The golfer who wins The Open Championship on Sunday at Royal Birkdale will get the Claret Jug. He’ll also take home $1.845 million in prize money out of a total purse of $10.25 million. That payout will come in American dollars for the first time ever.
British Open purse 2017: Winner’s payout is $1.845 million in prize money
The total purse is $10.25 million.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
“We are operating in an increasingly global marketplace and have made the decision to award the prize fund in US dollars in recognition of the fact that it is the most widely adopted currency for prize money in golf,” R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said. He didn’t mention that the British pound is down considerably from last summer.
The $10.25 million total purse makes The Open the second-most lucrative event in golf behind the U.S. Open, which this year leapt to a $12 million total. For The Open, it’s a considerable jump from last year’s purse of $8.5 million at Royal Troon.
Golf’s biggest tournaments have engaged in an arms race for the last few years, with virtually all of them raising their purses in an effort to stay prestigious. The Open doesn’t need to pay a ton to be a huge deal, because it’s historic and the most international tournament the sport has. But some extra cash doesn’t hurt, and neither does paying it out to the players in American dollars.
The differences in prize money, as in most tournaments, are sharpest at the top of the leaderboard. The gap between the winner and the runner-up is $778,000, and it gets progressively tighter from there. The difference between Nos. 69 and 70 on the leaderboard is a just slightly more mild $200.
When players are tied in a given spot on the leaderboard, the payouts for their respective places are averaged and evenly distributed among them. Amateurs, of course, are excluded from the payroll. Here’s how the prize money breaks down for the top 70 professional finishers at the at Royal Birkdale:
1. $1,845,000
2. $1,067,000
3. $684,000
4. $532,000
5. $428,000
6. $371,000
7. $318,000
8. $268,000
9. $235,000
10. $213,000
11. $193,000
12. $172,000
13. $161,000
14. $151,000
15. $141,000
16. $129,500
17. $123,000
18. $117,000
19. $112,000
20. $107,000
21. $102,000
22. $97,000
23. $92,000
24. $87,000
25. $84,000
26. $80,000
27. $77,000
28. $74,000
29. $71,000
30. $68,000
31. $65,500
32. $62,000
33. $60,000
34. $58,000
35. $56,000
36. $53,500
37. $51,000
38. $49,000
39. $47,000
40. $45,500
41. $43,500
42. $41,500
43. $39,500
44. $37,500
45. $35,500
46. $33,500
47. $32,000
48. $30,800
49. $29,500
50. $28,900
51. $28,200
52. $27,600
53. $27,200
54. $26,800
55. $26,400
56. $26,000
57. $25,600
58. $25,500
59. $25,400
60. $25,200
61. $25,000
62. $24,900
63. $24,800
64. $24,700
65. $24,500
66. $24,400
67. $24,200
68. $24,000
69. $23,800
70. $23,600
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