Jordan Spieth won the 146th Open Championship on Sunday at Royal Birkdale. In addition to the Claret Jug and a place in the history books, he’ll get $1.845 million. That’s out of a total championship purse of $10.25 million.
2017 British Open payout: Jordan Spieth wins $1.845 million of more than $10 million purse
He gets a lot more than the Claret Jug.
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
For the first time ever, tournament organizer The R&A is delivering its payouts in American dollars. It’s a big change, but it makes sense for the tournament that bills itself as the most international one in golf.
“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,” chief executive Martin Slumbers says.
The British pound has lost lots of value over the last year, and that also might have something to do with the change. A payout in that currency this year would’ve been worth less than previously, and that wouldn’t be a great look for the R&A.
Golf championships have been in a battle for years to out-purse each other, with the notion being that a higher purse means a more prestigious tournament. Non-majors like The Players Championship have worked their way into higher and higher payouts overtime, all so they can have a seat at the table with the biggest and best events.
At The Open, as at most tournaments, the difference in payout between leaderboard slots is most dramatic at the top. The winner gets more than $800,000 more than the runner-up, but the difference between the last few golfers to make the cut is just $200. (There’s a slightly higher difference in the slots above that.)
Wherever two players tie, the average of their slots’ payouts goes to each of them. The full payout structure for the top 70 professional finishers looks like this:
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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