PGA Championship payout distribution 2026: Prize money, purse and winner's share

The 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink was always set up for a wild Sunday finish. With a bunched leaderboard that the difficult conditions and setup created, anyone who was able to create separation in the final round was poised to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy. And that's what Aaron Rai did on Sunday as Alex Smalley faded as the 54-hole leader and the big names chasing couldn't quite get it going. Not only did that put Rai in line for a career-altering victory, but also a massive payout at the PGA Championship. And he made sure he was taking home the winner's prize.

Over the years, the PGA Championship purse has been the smallest among the four major championships in golf. That still may be the case, but the tournament now has the richest prize money for the winner and total purse in its history. And we have all the info you need about the payouts this week at Aronimink.

PGA Championship winner's prize money: Total purse and champion's payout

As the winner of the 2026 PGA Championship, Aaron Rai will take home $3.69 million in prize money, the largest champion's payout in the history of the tournament. That's because the governing body for the PGA Championship, the PGA of America, increased the total purse to a record $20.5 million this year. While that still might end up making it the smallest purse in golf, it's caught up to its peers in that capacity this year with a $1.5 million increase in purse size.

Not only does that give us a record amount of prize money for the victor at Aronimink this week, but it also means, naturally, that the rest of the payouts down the leaderboard are on the rise as well.

PGA Championship payout distribution by finishing position in 2026

Here's a look at the full PGA Championship payouts by finishing position at Aronimink this week:

As mentioned, the increased PGA Championship purse size has the payouts absolutely booming at Aronimink, and not just the more than $3.6 million heading to the winner's bank account. We also have all of the top-three finishers taking home more than $1 million and then the Top 33 on the leaderboard (before ties split the difference) who will clear $100,000 for the week.

Players who miss the cut at the PGA Championship still receive prize money

The PGA Championship and the governing PGA of America have been one of the tournaments that compensates players who miss the cut in the major championship. Obviously, their payout and stipend is lesser than that of players who made the weekend, but players who missed the cut at Aronimink will still take home $4,300, so they didn't work for nothing on the weekend.

Even that prize money has actually increased in recent years, as we saw players who missed the cut in 2025 take home just $4,000. While $300 doesn't make a world of difference for these pro golfers, it's still a cool thing at select majors when players are rewarded for just making it into the field.

PGA Championship purse history: Winners and their prize money

The PGA Championship has traditionally been the smallest purse among the four major championships in golf, and this pretty clearly shows that. While even last year, the total purse had increased by $7 million over the previous five years of the tournament, they were the last of the four majors to cross the $20 million threshold, which they just did this year.

As we always talk about, part of that is simply the money boom in the world of golf essentially since right after the COVID-19 pandemic. But regardless, the PGA of America has undoubtedly followed suit with that, and have caught up at least somewhat to their major championship peers when it comes to the prize money being doled out.

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