The final major championship test this season concluded Sunday the world’s best golfers ended their chase for one of the most coveted prizes in golf: the Claret Jug. Along with golf’s oldest major trophy and the title of Champion Golfer of the Year, players were vying for their portion of a $17 million purse at the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
The R&A announced The Open is carrying the same prize pool as 2024’s record-setting purse with the winner taking home a $3.1 million check like Xander Schauffele did last year. That is a handsome payday but not one all that uncommon at this time in professional golf. Scottie Scheffler was able to bring that home with a historic, dominant victory that resulted in him capturing the third leg of his career grand slam chase.
The Open Championship is the paradigm of prize money not determining the importance of an event, as the total purse is less than the other three majors and even a PGA Tour signature event — the winner’s cut being the same amount. However, no one would confuse a signature event as being as important as The Open, and while the R&A has upped its payouts amid golf’s purse arm’s race, it has not chased being the sport’s ultimately payday.
The chance to etch one’s name in golf history is what makes The Open one of the most important and special events in the sport. Certainly those in the United Kingdom would argue it’s the most important. Still, a $3.1 million payday doesn’t hurt for the winner, and the top three finishers each receiving over $1 million is not too shabby, either.
Let’s take a look at everything that was on the line — from a monetary standpoint — at The Open Championship on Sunday.
2025 Open Championship purse, payouts
Total purse: $17 million
1st: $3,100,000 — Scottie Scheffler
2nd: $1,759,000 — Harris English
3rd: $1,128,000 — Chris Gotterup
4th: $876,000 — Matt Fitzpatrick, Haotong Li, Wyndham Clark ($730,667)
5th: $705,000
6th: $611,000
7th: $525,000 — Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Xander Schauffele ($451,833)
8th: $442,500
9th: $388,000
10th: $350,600 — Russell Henley, Brian Harman, Corey Conners, Bryson DeChambeau ($304,650)
11th: $319,200
12th: $282,800
13th: $266,000
14th: $249,000 — Rickie Fowler, Nicolai Højgaard ($240,000)
15th: $231,000
16th: $212,700 — Jesper Svensson, Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood, John Parry, Justin Rose, Rasmus Højgaard, Tyrrell Hatton ($185,257)
17th: $202,400
18th: $193,000
19th: $184,900
20th: $176,200
21st: $168,000
22nd: $159,600
23rd: $151,000 — Maverick McNealy, J.J. Spaun, Lucas Glover, Dustin Johnson, Ludvig Åberg ($138,040)
24th: $142,600
25th: $137,800
26th: $131,800
27th: $127,000
28th: $122,600 — Harry Hall, Oliver Lindell ($119,950)
29th: $117,300
30th: $111,200 — Daniel Berger, Akshay Bhatia, Keegan Bradley, Kristoffer Reitan ($104,850)
31st: $107,600
32nd: $102,100
33rd: $98,500
34th: $95,700 — Sergio Garcia, Aaron Rai, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Lee Westwood ($86,517)
35th: $92,400
36th: $88,700
37th: $84,600
38th: $80,300
39th: $77,400
40th: $74,900 — Shane Lowry, Jordan Spieth, Jason Kokrak, Takumi Kanaya, Nathan Kimsey ($68,340)
41st: $71,800
42nd: $68,300
43rd: $65,200
44th: $61,500
45th: $58,000 — Matthew Jordan, Thomas Detry, Henrick Stenson, Jordan Smith, Sam Burns, Thriston Lawrence, Matt Wallace ($51,186)
46th: $55,000
47th: $52,800
48th: $50,700
49th: $48,400
50th: $47,200
51st: $46,200
52nd: $45,400 — Adrien Saddier, Sepp Straka, Marc Leishman, Sungjae Im ($44,350)
53rd: $44,700
54th: $44,000
55th: $43,300
56th: $42,700 — Phil Mickelson, Jhonattan Vegas, Tony Finau ($42,333)
57th: $42,300
58th: $42,000
59th: $41,700 — Antoine Rozner, Justin Leonard ($41,550)
60th: $41,400
61st: $41,200 — Dean Burmester, Romain Langasque ($41,100)
62nd: $41,000
63rd: $40,800 — Riki Kawamoto, Andrew Novak, Viktor Hovland, Ryggs Johnston, Francesco Molindari ($40,280)
64th: $40,600
65th: $40,300
66th: $40,000
67th: $39,700
68th: $39,400 — Jacob Skov Olesen
69th: $39,100 — Matti Schmid
70th: $38,900 — Sebastian Soderberg
If more than 70 professionals made the cut, additional prize money would have been added. Payouts would decrease by $125 per place above 70 with a minimum of $37,650.
