3 | 71 | 76 | 71 | 73 | $72,000 |
T31 | John Senden | 3 | 73 | 70 | 74 | 74 | $72,000 |
T31 | Jimmy Walker | 3 | 71 | 76 | 70 | 74 | $72,000 |
T31 | Sergio Garcia | 3 | 73 | 69 | 71 | 78 | $72,000 |
T38 | Marcel Siem | 4 | 78 | 72 | 75 | 67 | $65,500 |
T38 | Keegan Bradley | 4 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 70 | $65,500 |
T38 | Alexander Levy | 4 | 68 | 73 | 79 | 72 | $65,500 |
T38 | Paul Casey | 4 | 75 | 73 | 72 | 72 | $65,500 |
T38 | Cameron Tringale | 4 | 73 | 74 | 72 | 73 | $65,500 |
T38 | Charley Hoffman | 4 | 70 | 74 | 72 | 76 | $65,500 |
T44 | Jamie Donaldson | 5 | 70 | 72 | 76 | 75 | $61,500 |
T44 | Charl Schwartzel | 5 | 71 | 72 | 75 | 75 | $61,500 |
T46 | Billy Horschel | 6 | 72 | 75 | 75 | 72 | $59,000 |
T46 | Joost Luiten | 6 | 79 | 69 | 73 | 73 | $59,000 |
T46 | Sang-Moon Bae | 6 | 75 | 71 | 73 | 75 | $59,000 |
T49 | Ian Poulter | 7 | 74 | 78 | 71 | 72 | $55,000 |
T49 | Zach Johnson | 7 | 76 | 73 | 73 | 73 | $55,000 |
T49 | Luke Donald | 7 | 72 | 76 | 74 | 73 | $55,000 |
T49 | Greg Chalmers | 7 | 77 | 72 | 73 | 73 | $55,000 |
T49 | Jason Dufner | 7 | 79 | 71 | 71 | 74 | $55,000 |
54 | Branden Grace | 8 | 75 | 74 | 72 | 75 | $52,000 |
55 | Justin Rose | 9 | 73 | 74 | 73 | 77 | $51,000 |
T56 | Chris Kirk | 10 | 76 | 77 | 73 | 72 | $48,000 |
T56 | Alexander Noren | 10 | 73 | 77 | 74 | 74 | $48,000 |
T56 | Robert Streb | 10 | 72 | 80 | 72 | 74 | $48,000 |
T56 | Graeme McDowell | 10 | 73 | 73 | 75 | 77 | $48,000 |
T56 | Russell Henley | 10 | 74 | 74 | 72 | 78 | $48,000 |
61 | Geoff Ogilvy | 11 | 74 | 76 | 74 | 75 | $45,500 |
T62 | Steven Jeffress | 12 | 75 | 74 | 78 | 73 | $44,750 |
T62 | David Lipsky | 12 | 74 | 73 | 76 | 77 | $44,750 |
T62 | Victor Dubuisson | 12 | 72 | 73 | 70 | 85 | $44,750 |
65 | Hunter Mahan | 14 | 75 | 79 | 74 | 74 | $44,250 |
T66 | Stephen Gallacher | 15 | 84 | 72 | 78 | 69 | $43,875 |
T66 | Danie van Tonder | 15 | 74 | 74 | 75 | 80 | $43,875 |
68 | Koumei Oda | 16 | 74 | 78 | 73 | 79 | $43,500 |
69 | Thongchai Jaidee | 17 | 80 | 73 | 76 | 76 | $43,250 |
70 | Gary Stal | 18 | 75 | 79 | 77 | 75 | $43,000 |
T71 | Anirban Lahiri | 19 | 80 | 76 | 74 | 77 | $42,625 |
T71 | Tommy Fleetwood | 19 | 77 | 77 | 73 | 80 | $42,625 |
73 | Hiroyuki Fujita | 27 | 75 | 83 | 78 | 79 | $42,250 |
See More:
