A sport created hundreds of years ago, golf is still extremely popular, with worldwide tournaments held for fans to watch top players. The best golfers are known around the globe for their skills on a course and have many fans, boosting them to celebrity status. The prize pools at golf tournaments are rather impressive, given that it’s a sport popular with the wealthy.
The amount of money a professional golfer can win during a tournament depends on the event they participate in. It can range quite significantly from the CIMB Classic, which has tournament prize winnings of US $1.26 million for first place (from a total purse of $7 million) to $15 million for first place at the Tour Championship. The Masters is one of the world’s most prestigious golf tournaments for professional players. Compared to some of the top tournaments held each year, the Masters doesn’t have nearly as large a payout, but to some professional golfers, the monetary win is secondary.
It’s easy to see why professional golfers don’t necessarily care as much about payouts as the respect they earn for winning specific tournaments. The few who place first at the Masters receive the famous green jacket. In addition, they get their own section in the locker room for champions and an invitation to a Championship dinner. The professional golfers who win this tournament will be remembered in golfing history for posterity, and many see this as the peak of their career.
There is a massive battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to become the most popular organizer of professional golf, which has resulted in a significant increase in tournament prize pools in recent years. Several tournaments have been created in the past few years with over $20 million in prize pools to attract the best golfers to their organization. With every tournament increasing its prize pools, the main question was whether the Masters would follow suit and increase the payouts for the golfers taking part.
For the 2020 and 2021 Masters, the total payout was $11.5 million, and the winner took home $2.07 million of this prize pool. This increased to a total purse of $15 million in 2022, with the winner earning $2.7 million. This year, the total purse of The Masters jumped significantly, with a prize pool of $18 million and the first prize just over $3 million. This means that the winner of The Masters in 2023, Jon Rahm, took home the biggest payout in the tournament’s history. In joint second place were Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, who bagged a whopping $1.58 million. Keith Mitchell, in 53rd place, still received a nice $45,060 for just participating in the tournament.
Highest-paid golfers in the history of The Masters
Tiger Woods has made the most money throughout his career playing at the Masters, with total earnings from the tournament reaching an impressive $9,588,236 over 24 appearances. In second place for career earnings at the Masters is Phil Mickelson, with $8,189,317 over 29 appearances. The payout for the Masters will likely continue to rise over the coming years to keep up with the competition of other organizations and the growing interest in the world of golf. However, the Masters still has a considerable way to go before it can be compared with some of the highest-paying major tournaments in golf. The Players Championship is currently at the number-one spot and awarded the winner an eye-watering $4.5 million in 2023. The player who bagged first place was Scottie Scheffler, who was likely very happy to receive this handsome prize.
