Money talks -- as always in the world of golf -- and the USGA had plenty of talking to do this week when CEO Mike Whan announced Wednesday a significant increase to the 2022 U.S. Open purse. Growing by $5 million year over year, the U.S. Open will pay out $17.5 million to those who made the weekend cut. That's officially the largest purse in major championship history.
Taking advantage of those soaring funds was Matt Fitzpatrick, who captured the U.S. Open by one stroke over Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler. In doing so, Fitzpatrick claimed a $3.15 million winner's share, nearly $500,000 more than the Masters and PGA Championship shelled out to respective champions Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas ($2.7 million) as part of their $15 million purses.
2021 U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm took home $2.25 million, so the year-over-year increase from the USGA stood at $900,000. Still, the first-place prize was not be the biggest paid out this year as Cameron Smith already took home a record $3.6 million for his victory at The Players Championship in March.
Not only was the increased U.S. Open prize money welcomed news for those who contended for the national championship, but even those who finished in top 20 are set to receive a significant sum. All top 20 finishers are receiving north of $200,000 for their troubles tackling The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Let's take a look at how much the payouts for the 2022 U.S. Open will be divided among the top 60 players.
2022 U.S. Open purse, prize money
1st (Winner): $3,150,000 -- Matt Fitzpatrick
2nd: $1,890,000 -- Will Zalatoris, Scottie Scheffler ($1.56M each)
3rd: $1,225,374
4th: $859,032 -- Hideki Matsuyama
5th: $715,491 -- Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy ($674,953 each)
6th: $634,415
7th: $571,950 -- Denny McCarthy, Adam Hadwin, Keegan Bradley ($515,934 each)
8th: $512,249
9th: $463,604
10th: $425,830 -- Gary Woodland, Joel Dahmen ($407,220 each)
11th: $388,609
12th: $359,311 -- Seamus Power, Jon Rahm ($347,058 each)
13th: $334,805
14th: $309,008 -- Guido Migliozzi, Marc Leishman, Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Tringale, Sebastian Munoz, Hayden Buckley, Nick Hardy ($241,302 each)
15th: $286,896
16th: $268,470
17th: $253,729
18th: $238,988
19th: $224,247
20th: $209,506
21st: $196,792
22nd: $184,078
23rd: $171,732 -- Joohyung Kim
24th: $160,308 -- Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Schenk, Dustin Johnson ($150,849 each)
25th: $150,358
26th: $141,882
27th: $135,432 -- Thomas Pieters, Min Woo Lee, Aaron Wise, Sam Burns ( $127,002 each)
28th: $129,720
29th: $124,192
30th: $118,665
31st: $113,137 -- MJ Daffue, Callum Tarren, Todd Sinnott, Andrew Putnam, Patrick Rodgers, Davis Riley ($100,331 each)
32nd: $107,609
33rd: $102,081
34th: $97,106
35th: $93,052
36th: $88,998
37th: $85,129 -- K.H. Lee, Justin Rose, Joseph Bramlett, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Matthew NeSmith ($75,916 each)
38th: $81,444
39th: $77,758
40th: $74,073
41st: $70,388
42nd: $66,703
43rd: $63,017 -- Chris Gotterup, Travis Vick (a), Richard Bland, Brian Harman ($57,582 each)
44th: $59,332
45th: $55,647
46th: $52,330
47th: $49,013 -- Joaquin Niemann, Max Homa ($47,447 each)
48th: $45,881
49th: $44,038 -- Sam Bennett (a), Patrick Reed, Sam Stevens, David Lingmerth ($41,873 each)
50th: $42,196
51st: $41,090
52nd: $40,169
53rd: $39,432 -- Sebastian Soderberg, Beau Hossler ($39,248 each)
54th: $39,063
55th: $38,695 -- Brooks Koepka
56th: $38,326 -- Will Bessling, Chris Naegel, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau ($35,774 each)
57th: $37,958
58th: $37,589
59th: $37,221
60th: $36,852 -- Brandon Matthews
When golfers tie for a position, their share of the purse is an average of what those competitors would be paid if they were positioned in order. Harris English and Austin Greaser (T61), Grayson Murray (63rd) and Stewart Hagestad-a (64th) will all earn sums under $36,852.
Rick Gehman, Patrick McDonald and Kyle Porter recap the 2022 U.S. Open. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
