PGA Championship 2018 purse: Winner’s payout is $2M in prize money
The PGA Championship has one of the richest purses in golf.
The PGA Championship may be considered the least prestigious men’s major, but it’s as competitive as any when it comes to cash. The PGA is actually the major that started the recent arms race among the majors, as each bumps its purse higher and higher every year in a constant bid to outdo the other.
Back in the fall of 2013, the PGA of America, in conjunction with the PGA Tour, made the announcement in a public press conference that they were moving their purses to the $10 million mark. It was a new frontier and one that evidently demanded the public show, as Ted Bishop and Tim Finchem strutted out the news that the PGA Championship and Players Championship, each organization’s premier event, were taking things to the next level.
Since then, each major has joined and zoomed past that $10 million mark. The U.S. Open made the biggest move last year, making a ridiculous $2 million jump in one fell swoop. Their purse has now been $12 million for the last two years. The winner clear more than $2.1 million, which would be an unimaginable amount just five years ago. The Masters purse jumped to $11 million this year while The Open, which got hammered by Brexit, switched from pounds to USD last year and jumped to $10.5 million this year.
For the 100th edition, the PGA has bumped their purse by another $500k increment and now settles at an even $11 million. It’s not to the U.S. Open level, but to steal an old and bad PGA slogan, this is major. When the runner-up is well into seven figures, it’s an enormous purse. The winner will take home just shy of $2 million.
At the start of the day, Brooks Koepka held a two-shot lead. He has looked like a machine through 54 holes and was rightfully the heavy favorite to close it out and win his third major in the last two years. He’s already got $21,995,873 in career earnings and a win on Sunday would mean he’s banked more than $4 million in just two events this season. That is getting some good return.
It’s a loaded leaderboard full of established stars that aren’t exactly hurting for money. The cash is nice, but not life-changing for this set. It’s adding another major to the resume that is the game-changer. Here are your payout totals for the 100th PGA Championship:
Winner: $1.980 million
2. $1.188 million
3. $748,000
4. $528,000
5. $450,500
6. $380,000
7. $343,650
8. $319,600
9. $295,600
10.$272,300
11. $251,590
12. $232,400
13. $214,800
14. $199,050
15. $184,280
16. $170,700
17. $161,000
18. $152,000
19. $143,000
20. $134,000
21. $125,000
22. $116,000
23. $107,000
24. $100,000
25. $93,000
26. $87,000
27. $82,000
28. $77,000
29. $74,000
30. $71,000
31. $68,000
32. $65,000
33. $62,000
34. $59,000
35. $56,000
36. $53,000
37. $50,000
38. $48,000
39. $46,000
40. $44,000
41. $42,000
42. $40,000
43. $38,000
44. $36,000
45. $34,000
46. $32,000
47. $30,250
48. $28,500
49. $27,500
50. $26,500
51. $25,500
52. $25,000
53. $24,500
54. $24,000
55. $23,500
56. $23,000
57. $22,500
58. $22,200
59. $21,900
60. $21,600
61. $21,400
62. $21,200
63. $21,000
64. $20,800
65. $20,600
66. $20,400
67. $20,200
68. $20,000
69. $19,800
70. $19,600