What does the PGA Championship winner receive?

Scottie Scheffler won the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

As well as a hefty injection to their bank balance, what else does the PGA Championship winner get? Let’s take a look…

Becoming a PGA Championship winner is no mean feat.

It’s one of the biggest events on the golf calendar, typically boasts the strongest field in professional golf, and comes with a caliber of prizes to match.

Here’s everything you get when you become PGA champion…

Golf’s biggest trophy

The PGA champion takes home the largest trophy of the four majors. The Wanamaker Trophy stands at 28 inches tall and weighs 27 pounds – a little north of 12 kilograms. “I was shocked by the weight when I picked it up,” said 2008 champion Padraig Harrington.

Oh, and if you’re wondering, according to 2013 winner Jason Dufner, it holds 43 beers!

The winner gets to keep a full-size replica for a year, before receiving a smaller replica which is theirs to keep for good.

The PGA of America named the trophy after Rodman Wanamaker, a Philadelphia native and department store owner who was instrumental in the formation of the PGA of America in 1916.

Walter Hagen lost the original trophy in 1925, blaming a taxi driver he’d asked to take it back to his hotel. It turned up in 1930, in a crate, and now resides at PGA headquarters in Frisco, Texas.

Points mean prizes

The champion receives 100 Official World Golf Ranking points and 600 FedEx Cup points, which can open doors to big-money Signature Events, as well as helping towards Ryder Cup qualification if eligible, and entry into the PGA Tour’s end-of-season Playoffs.

Due to the prestige of the events, each of the year’s men’s majors offers 100 OWGR points to the winner. For context, the Players Championship winner receives 80 points while all other tour events can offer a maximum of 80, depending on the standard of the field.

• Every PGA Championship winner since 1916

• PGA Championship prize money breakdown

An invite for life

For as long as he lives, or as long as he can physically swing a club, every past PGA champion has an automatic pass into the event.

It’s why the likes of 2003 winner Shaun Micheel still tees in the event each year.

Five-year major entry

As well as lifetime exemption to the PGA Championship, winning will also get you into the next half a decade of the Masters, US Open and The Open.

You will also get a five-year exemption to The Players and a PGA Tour card for the same period, as well as a DP World Tour membership for the next seven years.

A seat at the table

Like the Masters Champions Dinner, the PGA Championship has its own past champions’ get-together on the Tuesday of tournament week. It’s been running since 1965 and is open to family members and spouses, too.

The previous year’s winner plays the role of host and not only picks the menu but also dolls out gifts to attendees.

Rich Beem gifted ostrich-leather cowboy boots, while Padraig Harrington went with Irish drums.

And, of course, a lot of money

The PGA Championship prize purse has increased dramatically over the last few years. So much so that we gave it its own article.

Not only that, becoming a major champion also provides you with a place in the history books, countless bonuses, a host of new sponsorship opportunities, and increased coverage at future events.

Worth it, we’d say…