Television ratings may be down, and Tiger Woods is not around, but golf, from a money measurement, has never been healthier. It’s a money bath every week on the PGA Tour. The purses at the majors keep going up and up every year as those four events continue their never-ending arms race. Even the lowest-tier events on the PGA Tour are still paying out at least $1 million to the winner.
FedExCup Tour Championship purse: Winner’s payout is $10 million in prize money
The FedExCup is the richest game in golf and on Sunday, piles of cash will go out to the best in the game.
Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
The cash is flowing on the PGA Tour, and this Sunday is the annual reminder of just how enormous it’s all gotten. The Tour Championship is the most lucrative Sunday of the season. It not only features one of the biggest tournament purses of the year, but there’s also all that ridiculous bonus money going out to the final 30 in the FedExCup standings. In total, today marks the end of a four-week stretch in which $70 million is doled out during the FedExCup Playoffs.
Let’s start with the instant event — the Tour Championship. The purse for the annual fourth and final leg of the playoffs is $8.75 million. That’s huge, even by the bloated PGA Tour standards. Only the majors, WGCs, and the recently PGA Tour-boosted events hosted by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus are bigger. That’s the same amount paid out at the prior three playoffs events, bringing the purse money to $35 million during the FedExCup.
With just 30 players in the field, you know you’re making some money no matter how crappy you play at the Tour Championship. Just getting to Atlanta triggers all sorts of perks, including an exemption into all four majors the subsequent year. The last two events, this week and the preceding BMW Championship, have no cuts. Everyone gets a piece of the purse and at East Lake, that means last place is getting a fat six-figure check. Last place gets $160,000 while first place gets that $1.575 million. Here’s your purse breakdown:
Tour Championship Purse
Place | Percent of Purse | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18.00% | 1,575,000 |
| 2 | 10.80% | 945,000 |
| 3 | 6.90% | 603,750 |
| 4 | 4.80% | 420,000 |
| 5 | 4.00% | 350,000 |
| 6 | 3.60% | 315,000 |
| 7 | 3.40% | 297,500 |
| 8 | 3.20% | 280,000 |
| 9 | 3.00% | 262,500 |
| 10 | 2.84% | 248,500 |
| 11 | 2.70% | 236,250 |
| 12 | 2.56% | 224,000 |
| 13 | 2.44% | 213,500 |
| 14 | 2.32% | 203,000 |
| 15 | 2.20% | 192,500 |
| 16 | 2.12% | 185,500 |
| 17 | 2.04% | 178,500 |
| 18 | 2.00% | 175,000 |
| 19 | 1.96% | 171,500 |
| 20 | 1.92% | 168,000 |
| 21 | 1.88% | 164,500 |
| 22 | 1.84% | 161,000 |
| 23 | 1.80% | 157,500 |
| 24 | 1.76% | 154,000 |
| 25 | 1.72% | 150,500 |
| 26 | 1.68% | 147,000 |
| 27 | 1.66% | 145,250 |
| 28 | 1.64% | 143,500 |
| 29 | 1.62% | 141,750 |
| 30 | 1.60% | 140,000 |
The event purse, of course, is just a small piece of the pie. Then there’s all the bonus money that is finalized. The winner of the FedExCup gets the grand $10 million payout, an absurd amount and the biggest prize in the game, by a lot. Most are familiar with that big number by now. But the entire top-five finishers in the playoffs all get seven figures. Hell, even 25 players who weren’t good enough to make the postseason got a nice bonus payout of $32,000. In total, the bonus pool is another $35 million. Here’s that breakdown:
FedExCup Bonus Money Structure
FEC Finishing Spot | Payout | FEC Finishing Spot | Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000,000 | 31 | $165,000 |
| 2 | $3,000,000 | 32 | $155,000 |
| 3 | $2,000,000 | 33 | $150,000 |
| 4 | $1,500,000 | 34 | $145,000 |
| 5 | $1,000,000 | 35 | $142,000 |
| 6 | $800,000 | 36 | $140,000 |
| 7 | $700,000 | 37 | $138,000 |
| 8 | $600,000 | 38 | $137,000 |
| 9 | $550,000 | 39 | $136,000 |
| 10 | $500,000 | 40 | $135,000 |
| 11 | $300,000 | 41 | $134,000 |
| 12 | $290,000 | 42 | $133,000 |
| 13 | $280,000 | 43 | $132,000 |
| 14 | $270,000 | 44 | $131,000 |
| 15 | $250,000 | 45 | $130,000 |
| 16 | $245,000 | 46 | $129,000 |
| 17 | $240,000 | 47 | $128,000 |
| 18 | $235,000 | 48 | $127,000 |
| 19 | $230,000 | 49 | $126,000 |
| 20 | $225,000 | 50 | $125,000 |
| 21 | $220,000 | 51 | $120,000 |
| 22 | $215,000 | 52 | $115,000 |
| 23 | $210,000 | 53 | $114,000 |
| 24 | $205,000 | 54 | $113,000 |
| 25 | $200,000 | 55-70 | $110,000 |
| 26 | $195,000 | 71-80 | $80,000 |
| 27 | $190,000 | 81-100 | $75,000 |
| 28 | $185,000 | 101-125 | $70,000 |
| 29 | $180,000 | 126-150 | $32,000 |
| 30 | $175,000 | TOTAL | $35,000,000 |
It’s likely that the rich get richer on Sunday, which is usually the case at this Tour Championship. Two years ago, Jordan Spieth capped a $20 million season with his FedExCup and Tour Championship win. Spieth is battling with Justin Thomas late on Sunday for the overall FedExCup payout. Thomas has $8,976,561 in season earnings, so a $10 million bonus payout for him would approach that Spieth 2015 season. He’s got $16,032,998 in career earnings, while Spieth has $36,402,785. So they’re not exactly hurting for cash. But this is still the biggest payout Sunday in the game and it means something, even to the richest and best in the world.
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