The final major championship of the 2026 golf season has concluded with the best players in the world attacking Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, at The Open Championship. As has been the case for years, The Open has the lowest prize purse of any of the four majors by a substantial margin, but that does not make raising the Claret Jug any less valuable for Ryan Fox, the 2026 Champion Golfer of the Year.
This year, the R&A increased the total Open Championship purse to $17.5 million, a $500,000 upgrade from 2025. That is still $3 million shy of the next-closest major purse (PGA Championship, $20.5 million in 2026), but the organization is not necessarily seeking to ensure it flexes the highest payout, especially given the history associated with The Open and its courses.
While purses around the golf world have skyrocketed, The Open has maintained a steady approach to its purse structure, making consistent, modest increases rather than the huge leaps made by the other majors. The allure of The Open isn’t the money; it’s the chance for players to etch their names in golf history by winning the Claret Jug at the oldest of the majors and claiming the coveted title of Champion Golfer of the Year.
Perhaps this is something of a statement from the R&A to avoid competing with the Masters and U.S. Open in a prize-money arms race while keeping The Open a bit purer, even if that means payouts are below those of a PGA Tour signature event.
Still, there is a handsome check that comes with claiming the Champion Golfer of the Year crown and lifting the Claret Jug: Fox will take home $3.2 million with the top seven finishers earning at least $500,000 and the top 34 on the final leaderboard all bringing home six-figure payouts.
It’s been a history-making week in England with three different players tying the major-championship scoring record (Fox, Sam Burns, Lucas Herbert), and Fox ultimately emerged as a deserving champion, completing the largest 36-hole comeback by position in men’s major championship history.
2026 Open Championship prize money, purse
Total purse: $17.5 million
1st: $3,200,000 — Ryan Fox
2nd: $1,842,000 — Cameron Young
3rd: $1,181,000 — Sam Burns
4th: $917,000 — Tommy Fleetwood, Scottie Scheffler ($827,500 each)
5th: $738,000
6th: $639,700 — Lucas Herbert, Casey Jarvis, Si Woo Kim ($550,833 each)
7th: $549,700
8th: $463,250
9th: $406,200 — Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Ryan Gerard, Russell Henley, Adam Scott, Ludvig Åberg ($336,380 each)
10th: $367,000
11th: $334,200
12th: $296,000
13th: $278,500
14th: $260,700 — Sungjae Im, Hideki Matsuyama, Corey Conners, Bryson DeChambeau ($234,325 each)
15th: $241,900
16th: $222,700
17th: $212,000
18th: $202,000 — Daniel Brown, Bud Cauley, Jordan Smith, Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Marco Penge, Kristoffer Reitan, Collin Morikawa, Alex Noren, Chris Gotterup ($164,575 each)
19th: $193,600
20th: $184,500
21st: $175,900
22nd: $167,100
23rd: $158,100
24th: $149,300
25th: $144,250
26th: $138,000
27th: $133,000
28th: $128,400 — Robert MacIntyre, John Parry, Pierceson Coody, Cameron John, Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry, Victor Perez, Jackson Suber, Max Homa, Kazuma Kobori, Jacob Bridgeman ($102,817 each)
29th: $122,800
30th: $116,500
31st: $112,700
32nd: $106,900
33rd: $103,100
34th: $100,200
35th: $96,700
36th: $92,900
37th: $88,500
38th: $84,100
39th: $81,000
40th: $78,400 — J.J. Spaun, Thomas Detry, Matt Wallace, Kurt Kitayama, Rory McIlroy, Michael Thorbjornsen ($69,750 each)
41st: $75,200
42nd: $71,500
43rd: $68,300
44th: $64,400
45th: $60,700
46th: $57,600 — Jon Rahm, Jose Luis Ballester Barrio, Patrick Reed, Hennie Du Plessis, Matthew Southgate, Francesco Molinari, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra ($51,707 each)
47th: $55,300
48th: $53,100
49th: $50,700
50th: $49,400
51st: $48,350
52nd: $47,500
53rd: $46,800 — Shaun Norris, Sahith Theegala, Eric Cole, Michael Brennan, Ryo Hisatsune, Alex Smalley ($45,183 each)
54th: $46,100
55th: $45,300
56th: $44,700
57th: $44,250
58th: $43,950
59th: $43,625 — Naoyuki Kataoka, Min Woo Lee, Nick Taylor, Aldrich Potgieter, Ben Griffin, Johnny Keefer ($43,025 each)
60th: $43,325
61st: $43,100
62nd: $42,900
63rd: $42,700
64th: $42,500
65th: $42,150 — Justin Thomas, Peter Uihlein ($41,988 each)
66th: $41,825
67th: $41,500 — Nico Echavarría, Sepp Straka ($41,350 each)
68th: $41,200
69th: $40,900 — Tyrrell Hatton, Andy Sullivan ($40,800 each)
70th: $40,700
71st: $40,575 — MJ Daffue, Laurie Canter, Alex Fitzpatrick ($40,450 each)
72nd: $40,450
73rd: $40,325
74th: $40,200 — Marcus Plunkett, Keegan Bradley, Kazuki Higa ($40,075 each)
75th: $40,075
76th: $39,950
77th: $39,825 — Jack Mcdonald
78th: $39,700 — Jesper Svensson
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