Open Championship Prize Money 2021

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published 14 July 2021

The 'Champion Golfer of the Year' will leave Kent with a huge sum of money

Open Championship Prize Money 2021

As well as the title of ‘Champion Golfer of the Year’ and their place in golfing history, the winner of this year’s Open Championship at Royal St George’s will receive a record pay-out.

For the first time in the tournament’s 149 editions, the cheque for first place will breach the $2m mark, with the winner set to leave Kent $2,070,000 richer.

The total prize pot now stands at $11.5m, which equates to a little over £8.3m, and brings The Open more in line with the other three majors - in terms of the financial reward, anyway.

Speaking on the news, Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said: “We have increased the prize fund for The Open this year and believe that it fully reflects the Championship’s stature in world sport.

“As the only men’s major championship played outside of America, The Open has a global role to play and we are determined to continue to attract the top players. We are further enhancing the status of our professional championships at the same time as making good progress towards our investment of £200 million over ten years in growing golf around the world.”

Shane Lowry will make his long-awaited title defence this year having lifted his maiden major title in spectacular fashion at Royal Portrush in 2019. For that, he walked away with a measly $1,935,000.

If more than 70 professional golfers qualify for the final two rounds, additional prize money will be added.

Here’s a breakdown of how the fund will be split this year:

1. $2,070,000

2. $1,198,000

3. $768,000

4. $597,000

5. $480,000

6. $416,000

7. $357,000

8. $301,500

9. $264,000

10. $238,500

11. $217,000

12. $192,500

13. $180,750

14. $170,000

15. $157,750

16. $145,000

17. $138,000

18. $131,500

19. $126,000

20. $120,000

21. $114,500

22. $108,500

23. $103,000

24. $97,000

25. $94,000

26. $90,000

27. $86,500

28. $83,500

29. $80,000

30. $76,000

31. $73,250

32. $69,500

33. $67,250

34. $65,250

35. $63,000

36. $60,500

37. $57,500

38. $54,750

39. $52,750

40. $51,000

41. $49,000

42. $46,500

43. $44,500

44. $42,000

45. $39,500

46. $37,500

47. $36,000

48. $34,500

49. $33,000

50. $32,250

51. $31,500

52. $31,000

53. $30,500

54. $30,000

55. $29,500

56. $29,100

57. $28,800

58. $28,600

59. $28,400

60. $28,200

61. $28,000

62. $27,900

63. $27,800

64. $27,700

65. $27,500

66. $27,300

67. $27,100

68. $26,900

69. $26,700

70. $26,500

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A lifelong golf fan, Andy graduated in 2019 with a degree in Sports Journalism and got his first role in the industry as the Instruction Editor for National Club Golfer. From there, he decided to go freelance and now covers a variety of topics for Golf Monthly.

Andy took up the game at the age of seven and even harboured ambitions of a career in the professional ranks for a spell. That didn’t pan out, but he still enjoys his weekend golf at Royal Troon and holds a scratch handicap. As a side note, he's made five holes-in-one and could quite possibly be Retief Goosen’s biggest fan.

As well as the above, some of Andy's work has featured on websites such as goal.com, dailyrecord.co.uk, and theopen.com.

What's in Andy's bag?

Driver: Callaway Mavrik Sub-Zero (9°)

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (15°)

Driving iron: Titleist U500 (17°)

Irons: Mizuno mp32 (4-PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (50°, 54° and 58°)

Putter: Titleist Scotty Cameron Newport 2.5

Ball: TaylorMade TP5x