The winner of the WGC-Match Play will take home $2.1million from a total prize pool of $12million this week at Austin Country Club in Texas. Each of the 64 participants will earn a minimum of $40,000, even if they lose every game of the round-robin group stage.
Those who make it out of the group and into the round of 16 are guaranteed $220,000, while those who bow out in the quarter-finals get $386,000. The top four finishers will split nearly $5million between them, with $2.1million for 1st, $1.32million for 2nd, $852,000 for 3rd and $685,000 for 4th. The winner also receives 550 FedEx Cup points and 74 Official World Golf Ranking points.
Losers in the group stage are paid more depending on how well they did, even though they haven’t progressed to the round of 16. This means that even dead rubbers should remain competitive, with payouts dependent on how many points are earned. The payouts, which will be determined once it’s known how many players fall into each category, are different for those who earned 0 points, 0.5 points, 1 point, 1.5 points and 2 points.
Billy Horschel is the defending champion, having earned $1.82million for beating Scottie Scheffler 2&1 in last year’s final. He will be looking to join Jason Day and Geoff Ogilvy as two-time winners of this event, with Tiger Woods the only three-time champion.
The WGC-Match Play first became a PGA Tour event in 1999, when it was a 64-player straight knockout tournament. Since 2015, the format has been adjusted so the 64 players are divided into 16 groups of 4 players, who face each other in a round-robin format, with all group winners advancing to the round of 16.
The top 64 players in the world rankings are invited to take part, though some have pulled out for various reasons. Cameron Smith withdrew soon after his victory at The Players Championship, wanting to spend more time with his family after a couple of years apart due to the pandemic. Sam Burns also pulled out straight after winning, having taken down the Valspar Championship last week. Rory McIlroy decided to take a rest this week, while Phil Mickelson is on an extended break from golf. Harris English and Hideki Matsuyama are both injured.
This is one of only two World Golf Championship events on the PGA Tour this year, down from the usual four, with the WGC-HSBC Champions event in November the only other WGC event in 2022.
WGC-MATCH PLAY PRIZE MONEY FULL BREAKDOWN
1 $2,100,000
2 $1,320,000
3 $852,000
4 $685,000
5 $386,000
6 $386,000
7 $386,000
8 $386,000
9 $220,000
10 $220,000
11 $220,000
12 $220,000
13 $220,000
14 $220,000
15 $220,000
16 $220,000
17 $164,000
18 $154,000
19 $148,000
20 $142,000
21 $136,000
22 $130,000
23 $125,000
24 $120,000
25 $116,000
26 $112,000
27 $108,000
28 $104,000
29 $100,000
30 $96,000
31 $93,000
32 $90,000
33 $87,000
34 $84,000
35 $81,000
36 $78,000
37 $75,000
38 $72,000
39 $70,000
40 $68,000
41 $66,000
42 $64,000
43 $62,000
44 $60,000
45 $58,000
46 $56,000
47 $54,000
48 $52,000
49 $51,000
50 $50,000
51 $49,000
52 $48,000
53 $47,000
54 $46,000
55 $45,000
56 $44,000
57 $43,500
58 $43,000
59 $42,500
60 $42,000
61 $41,500
62 $41,000
63 $40,500
64 $40,000
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