The TOUR Championship got underway at East Lake Golf Club on Thursday to begin the final event of the PGA Tour season and the FedEx Cup Playoffs with Scottie Scheffler sitting atop the leaderboard at 10-under thanks to the starting strokes. By the end of the first round, though, he had plenty of competition and had lost his No. 1 spot already.
Since then, last week's BMW Championship winner, Viktor Hovland got rolling and surged to the top of the leaderboard from the No. 2 spot, tied with Collin Morikawa after the first two rounds. But it was Hovland who persisted and, heading into Sunday's final round with everyone competing for their TOUR Championship payout from the enormous $75 million purse on the line, Hovland was six strokes clear of Xander Schauffele in second place and eight strokes clear of the rest of the field.
With a $75 million purse and only 30 players in the field, you can imagine the type of prize money that these players were playing for. But let's take a look at the TOUR Championship payout distribution by finishing position, starting with the truly eye-popping winner's share.
TOUR Championship payout distribution: Winner's prize money in 2023
The winner of the TOUR Championship for the second consecutive year will receive a monstrous $18 million in prize money for their efforts at East Lake. This massive number is obviously for winning the tournament at East Lake but, most importantly, the FedEx Cup as well. With the staggered start and starting strokes to begin the week in Atlanta, these players will have made sure to earn everything -- but especially the winner.
TOUR Championship payout distribution by finishing position
- $18 million
- $6.5 million
- $5 million
- $4 million
- $3 million
- $2.5 million
- $2 million
- $1.5 million
- $1.25 million
- $1 million
- $950,000
- $900,000
- $850,000
- $800,000
- $760,000
- $720,000
- $700,000
- $680,000
- $660,000
- $640,000
- $620,000
- $600,000
- $580,000
- $565,000
- $550,000
- $540,000
- $530,000
- $520,000
- $510,000
- $500,000
Suffice it say, making it to East Lake and just getting any part of the TOUR Championship is an extremely popular endeavor. While everyone would like to have the $18 million that the winner receives, finishing in last and still getting a half-million payday doesn't seem too bad, does it?
After all, that's a Top 3 finish in a non-designated event in the regular season.
There's a reason that this is the finale of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs, though. These players have earned their way into the field and the massive amount of prize money that comes their way for doing so.