Open Championship CEO Raises Alarm Over Golf’s Financial Future

The final men’s golf major of the year is underway at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. But before the Open Championship began Thursday, the outgoing CEO of the tournament’s governing body, the R&A, expressed concern about the sport’s financial sustainability.

This year, prize money at the four men’s majors totaled $77 million, marking the first time the collective sum surpassed $75 million.

• U.S. Open: $21.5 million
• The Masters: $20 million
• PGA Championship: $18.5 million
• The Open Championship: $17 million

The Open annually offers the smallest purse of the four, though. It is also lower than the $20 million offered at PGA Tour signature events, as well as the $25 million purses at the Players Championship and in LIV Golf tournaments.

“While we will always offer a very competitive prize fund for the Open, our wider focus is on increasing participation and improving pathways in golf,” said Martin Slumbers, who will be succeeded at the R&A by English rugby executive Mark Darbon later this year. “We have to make choices about how we allocate resources and make the resources we have go as far as they can.

“There has been a massive increase in prize money,” Slumbers added. “You can look at every sort of number of other sports and things, and you see this going in waves. Do I think it will continue? No, I don’t. I think that there is a natural balance that will be achieved.” Slumbers said it’s important for the R&A to “not lose sight of that overall pyramid and the importance of the bottom and the top and helping it all grow because without one or the other, it won’t.”

LIV Pathways

There are 17 LIV players competing at the Open—more than in any of the other three major fields this season. With LIV tournaments still not receiving world ranking points, tour members were forced to compete in the Open qualifying series, if not otherwise exempt. 

“Will that evolve in the coming years? I think that depends on how the game evolves,” Slumbers said. “But we will continue to want the best players in the world to be able to get into the Open in an appropriate way.”

Last summer, Slumbers wouldn’t rule out striking a financial deal with LIV’s backers at the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. But there haven’t been significant developments on that front, and Slumbers wasn’t asked about the PIF this week.