The Open Championship payouts, prize money by player and total purse for 2025 at Royal Portrush

Scottie Scheffler entered Sunday at Royal Portrush for the 2025 Open Championship for what could be construed as a potential coronation. After winning the PGA Championship earlier this year, Scheffler surged into the 36-hole lead and then added to it on Saturday at The Open to take a four-stroke lead into Sunday. The winner's prize money from the $17 million purse felt like it was already in his back pocket. And he tucked it in there deeper throughout

Scheffler set the tone in the final round almost immediately, making birdie on the first hole, then adding two more in his first five holes, even though he failed to make birdie on the Par-5 second hole. He did make an ugly double bogey on the eighth hole after getting caught in a fairway bunker and failing to take his medicine. But he made those two shots up with two more birdies over his next four holes. From there, even with Harris English charging his mightiest, Scheffler was streaking toward the prize money and his fourth major championship victory. Everyone else was playing for second.

But hey, playing for second place when there's a $17 million purse involved isn't a bad thing. That means there is a lot of prize money to go around, right? How do The Open Championship payouts break down, though? Let's dive into all the money involved at Royal Portrush, from Scheffler's share as the winner to how the rest of the payouts will be distributed.

The Open purse 2025: Winner's prize money, total purse

Scottie Scheffler will receive $3.1 million in prize money for winning The Open Championship and the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush in 2025. That's the same amount that Xander Schauffele won in 2024, as well, as the $17 million purse has remained the same from last year to this year.

The British Open offers the smallest purse and winner's prize money out of the four major championships. Of course, $3.1 million is never anything to turn your nose up at. However, the U.S. Open offered a $21.5 million purse and $4.3 million to the winner, The Masters held a $21 million purse with $4.2 million to the champion, and the PGA Championship even had a $19 million purse with $3.42 million in winner's prize money earlier this year.

Open Championship payouts distribution by finishing position in 2025

Though the purse is only $17 million, the smallest of the four major championships, you can still see the Top 70 players who ultimately made the cut this week will still be well compensated. All but three players who made the cut will make at least $40,000 for their week at Royal Portrush. Beyond that, all of the top three finishers get at least $1 million going into their bank account, the Top 7 will receive $500K or more and 33 players will receive a six-figure payday.

There's a lot of dough going around for a strong finish at The Open Championship, but it's even more impressive when you consider that the R&A and The Open also hand out prize money just for qualifying to play in the major championship, even if the player failed to make the cut.

How much prize money do players who missed the cut receive?

The top 10 professionals who made the cut at The Open will receive $12,350 in prize money at The Open Championship. The next 10 pros will then get $10,300. Once you get outside of the Top 20 who didn't make the cut at Royal Portrush, there is still a small payday as the rest of the professionals who didn't play the weekend still get $8,750. Considering not every major championship and certainly no PGA Tour events offer that for players who miss the cut, this is definitely a cool gesture from the R&A that gives The Open even more aura and prestige.

Open Championship payouts for winners, list of champions over the last 5 years

With The Open not being played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we actually get a beautiful look at how much the purse size at this tournament has ballooned. Just six years ago, the championship was also at Royal Portrush, leading to Shane Lowry's monumental first major victory. In the six years since, the total purse size has now grown $6.25 million and the winner's share of the prize money alone has increased by $1.165 million, which isn't far off from what Lowry won back in 2019.

So, while The Open Championship purse didn't increase from 2024 to 2025, the amount that it's grown in recent history is impossible to ignore — or complain about if you're the players.