What’s the Open Championship prize money? (And how much has it changed over the years?)

A full breakdown of the Open Championship prize money, as well as a look back at how the purse and winner’s share has fluctuated in the major’s history…

The Open Championship prize money has increased by a whopping 162 percent in the last decade.

JUMP TO: Open Championship prize money history

But although it reached the $17 million mark last year, golf’s oldest major remains its least lucrative. In May, the PGA Championship field shared $19m between them, while the purses at the Masters and US Open have both broken through the $20m barrier.

Martin Slumbers, then CEO of The R&A, said ahead of the 152nd Open at Royal Troon: “The R&A has a responsibility to strike a balance between maintaining The Open’s position in the global game, providing the funds required for governance, and developing amateur and recreational golf in 146 countries internationally.

“We have to make choices if we want to continue to build on the significant growth in participation that is essential for golf’s future.”

2025 Open Championship prize money

The 2025 Open Championship prize money has yet to be announced – the R&A usually releases this information during the tournament itself – so here is a quick reminder of how the 2024 purse was broken down between the field…

Why is the Open Championship prize money in dollars?

It seems odd, doesn’t it? Especially as it’s the only major played outside the United States and in a country where the currency is pounds.

It’s quite simple, really. Prize money was always paid in pound sterling up until 2016, but this changed to US dollars the following year because it’s the most widely adopted prize currency in golf.

How has The Open’s purse changed over the years?

There have been a number of milestones in the history of the Open Championship prize money.

But did you know for the first three years the winner received no financial award? (Something, incidentally, we believe should still be the case today.)

The 4th Open, in 1863, was the first to offer prize money, with £10 shared equally among the top eight in the 14-man field. The following year, Old Tom Morris won a £6 share – or 14% – of the £15 prize money.

The prize fund fluctuated throughout the 1870s and 1880s, but broke through the £100 barrier in 1892. By 1931 it was £500, with the winner banking a three-figure sum for the first time.

After a six-year postponement for World War II, The Open returned in 1946 with a $1,000 purse and it continued to rise through years. The 84th Open in 1955 saw the winner’s check reach four figures, while the total purse broke the £10,000 barrier within a decade.

The magnificent Open of 1977 not only saw the famous Duel in the Sun between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, but a significant milestone was set in both the purse and winner’s share, which came in at £100,000 and £10,000 respectively.

It was a similar tale in 1993, when Greg Norman won his second Claret Jug to win the £100,000 first prize from the pot that had now reached £1,000,000.

Though the purse had gone up five-fold to £5,000,000 by 2011, the winner’s cheque rose by nine and Darren Clarke walked away with £900,000. The first million-pound winner was Zach Johnson at St Andrews in 2015.

Two years later, the R&A, to align with the other majors, decided to start dishing out the prize money in dollars rather than pounds, and Jordan Spieth flew back across the Atlantic with $1,845,000 of the $10,250,000 pot.

Four years later there was another sizeable spike, with Collin Morikawa becoming the first winner to take home more than $2,000,000 in winnings. A year later, for the 150th Open at St Andrews, the purse increased by a whopping 22%, with Cam Smith receiving $2,500,000 – almost half a million more than Morikawa 12 months earlier.

As of 2024, The Open prize fund remains the lowest of the majors. But don’t expect it to be long before the R&A joins the USGA and Augusta National in breaking through the $20,000,000 barrier.

Here’s the full history of the Open Championship prize money…