For the fifth time in its storied history, The Open Championship is being hosted at Royal Birkdale. The tournament was last staged at this iconic venue in 2017, when Jordan Spieth registered a four-round score of 268 to secure his third major. Spieth was awarded a cool $1.845m for his efforts, with his American compatriot Matt Kuchar receiving just north of $1m after nailing down the runners-up position.
Incidentally, 2017 was the first year in which organisers published prize money totals in dollars. Prior to that, the purse was always expressed in pounds sterling.
Following his stunning performance at Royal Portrush in last year’s Open, reigning champion Scottie Scheffler took home a colossal $3.1m (£2.3m). Having also romped to victory at Quail Hollow in the PGA Championship just over two months earlier, the popular New Jerseyan earned a bumper pay cheque in 2025.
A brief timeline
There was no prize money on offer at any of the first three editions of the Open, but the champion did receive the revered Challenge Belt. After Willie Park Snr. claimed victory in the tournament’s inaugural edition, ‘Old’ Tom Morris – who had finished as runner-up in 1860 – went on to win the next two Open Championships.
A first-ever prize pot of £10 was commissioned in 1863, but this was shared equally between the eight professionals competing at the 14-player event. A financial incentive for winning was introduced the following year, with the champion earning 40% (£6) of the £15 kitty.
Upon clinching his third consecutive title in 1870, ‘Young’ Tom Morris gained possession of the Challenge Belt on a permanent basis. Remarkably, this resulted in the tournament being cancelled the following year as there was no trophy to award. The Open Championship returned with the Claret Jug in 1872, but there was no notable increase in prize money to accompany the unveiling of what would become a revered piece of silverware.
At the very beginning of the 20th century, the purse rose substantially to £125 having slowly crept up during the preceding years. It was just £10 higher when Jersey’s Harry Vardon – the most successful player in the tournament’s history – won the last of his six Open Championships in 1914, a month ahead of the outbreak of the First World War. On its return in 1920, the prize pot was boosted to £225 before steadily rising throughout the interwar period.
As had been the case almost three decades earlier following the conclusion of a different major conflict, extra funds were added after the Second World War, which triggered a seven-year pause in proceedings. The legendary Sam Snead took a £150 cut from a £1000 bounty in 1946, having reigned supreme at St. Andrews for the first and only time in his glittering career.
By the time Tom Watson won the first of his five Open Championship crowns in 1975, participants at Carnoustie were competing for a share of £75k. A sharp and sudden increase then followed over the next decade, culminating in the prize fund eclipsing £500k in 1985. Just over 10% of this fee was distributed to winner Sandy Lyle, who navigated four rounds of Royal St. George’s in 282 strokes to pip Payne Stewart to the post.
Rather fittingly, Tiger Woods was the first player to receive half a million pounds at the Open Championship. The poster boy of golf’s modern revolution, Woods became the youngest player in history to complete a career grand slam (beating Jack Nicklaus’ previous long-standing record) when he hoisted the Claret Jug aloft in 2000.
Zach Johnson broke new ground by winning the 2015 Open Championship, where he celebrated raking in £1.15m after delivering a fine display at St. Andrews. The 2007 Masters champion certainly had to work hard for his payday, coming through a tense four-hole play-off clash against Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman to land first place in Fife.
With Scottie Scheffler accruing exactly twice as much as Johnson thanks to his aforementioned heroics in County Antrim, the last ten years have produced yet another huge uplift in prize money. This is a trend we’ve seen right across the golfing landscape, best evidenced by the Tour Championship’s $40m reward scheme.
What is this year’s purse?
The prize pot for the 2026 Open Championship stands at an eye-watering $17.75m (£15.3m), the largest sum ever distributed in the tournament’s history. That equates to a $750k (£560k) uplift on the previous year, which was in itself a record fee.
The winner is set to earn $3.2m (£2.4m), while the remaining two of the top three players will receive over $1m (£742k) each. A place amongst the top seven is accompanied by a payout that is certain to exceed $500k (£372,900).
Following the first two rounds of action, the field will be ‘cut’ on Friday night. Those who have delivered the 70 lowest scores will continue into the weekend, while the others are eliminated from the competition. The cut line can fluctuate significantly, as evidenced by the two most recent editions of the Open Championship. Brutal conditions at Royal Troon resulted in a progressive score of +6 being good enough to qualify for the final two days, whereas last year’s cut line was drawn at just one over par.
If multiple players are tied in 70th position at the conclusion of Friday’s play, the cut will be extended to allow all those affected to progress to the next round. However, this situation would have a slight impact on reward allocations. The player finishing the competition in 70th receives $40,700 (£30,400) regardless of the size of the weekend’s field, while 71st would earn $125 (£100) less. This pattern would continue on a sliding descending scale for those ranked 72nd and below, with prize money dropping by $125 (£100) each time. The lowest fee for any golfer who makes it to the 18th green on Sunday is $39,450 (£29,400), as the prize fee is frozen at this stage. However, there would have to be eleven or more players tied in 70th position – just as there was at Royal Troon in 2024 – for the scale to descend that far.
The top ten ranked professionals positioned immediately beneath the cut line are awarded $12.9k (£9.6k), with a $10,750 (£8k) stipend given to the next 20 best professionals below them. Amateurs are not eligible to receive prize money, regardless of where they finish in the competition.
2026 Prize money
Here is the full prize money breakdown for this year’s Open Championship:
1. $3,200,000 (£2,386,700)
2. $1,842,000 (£1,373,800)
3. $1,181,000 (£880,800)
4. $917,000 (£683,900)
5. $738,000 (£550,400)
6. $639,700 (£477,100)
7. $549,700 (£410,000)
8. $463,250 (£345,500)
9. $406,200 (£303,000)
10. $367,000 (£273,700)
11. $334,200 (£249,300)
12. $296,000 (£220,800)
13. $278,500 (£207,700)
14. $260,700 (£194,400)
15. $241,900 (£180,400)
16. $222,700 (£166,100)
17. $212,000 (£158,100)
18. $202,000 (£150,700)
19. $193,600 (£144,400)
20. $184,500 (£137,600)
21. $175,900 (£131,200)
22. $167,100 (£124,600)
23. $158,100 (£117,900)
24. $149,300 (£111,400)
25. $144,250 (£107,600)
26. $138,000 (£102,900)
27. $133,000 (£99,200)
28. $128,400 (£95,800)
29. $122,800 (£91,600)
30. $116,500 (£86,900)
31. $112,700 (£84,100)
32. $106,900 (£79,700)
33. $103,100 (£76,900)
34. $100,200 (£74,700)
35. $96,700 (£72,100)
36. $92,900 (£69,300)
37. $88,500 (£66,000)
38. $84,100 (£62,700)
39. $81,000 (£60,400)
40. $78,400 (£58,500)
41. $75,200 (£56,100)
42. $71,500 (£53,300)
43. $68,300 (£50,900)
44. $64,400 (£48,000)
45. $60,700 (£45,300)
46. $57,600 (£43,000)
47. $55,300 (£41,250)
48. $53,100 (£39,600)
49. $50,700 (£37,800)
50. $49,400 (£36,800)
51. $48,350 (£36,100)
52. $47,500 (£35,400)
53. $46,800 (£34,900)
54. $46,100 (£34,400)
55. $45,300 (£33,800)
56. $44,700 (£33,300)
57. $44,250 (£33,000)
58. $43,950 (£32,800)
59. $43,625 (£32,500)
60. $43,325 (£32,300)
61. $43,100 (£32,100)
62. $42,900 (£32,000)
63. $42,700 (£31,800)
64. $42,500 (£31,700)
65. $42,150 (£31,400)
66. $41,825 (£31,200)
67. $41,500 (£31,000)
68. $41,200 (£30,700)
69. $40,900 (£30,500)
70. $40,700 (£30,400)
Please see the previous section for details of prize money for those finishing outside of the top 70 places.