Hoisting the Claret Jug at the conclusion of this 151st Open Championship on Sunday was one of most desired moments that could occur in golf this season. Brian Harman earned that honor with a sterling four days of play at Royal Liverpool including one of the best putting performances in a major we have seen in quite some time.
Beyond now being able to bump shoulders with the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as major champions at Royal Liverpool, Harman will bring home to the United States some hardware and a tremendous $3 million check by claiming the winner's prize.
The R&A increased the purse for the 2023 Open significantly, ballooning it to $16.5 million up from the $14 million total payout available last year when The Open was held on the Old Course at St. Andrews. While more is being paid out to golfers than ever by the R&A, The Open still sits behind the U.S. Open ($20 million), Masters ($18 million) and PGA Championship ($17.5 million) among major payouts.
"Our aim is to ensure The Open remains at the pinnacle of world golf and we have almost doubled the prize fund since 2016," said R&A CEO Martin Slumbers before the tournament. "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. We believe that getting this balance right is vital to the long-term future of the sport."
In 2016, the total prize money paid out was $8.5 million. Because of the exchange rate, it was actually higher back in 2014 when McIlroy won his third major championship at Royal Liverpool. The purse that week was over $9.2 million.
Here's a look at the full purse and each individual payout for the 151st Open Championship.
2023 Open Championship purse, prize money
Total purse: $16.5 million
1st (Winner): $3,000,000 -- Brian Harman
2nd: $1,708,000 -- Jon Rahm, Jason Day, Tom Kim, Sepp Straka ($1,084,625 each)
3rd: $1,095,000
4th: $851,000
5th: $684,500
6th: $593,000 -- Rory McIlroy, Emiliano Grillo ($551,250 each)
7th: $509,500
8th: $429,700 -- Cameron Young, Shubhankar Sharma ($403,350 each)
9th: $377,000
10th: $340,500 -- Tommy Fleetwood, Max Homa, Matthew Jordan ($308,400 each)
11th: $310,000
12th: $274,700
13th: $258,300 -- Henrik Stenson, Hideki Matsuyama, Thomas Detry ($241,633 each)
14th: $241,800
15th: $224,800
16th: $206,600 -- Laurie Canter, Xander Schauffele, Alex Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland ($192,575 each)
17th: $196,600
18th: $187,500
19th: $179,600
20th: $171,100 -- Tyrell Hatton, Sungjae Im, Antoine Rozner ($163,067 each)
21st: $163,100
22nd: $155,000
23rd: $146,700 -- Adrian Meronk, Scottie Scheffler, Matthew Southgate, Louis Oosthuizen, Alex Noren, Stewart Cink, Byeong Hun An, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Nicolai Hojgaard ($121,490 each)
24th: $138,500
25th: $133,800
26th: $128,000
27th: $123,300
28th: $119,100
29th: $113,800
30th: $108,000
31st: $104,500
32nd: $99,200
33rd: $95,700 -- Adam Scott, Oliver Wilson, Patrick Cantlay, Richard Bland, Wyndham Clark, Cameron Smith, Patrick Reed, Romain Langasque ($84,113 each)
34th: $93,000
35th: $89,800
36th: $86,200
37th: $82,200
38th: $78,000
39th: $75,200
40th: $72,800
41st: $69,800 -- Marcel Siem, Victor Perez, Hurly Long, Jordan Smith, J.T. Poston, Alexander Bjork, Min Woo Lee, Matt Fitzpatrick ($58,725 each)
42nd: $66,400
43rd: $63,400
44th: $59,800
45th: $56,400
46th: $53,400
47th: $51,300
48th: $49,300
49th: $47,000 -- Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Abraham Ancer, Brendon Todd ($45,933 each)
50th: $45,900
51st: $44,900
52nd: $44,100 -- Ryan Fox, Corey Conners, Michael Stewart ($43,433 each)
53rd: $43,400
54th: $42,800
55th: $42,100 -- Andrew Putnam, Gary Woodland, Adrian Otaegui, Zach Johnson ($41,375 each)
56th: $41,500
57th: $41,100
58th: $40,800
59th: $40,500 -- Brandon Robinson-Thompson
60th: $40,200 -- Scott Stallings, Bryson DeChambeau, Kurt Kitayama, Rikuya Hoshino ($39,900 each)
61st: $40,000
62nd: $39,800
63rd: $39,600
64th: $39,400 -- Padraig Harrington, Brooks Koepka, Richie Ramsay, Guido Migliozzi ($39,025 each)
65th: $39,200
66th: $38,900
67th: $38,600
68th: $38,300 -- Danny Willett, David Lingmerth, Sami Valimaki ($38,033 each)
69th: $38,000
70th: $37,800
71st: $37,675 -- Robert MacIntyre, Thomas Pieters, Joost Luiten ($37,550 each)
72nd: $37,550
73rd: $37,425
74th: $37,300 -- Christo Lamprecht (a), Thirston Lawrence
75th: $37,175 -- Zack Fischer (76th)
Because more than 70 pros qualified for the final two rounds, additional prize money was be added. According to the R&A, prize money decreased by $125 per qualifying place above 70 to a minimum of $36,550.
Rick Gehman is joined by Kyle Porter, Patrick McDonald and Greg DuCharme to break down Brian Harman's dominant win at the 151st Open Championship. It's storylines, a betting recap and the One & Done. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
