How much prize money did Rory McIlroy win at The Players Championship 2025 at TPC Sawgrass?
The purse for PGA Tour’s flagship event has doubled since Rory McIlroy’s triumph in 2019.
Jack Nicklaus took home the princely sum of $50,000 when he won the first Players Championship final in 1974. Half a century on, the individual cash prizes and total purse have increased to such a degree that the tournament, considered PGA Tour’s flagship event, dishes out the second largest payout on the circuit.
Players Championship purse has doubled in six years
The purse, which was $250,000 in the inaugural tournament 50 years ago, has grown substantially - particularly during the past six years in which it has doubled from $12.5 million when Rory McIlroy lifted the trophy in 2019 to $25 million today. McIlroy pocketed $2.25 million for his win - more than a fifth of the prize pool and a record sum at the time.
The prize pool for the 51st edition of the Players Championship remains the same as it was during the previous two editions - both won by Scottie Scheffler, who took home $4.5 million for his victories in 2023 and 2024.
As has been the case in recent years, the 2025 Players Championship was a close finish and decided by a playoff for the sixth time in history and the first since Kevin Kisner and Rickie Fowler went head-to-head in a sudden death contest in 2015.
McIlroy and Spaun tied, playoff needed to determine the winner
Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun were tied at -12 at the close of Sunday’s play - the 2019 winner surrendered a three-shot lead with Spaun joining him at 12 under with a birdie on the par-five 16th.
With both players tied on the leaderboard, and play suspended due to light, the winner was determined in a three-hole aggregate playoff from the 16th tee on Monday with the man from Northern Ireland winning out.
The breakdown in prize money remains as it was last year - Rory McIlroy collected $4.5 million for winning the 2025 Players Championship while J.J. Spaun took home $2.725 million for ending as runner-up.
Players Championship prize money payouts
- Winner: $4.5 million
- Runner-up: $2.725 million
- 3rd: $1.725 million
- 4th: $1.225 million
- 5th: $1.025 million
- 6th: $906,250
- 7th: $843,750
- 8th: $781,250
- 9th: $731,250
- 10th: $681,250
- 11th: $631,250
- 12th: $581,250
- 13th: $531,250
- 14th: $481,250
- 15th: $456,250
- 16th: $431,250
- 17th: $406,250
- 18th: $381,250
- 19th: $356,250
- 20th: $331,250
- 21st: $306,250
- 22nd: $281,250
- 23rd: $261,250
- 24th: $241,250
- 25th: $221,250
- 26th: $201,250
- 27th: $193,750
- 28th: $186,250
- 29th: $178,750
- 30th: $171,250
- 31st: $163,750
- 32nd: $156,250
- 33rd: $148,750
- 34th: $142,500
- 35th: $136,250
- 36th: $130,000
- 37th: $123,750
- 38th: $118,750
- 39th: $113,750
- 40th: $108,750
- 41st: $103,750
- 42nd: $98,750
- 43rd: $93,750
- 44th: $88,750
- 45th: $83,750
- 46th: $78,750
- 47th: $73,750
- 48th: $69,750
- 49th: $66,250
- 50th: $64,250
- 51st: $62,750
- 52nd: $61,250
- 53rd: $60,250
- 54th: $59,250
- 55th: $58,750
- 56th: $58,250
- 57th: $57,750
- 58th: $57,250
- 59th: $56,750
- 60th: $56,250
- 61rd: $55,750
- 62nd: $55,250
- 63rd: $54,750
- 64th: $54,250
- 65th: $53,750
- 66th: $53,250
- 67th: $52,750
- 68th: $52,250
- 69th: $51,750
- 70th: $51,250
Three players tied in third on -10: Tom Hoge, Akshay Bhatia and Lucas Glover receive $1.325 million each - not the $1.725 million prize for an individual third-place finish. Similarly, Danny Walker, Corey Conners and Bud Cauley will take home the same payout for being tied in sixth. They will receive $843,750 each - the same amount a single player would have won for finishing seventh.
The Players Championship is set to become even more lucrative - the prize pool will be revised again for next year’s event when the field will be whittled down from 144 to 120 players as part of the PGA Tour’s plan to reduce field sizes by around 20%.
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