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How much prize money did Yuka Saso win at the 2024 US Women’s Open?
The excitement of the 2024 US Women’s Open is over, so let’s take a look at the prize winnings.
The fascinating action that we have seen at the 2024 US Women’s Open will go down in history as one of the most entertaining golf tournaments in recent times.
In the end, Japanese golfer Yuka Saso took the trophy, showing excellent consistency and class throughout, with her talent coming through in the end. She’ll pick up a cool $2.4 million for her efforts round the Lancaster Country Club.
Minjee Lee, Andrea Lee and Wichanee Meechai were tied as the tournament end drew closer, but all three were overtaken by Yuka Saso who carded a final round of -2 to finish on four under and take the title. Notably, Minjee Lee’s game fell apart in the final round, carding an eight over to finish on three over, dropping down the leaderboard in brutal fashion.
How much prize money did Yuka Saso win at the 2024 US Women’s Open?
As a result of her triumph at the Lancaster Country Club, Yuka Saso picks up a record $2.4 million. The USGA decided to give the winner 20% of the overall payout compared to 18% in previous years.
This increase will apply to all of its professional championships, including the U.S. Open which starts in two weeks at Pinehurst.
U.S. Women's Open prize money:
Winner: $2,400,000
2: $1,296,000
3: $781,623
4: $547,932
5: $456,375
6: $404,661
7: $364,818
8: $326,738
9: $295,709
10: $271,615
U.S. Women’s Open payout biggest in golf history
The tournament has received a complete overhaul in terms of prize money: the overall purse stands at $12 million: $1 million more than a year ago, it is the biggest prize money payout of a women’s tournament in golf history.
GolfDigest gives a handy breakdown of the payouts through history:
Year: Winner | Overall Purse | Winner's share
- 1947: Betty Jameson | $7,500 | $1,200
- 1966: Sandra Spuzich | $20,000 | $4,000
- 1975: Sandra Palmer | $55,000 | $8,044
- 1977: Hollis Stacy | $75,000 | $11,040
- 1978: Hollis Stacy | $100,000 | $15,000
- 1990: Betsy King | $500,000 | $85,000
- 1995: Annika Sorenstam | $1 million | $175,000
- 2000: Karrie Webb | $2.75 million | $500,000
- 2014: Michelle Wie | $4 million | $720,000
- 2017: Sung-Hyun Park | $5 million | $900,000
- 2019: Jeuong Lee | $5.5 million | $1 million
- 2022: Minjee Lee | $10 million | $1.8 million
- 2023: Allisen Corpuz | $11 million | $2 million
For context, just three years ago, the purse stood at $5.5 million. “We saw that in some elevated events on the PGA Tour and kind of looked at that ourselves from a standpoint of how that looked, and we liked it”, USGA CEO Mike Wahn said on the change to 20 percent.
“When you start talking about the kind of money we’re talking about in 12 million and more, it has very little effect kind of all the way down the line, but even makes the win even more significant”, he concluded.
See also: How much prize money did Robert MacIntyre win at the 2024 Canadian Open?