WGC-Match Play Purse And Prize Money Breakdown

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