Whoever wins The Open Championship on Sunday at Carnoustie gets the Claret Jug and the eternal glory that comes with winning such a prestigious major. That’s all fun and good, but more practically speaking, the winner also gets $1.89 million, which is arguably better.
The Open Championship winner gets $1.89 million
The total purse is $10.5 million at Carnoustie.
Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images
The total purse for the British Open is $10.5 million. That’s less than the $11 million at the Masters, $12 million at the U.S. Open, and $11 million (from 2017) at the PGA Championship. It’s even less than the $11 million at The Players Championship, the sport’s “fifth” major.
The Royal & Ancient, which runs The Open, probably doesn’t care. This championship is a big enough deal that it doesn’t need to participate in a purse arms race to feel weighty and important. The tournament doesn’t exactly struggle to attract top golfers.
“The prize fund reflects The Open’s position as one of the world’s great sporting events and we look forward to seeing the best players in the sport competing for the Claret Jug at Carnoustie,” Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A, said in a statement.
Starting in 2017, the R&A moved to pay out its purse in American dollars for the first time. When the R&A made the switch, it might have been a reaction to a drop in the British pound’s value after the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. But Slumbers said it was simply because the tournament was 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.”
The Jug is the sport’s most famous trophy and right up there with the green jacket as the most notable thing you can win. But money’s not a bad incentive either.
Here’s the full list of payout amounts for the top 70. Where multiple players are tied for a spot, they each get the average of the payout values for the spots they cover:
The Open Championship purse values, 2018
Position | Payout |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1.89 million |
| 2 | $1.093 million |
| 3 | $701,000 |
| 4 | $545,000 |
| 5 | $438,000 |
| 6 | $380,000 |
| 7 | $326,000 |
| 8 | $275,000 |
| 9 | $241,000 |
| 10 | $218,000 |
| 11 | $198,000 |
| 12 | $176,000 |
| 13 | $165,000 |
| 14 | $155,000 |
| 15 | $144,000 |
| 16 | $132,500 |
| 17 | $126,000 |
| 18 | $120,000 |
| 19 | $115,000 |
| 20 | $109,500 |
| 21 | $104,500 |
| 22 | $99,000 |
| 23 | 94,000 |
| 24 | $89,000 |
| 25 | $86,000 |
| 26 | $82,000 |
| 27 | $79,000 |
| 28 | $76.00 |
| 29 | $73,000 |
| 30 | $69,500 |
| 31 | $67,000 |
| 32 | $63,000 |
| 33 | $61,500 |
| 34 | $59,500 |
| 35 | $57,500 |
| 36 | $55,000 |
| 37 | $52,500 |
| 38 | $50,000 |
| 39 | $48,000 |
| 40 | $46,500 |
| 41 | $44,500 |
| 42 | $42,500 |
| 43 | $40,500 |
| 44 | $38,500 |
| 45 | $36,250 |
| 46 | $34,250 |
| 47 | $32,750 |
| 48 | $31,500 |
| 49 | $30,250 |
| 50 | $29,500 |
| 51 | $28,900 |
| 52 | $28,300 |
| 53 | $27,900 |
| 54 | $27,450 |
| 55 | $27,000 |
| 56 | $26,600 |
| 57 | $26,200 |
| 58 | $26,100 |
| 59 | $26,000 |
| 60 | $25,800 |
| 61 | $25,600 |
| 62 | $25,500 |
| 63 | $25,400 |
| 64 | $25,300 |
| 65 | $25,100 |
| 66 | $25,000 |
| 67 | $24,800 |
| 68 | $24,600 |
| 69 | $24,400 |
| 70 | $24,175 |
The R&A
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