Everyone has their favorite golf major and while Augusta National and the Masters gets most of the attention, links enthusiasts circle one weekend and one weekend alone on their calendar, knowing they'll have to set their alarms to get up and gorge on The Open Championship. Play begins Thursday at Royal Liverpool to close the 2023 major season. The fairways will have some run. The bunkers will be deep as heck and impossible to escape. There will be a rogue stone wall in the way. Weather will change in the blink of an eye and the wind will be fierce. Whomever wins will also take home a tremendous amount of money.

How much, exactly? Well, last year Cameron Smith earned $2.5 million of the then-record $14 million purse, the highest payday of any victor. The R&A, by the way, began to cut the checks in U.S. dollars in 2016.

The Open Championship Prize Money

The total purse for The Open Championship '23 is a whopping $16.5 million. The golfer with the lowest 72-hole score will get their grubby paws on a $3 million check (or cheque). Martin Slumbers, CEO of The R&A, said: “Our aim is to ensure The Open remains at the pinnacle of world golf and we have almost doubled the prize fund since 2016. While we are seeing substantial increases in prize money across the men’s professional game, we are fulfilling our wider obligation to the sport by elevating the AIG Women’s Open, strengthening pathways in the elite amateur game and encouraging more people around the world to play golf."

Now, no one is going to cry over this, but The Open Championship has the lowest combined purse of any of the majors.

Here's the payout breakdown based off final standings.

The Open Championship Payout By Finishing Position

1 $3,000,000

2 $1,708,000

3 $1,095,000

4 $851,000

5 $684,500

6 $593,000

7 $509,500

8 $429,700

9 $377,000

10 $340,500

11 $310,000

12 $274,700

13 $258,300

14 $241,800

15 $224,800

16 $206,600

17 $196,600

18 $187,500

19 $179,600

20 $171,100

21 $163,100

22 $155,000

23 $146,700

24 $138,500

25 $133,800

26 $128,000

27 $123,300

28 $119,100

29 $113,900

30 $108,000

31 $104,500

32 $99,200

33 $95,700

34 $93,000

35 $89,800

36 $86,200

37 $82,200

38 $78,000

39 $75,200

40 $72,800

41 $69,800

42 $66,400

43 $63,400

44 $59,800

45 $56,400

46 $53,400

47 $51,300

48 $49,300

49 $47,000

50 $45,900

51 $44,900

52 $44,100

53 $43,400

54 $42,800

55 $42,100

56 $41,500

57 $41,100

58 $40,800

59 $40,500

60 $40,200

61 $40,000

62 $39,800

63 $39,600

64 $39,400

65 $39,200

66 $38,900

67 $38,600

68 $38,300

69 $38,000

70 $37,800

This article was originally published on thebiglead as The Open Championship Prize Money, Purse Breakdown: How Much Does the Winner Make?.