12 Perks Of Winning The PGA Championship - What Scottie Scheffler Gets

There are plenty of perks to winning the PGA Championship, aside from the prestige of winning a Major championship and writing your name in history.

PGA Champions win one of the greatest trophies in golf that has most of the men's game's legendary names on it as well as some incredible exemptions, a huge pay check, world rankings points and more.

Take a look at the perks that Scottie Scheffler gets for winning the PGA Championship:

1. The trophy

The historic and iconic Rodman Wanamaker trophy is easily one of the best trophies in the sport and one of the biggest, too.

Scheffler gets to keep the Wanamaker Trophy for a year before returning it at the following year's tournament. He'll then get a 90% replica of the trophy once the original trophy is returned next year at Aronimink.

"It's nice for the pictures because your biceps are usually flexed. So it makes you look a bit stronger than you actually are," two-time PGA Championship winner Rory McIlroy said.

"But it's very cool. It's a very cool trophy. And you know you've beat one of the strongest fields, if not the strongest field, of the year. It's a huge championship in our game with a lot of history.

"Yeah, I mean, it looks heavy. It's big. I didn't know how heavy it was, but it's pretty meaty."

The trophy was donated by Lewis Rodman Wanamaker in New York City all the way back in 1916 and it weighs 34lbs with a height of 19 1/4 inches. It has an interesting history, as Walter Hagen lost the Wanamaker Trophy for a few years in the 1920s.

2. Lifetime exemption

The best perk of winning the championship is that PGA Champions are exempt into the Major for the rest of their career, so Scheffler gets to return year after year without worrying about his world ranking or qualifying in other ways.

This is why the likes of Shaun Micheel, Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer, Jason Dufner and Jimmy Walker are still able to tee it up each year.

The Masters is the only other men's Major that offers a lifetime of return entries, which Scheffler has of course won twice.

The US Open gives a 10-year exemption to its champion, while the Open winner qualifies for the event until they're 55.

3. Major exemptions

PGA Champions earn invites to the three other Majors for the next five years, meaning they'll secure spots in the Masters, the US Open and Open Championship.

One Major victory gets you a guaranteed 20 Major starts for the next five years.

4. Senior Major exemptions

As well as lifetime starts in the PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler now has a lifetime exemption into the Senior PGA Championship as well as entry into the Senior Open until he turns 65.

5. The Champions Dinner

Just like The Masters, the PGA Championship has its own past champions' dinner on the Tuesday of tournament week. Will we see Scottie-style Sliders next year?

The dinner has been running since 1965 and allows spouses and family, as opposed to Augusta National's 'Masters Club' that is only open to past Masters champions and the club's chairman.

It also allows Senior PGA winners, as Richard Bland was at the dinner in 2025 after winning the over-50 version of this championship in 2024.

6. Money

Scheffler wins $3.42m from the PGA Championship prize money payout, up by $90,000 compared to what last year's winner Xander Schauffele earned.

It's life-changing cash for many but nothing out of the ordinary in today's game - or Scheffler, who is one of the richest golfers in the world. LIV Golf wins earn $4m while PGA Tour Signature events offer $3.6m-$4m so $3.42 isn't the highest, but it's still obviously a very healthy paycheck.

7. Champions' Locker Room

While the regular competitors change their shoes in the players locker room, Scottie Scheffler will be able to make use of the PGA Champions' own exclusive spot to bask in his win alongside his fellow Wanamaker Trophy winners.

8. Tour memberships

A five-year PGA Tour card is awarded to the PGA Champion, while the winner also earns a DP World Tour card for seven years, too. That's great job security.

9. World ranking points

PGA Championship winners receive 100 Official World Golf Ranking points, which means Scheffler will stretch his lead over Rory McIlroy at the summit.

All of the four men's Majors offer 100 OWGR points to the winner, with the next-best Players Championship awarding 80.

10. FedEx Cup points

With his win, the Texan picks up 750 FedEx Cup points, which is 250 more than the 500 on offer at regular PGA Tour events.

All four men's Majors plus the Players Championship offer 750 points, while the Signature Events give 700 to the winner.

11. Ryder Cup points

Every US player who makes the cut in a Major wins 1.5 Ryder Cup points per $1,000 earned, which is 50% more than the usual 1 point per $1,000 for regular PGA Tour events.

That means a huge $3m+ payday will equal a massive allocation of points and go a long way to moving Scheffler up the standings - albeit he is already a lock for the team unless an injury hampers him.

If the PGA Championship winner was a European, they would have earned 835 points, which far exceeds the 500 on offer to Players Championship and Signature Event winners as well as the 335 that goes to Rolex Series winners.

Regular DP World Tour events give 168 or 250 points to the champion.

To put it simply, if you win a Major in 2025 you'll almost certainly be in or around the fringes of the qualifying spots.

12. Other tournament exemptions

Winners of the PGA Championship earn a spot in the Players Championship for the next five years as well as most other PGA Tour and DP World Tour events due to the memberships on offer.

They also earn a spot in January's 'The Sentry' in Hawaii and the next year's Signature Events due to the near-guarantee of finishing inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings.