PGA Walks Prize Money Tightrope

Morning Edition

May 14, 2026

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The PGA Championship—the second major of the year—tees off Thursday at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia. The tournament has one of the strongest fields in golf. But the prize money in recent years has lagged behind other majors and many top-tier golf events.

—David Rumsey

First Up

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The PGA Championship’s Prize-Money Balancing Act

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — The 156-player field at the PGA Championship, which starts Thursday at Aronimink Golf Club, is annually one of the strongest in golf. But the prize money up for grabs in recent years has lagged behind other majors and many top-tier golf events.

“It’s a balanced approach,” PGA of America CEO Terry Clark said Wednesday when asked about the prize-money strategy by Front Office Sports during his pre-tournament press conference.

The PGA of America, a separate organization from the PGA Tour, operates the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup, among other events.

This year’s purse will be announced Saturday morning, which is standard for the PGA Championship. Last year’s prize money was $19 million, up $500,000 from 2024 and a record for the tournament, but third out of the four major championships behind the U.S. Open ($21.5 million) and the Masters, which paid out $21 million in 2025 and raised its 2026 purse to $22.5 million last month. The Open Championship paid out $17 million.

“It’s not always in comparison to all of [the other majors],” Clark said of the PGA Championship’s strategy. “What are the factors that make sense? We do look at it as an annual focus around how we get competitive purses.”

Last week, USGA CEO Mike Whan told FOS the U.S. Open’s prize-money strategy is “not a race” with the Masters or anyone else.

Beyond the majors, the PGA Tour’s eight $20 million signature events all have larger purses than the PGA Championship, as does the tour’s $25 million Players Championship. So do all LIV Golf events, which are paying out $33 million this season ($23 million to players, $10 million to teams).

PGA Championship’s Identity

Clark, who was hired in February following former PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague stepping down after just one year, pushed back on two ideas that have been circulating about the future of the PGA Championship: moving out of its current May date and back to August, and playing internationally.

“I really think we’ve got a strong position in May,” Clark said. “Certainly I’m always going to look at what could make us better, but not actively looking at: should we look and move this to later or back to August.”

The PGA Championship in 2019 started playing in May, in a move that allowed the PGA Tour to host its entire postseason in August and finish before the NFL season.

As far as hosting the PGA Championship outside the U.S., Clark said, “I don’t see that being a real focus as far as right now. It’s not something that I really looked at and discussed. I think we have a great identity, and that identity [is] tied to those venues here; we have plenty of opportunities to establish that identity in this country.”

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ONE BIG FIG

Free Food

Front Office Sports

$0

General admission at the PGA Championship this week includes all-inclusive food and beverages. Three market concession locations throughout the course offer everyone inside the gates—paid spectators, volunteers, staffers, media—unlimited free food and nonalcoholic beverages. But if you want alcohol while you roam the greens, you’ll have to pay up. Beer prices at the PGA Championship start at $15, glasses of wine are $13.50, and High Noon seltzers are $16.50. Classic cocktails are $17. Read the story.

Daily sports trivia: Can you list the last five unique winners of the PGA Championship starting with 2025?

LOUD AND CLEAR

LIV’s Ryder Cup Future

May 12, 2026; Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, Luke Donald plays a fairway shot during a practice round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club.

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

“Right now, obviously the simple answer is no.”

—European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, on whether a LIV Golf player could ever serve as a Ryder Cup captain. “Just because it’s in the policy that [players] left and that was stipulated,” Donald said Wednesday during his pre-tournament press conference ahead of the PGA Championship.

In 2023, Donald replaced Henrik Stenson, who was stripped of his Ryder Cup captaincy after leaving the DP World Tour to join LIV. Donald led Europe to wins in 2023 in Italy and last year in New York. He will captain Europe again next year in Ireland.

“There’s uncertainty to what’s going to happen with LIV in the future,” Donald said. “I’m sure policies do change, but that will be up to really the [DP World] Tour.”

Led by Spain’s Jon Rahm and American star Bryson DeChambeau, there are 11 LIV players competing at the PGA Championship this week.

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