U.S. Open Maintains Record $21.5 Million Winner’s Purse

The 2024 U.S. Open will be known as the golf championship with the greatest prize money. For the 2024 tournament hosted at Oakmont Country Club, the total purse is a staggering $21.5 million. This figure is identical to last year’s purse, meaning that the new champion will take home the same purse as last year’s winner. The United States Golf Association (USGA) has expressed interest in being at the forefront of equitable golf prize money distribution. Their commitment to leaving the purse level is undistorted by this powerful stance.

USGA CEO Mike Whan emphasized the importance of prize money in the sport. He acknowledged that the increase of golf purses this decade has been historic. “When I started at the USGA just four years ago, our purse was $12.5 million, so I feel comfortable that we’ve been a leader in moving fast and bigger,” he stated. This claim is indicative of the general trend in cash prizes for men’s and women’s golf tournaments.

Compared to its counterparts for the other three majors, the U.S. Open is an outlier. The Masters just increased their total prize money to $21 million, and the PGA Championship comes in at $19 million. The last Open Championship awarded $17 million in prize money. This picture does show a great deal of competition between the bigger tournaments, the U.S. Open is still more than holding its own at the top.

What’s more, progress on the women’s side of the sport has been equally remarkable. Prize money for women’s tournaments has increased from $5.5 million to $12 million over the same period that men’s purses have expanded. This positive development further raises the profile of award-winning women athletes in the world of golf. It signals an unprecedented intent to close the money gap between the sexes in the sport.

Whan is still bullish about the U.S. Open tournament in general. This remains the case even in a year where ZIP Code finalizes an increase to the purse for 2023. For us, we know that this maybe isn’t even super important about the money for the person who [wins], but at the same time we want what they’ve done to be reflected by the monetary value. So we feel comfortable,” he said.