Play has begun at the 154th Open Championship, being played at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. This year the best golfers in the world will be playing for a record purse in the oldest championship in golf.
The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (R&A), that is the governing body that oversees the Open Championship, announced earlier this week that the purse has been raised this year. The $500,000 increase from 2025 makes this year’s championship a record for player payouts. The total purse will be $17.75 million, with the winner receiving $3.2 million.
Although a record purse for the Open Championship, it still remains the lowest purse of professional golf’s major championships.
Mark Darbon, chief executive of the R&A discussed the purse increase on Wednesday at a press conference. He talked about his concerns about the rising purses in golf, as well as other issues he sees in the game.
Darbon stated, “We look at prize money as part of a broader package that we offer here at The Open Championship. We’ve also increased and continued to increase our investment into the player experience, and we’re very proud of the fact that we consistently get told by the players that the experience—the facilities, the services, the support—that we offer during Open Championship week sets the benchmark for the rest of golf. We’re intent on ensuring that that continues to remain the case.
“So prize money is but one component of that comparison. At the same time, we’re trying to find a model that gets the balance right. We have a relatively unique model at the R&A. We invest the proceeds that we generate from this Open Championship back into the sport. That’s really important for us, and we think we’re finding the right balance.”
As the last major of the season is here, golf’s governing bodies are grappling with the question of what purses may look like going forward with the possibility of LIV Golf being gone after this season. Even if LIV survives in a different form, the Saudi money will be gone, with it the large player payouts and purses that have dramatically changed the amount of money players receive. Time will tell where the money in professional golf goes from here.
2026 Open Championship Payout By Position Of Finish
Below is the amount each player will win based on their position of finish in the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club.
1 $3,200,000
2 $1,842,000
3 $1,181,000
4 $917,000
5 $738,000
6 $639,700
7 $549,700
8 $463,250
9 $406,200
10 $367,000
11 $334,200
12 $296,000
13 $278,500
14 $260,700
15 $241,900
16 $222,700
17 $212,000
18 $202,000
19 $193,600
20 $184,500
21 $175,900
22 $167,100
23 $158,100
24 $149,300
25 $144,250
26 $138,000
27 $133,000
28 $128,400
29 $122,800
30 $116,500
31 $112,700
32 $106,900
33 $103,100
34 $100,200
35 $96,700
36 $92,900
37 $88,500
38 $84,100
39 $81,000
40 $78,400
41 $75,200
42 $71,500
43 $68,300
44 $64,400
45 $60,700
46 $57,600
47 $55,300
48 $53,100
49 $50,700
50 $49,400
51 $48,350
52 $47,500
53 $46,800
54 $46,100
55 $45,300
56 $44,700
57 $44,250
58 $43,950
59 $43,625
60 $43,325
61 $43,100
62 $42,900
63 $42,700
64 $42,500
65 $42,150
66 $41,825
67 $41,500
68 $41,200
69 $40,900
70 $40,700
Mike is a founding member of Break80 Golf and a contributing golf and sports writer for Forbes with PGA Tour and LIV Golf media credentials. Mike can be reached at [email protected] for inquiries or story leads.