SOUTHPORT, England — The Open Championship is not getting caught up in the ongoing prize money arms race in golf, and will continue to offer the lowest purse among the four majors by a wide margin.

This week’s tournament at Royal Birkdale Golf Club will pay out $17.75 million in prize money, up less than 5% from the $17 million purse at the 2025 Open Championship.

Sunday’s winner will take home the Claret Jug and receive $3.2 million—$100,000 more than the $3.1 million Scottie Scheffler won at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.

The $750,000 year-over-year increase in the total Open Championship purse comes after the other three majors this year raised their purses by at least $1 million.

• The Masters: $22.5 million (up from $21 million)
• U.S. Open: $22.5 million (up from $21.5 million)
• PGA Championship: $20.5 million (up from $19 million)
• Open Championship: $17.75 million (up from $17 million)

Mark Darbon, CEO of the R&A, which runs The Open, previously expressed some concern about the fast growth of prize money in professional golf since the launch of LIV Golf in 2022.

LIV this year has paid out $32.3 million in prize money at each event. The PGA Tour’s eight signature events have $20 million purses, and its flagship event, the Players Championship, paid out $25 million.

The PGA Championship, operated by the PGA of America (a separate organization from the PGA Tour), in May became the third major to cross the $20 million mark in prize money. However, it appears the Open won’t be joining that club any time soon.

The U.S. Open, run by the USGA, in June matched the Masters at $22.5 million after Augusta National in April briefly surpassed the U.S. Open to claim the richest major championship title all by itself.

Pay Day

The top 70 players and ties after two rounds of the Open will make the 36-hole cut; solo 70th place would pay out $40,700. 

Players who miss the cut still get a payout. The leading 10 golfers in that group will receive $12,900, the next 20 $10,750, and the remainder $9,100.

The 10 amateur golfers in the field at Royal Birkdale will not be allowed to accept prize money.

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SOUTHPORT, England — The final major championship of the men’s golf season arrives as several major questions surround the future of the PGA Tour and rival LIV Golf.

Royal Birkdale Golf Club is hosting the 154th edition of the Open Championship, which begins Thursday, marking the 11th time the sport’s oldest tournament has been played at the course. Jordan Spieth won his third major and first and only Claret Jug the last time The Open was at Royal Birkdale, in 2017.

Victor Perez became the 15th LIV player to qualify for The Open on Sunday thanks to his T9 finish at the Genesis Scottish Open—a co-sanctioned event on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour—which allowed seven LIV players to tee up alongside PGA Tour players in a rare non-major setting.

But this week at Birkdale will mark the final time this year that both LIV’s and the PGA Tour’s top stars will face off against each other. Meanwhile, exactly what the pro golf landscape will look like in 2027 is still up in the air.

LIV’s Unsettled Future

After The Open, LIV next week is set to return from its unintended 47-day summer break, which was a result of the league cancelling its June event in New Orleans. 

LIV has four events remaining on its 2026 schedule, and it continues to search for new investors with the Saudi PIF ending its funding after this season. 

Bryson DeChambeau’s LIV contract expires at the end of the season, but the league’s most popular star has indicated he wants to help LIV survive at all costs. DeChambeau has missed the cut in all the majors so far this year; he had previously never missed more than two major cuts in a single season. Despite his struggles, DeChambeau remains the most recent LIV player to win a major—at the 2024 U.S. Open.

Jon Rahm has multiple years remaining on his LIV contract, but has not been as publicly committed to helping LIV survive as DeChambeau. 

LIV previously announced some dates for its 2027 events, but the league’s schedule for next year is far from set until new funding is secured. 

Last week, LIV notified employees it would be filing a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice, which is a legal requirement in the U.S. that requires businesses with over 100 employees to give at least a 60-day notice of potential mass layoffs.

PGA Tour’s New Era Not Fully Set

The PGA Tour will play six more events after the year’s final major—three regular-season tournaments and three FedEx Cup Playoff events.

The full 2027 PGA Tour schedule is expected to be officially unveiled in late August at the Tour Championship, although many tournament dates have already been confirmed by individual event organizers.

But it will be the 2028 PGA Tour season that brings major change as a new two-series model is set to be implemented in just over 18 months. 

While high-level details of that new structure were announced by PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp last month, many final details have not yet been determined and will still be discussed and negotiated among members and stakeholders throughout this year.

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