How much will the PGA Championship winner take home?
The PGA Championship winner will take home a big check on Sunday, as well as some other benefits that will last the rest of his playing career.
The 2022 PGA Championship winner will receive 18 percent of the $12 million purse, which comes in at $2,160,000. In April Scottie Scheffler won a record-setting first prize $2.7 million for his Masters victory at Augusta National. The payouts for the two remaining majors this year are £1,850,000 (approximately $2.3 million) for the Open Championship at St. Andrews, while the US Open in June is estimated to pay out a similar amount.
Going back ten years to 2012, Rory McIlroy won $1.45 million at the PGA Championship at the Ocean Course of Kiawah, South Carolina for his second major. Rich Beem (remember him?) won the PGA championship 20 years ago and pocketed $990,000.
The prize money has more than doubled over the last 20 years for the major tournaments, but that’s not the only reward for winning. The PGA championship has some other benefits for players:
- Taking home the historic Wanamaker trophy. The winner gets to put it in his living room for a year before turning it over to the following year’s champion. The tournament provides the winner with a 90% replica when the original trophy is returned.
- Points, lots of points: 100 official World Golf ranking points as well as 600 very valuable FedEx Cup points.
- Winners are exempt for the rest of their career for the PGA Championship (and are invited to the PGA Championship Champions Dinner every year too).
- More exemptions: PGA Champions are exempt for the three other majors over five years, so they can play in the Masters, the US Open and Open Championship.
But the players aren’t the only winners here. Some people forget that golf is a team sport. Well, kind of. How much will the winner’s caddie make on Sunday? Players and caddies have different arrangements for the services the loopers render, but it is clear that the more the players make, the more the caddies earn. Some caddies have reported taking home up to 10% of the tour players winnings for a first place finish. That would mean $216,000 for this year’s winning caddie.
The stakes are high this week at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The top ten players will take home some nice prizes:
1st: $2,160,00
2nd: $1,296,000
3rd: $816,000
4th: $576,000
5th: $480,000
6th: $413,000
7th: $380,000
8th: $350,000
9th: $320,000
10th: $297,000
That’s a lot of money and the pots just keep growing year after year. To put all of this into perspective, let’s look back at one of golf’s all time greats, Gary Player. The South African golfer won 24 events on the PGA tour in the 60s and 70s for a total amount of $1,834,482 for a career spanning over 20 years. That’s nearly $250,000 short of what the PGA Championship winner will make on Sunday.