Bullet point summary by AI
- The 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink offers a record $20.5 million total purse and a $3.69 million winner’s share.
- Aaron Rai claimed the Wanamaker Trophy and the largest payout in PGA Championship history after a dramatic final round.
- Players finishing in the top three each earned over $1 million, with even those missing the cut receiving $4,300.
The 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink was always set up for a wild Sunday finish. With a bunched leaderboard that the difficult conditions and setup created, anyone who was able to create separation in the final round was poised to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy. And that’s what Aaron Rai did on Sunday as Alex Smalley faded as the 54-hole leader and the big names chasing couldn’t quite get it going. Not only did that put Rai in line for a career-altering victory, but also a massive payout at the PGA Championship. And he made sure he was taking home the winner’s prize.
Over the years, the PGA Championship purse has been the smallest among the four major championships in golf. That still may be the case, but the tournament now has the richest prize money for the winner and total purse in its history. And we have all the info you need about the payouts this week at Aronimink.
PGA Championship winner’s prize money: Total purse and champion’s payout
As the winner of the 2026 PGA Championship, Aaron Rai will take home $3.69 million in prize money, the largest champion’s payout in the history of the tournament. That’s because the governing body for the PGA Championship, the PGA of America, increased the total purse to a record $20.5 million this year. While that still might end up making it the smallest purse in golf, it’s caught up to its peers in that capacity this year with a $1.5 million increase in purse size.
Not only does that give us a record amount of prize money for the victor at Aronimink this week, but it also means, naturally, that the rest of the payouts down the leaderboard are on the rise as well.
PGA Championship payout distribution by finishing position in 2026
Aaron Rai at the PGA Championship | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Here’s a look at the full PGA Championship payouts by finishing position at Aronimink this week:
Finishing Position
PGA Championship Prize Money
Winner: Aaron Rai
$3.69 million
T2. Jon Rahm
$1.804 million
T2. Alex Smalley
$1.804 million
T4. Justin Thomas
$843,867
T4. Ludvig Åberg
$843,867
T4. Matti Schmid
$843,867
T7. Cameron Smith
$637,050
T7. Rory McIlroy
$637,050
T7. Xander Schauffele
$637,050
T10. Kurt Kitayama
$496,708
T10. Chris Gotterup
$496,708
T10. Justin Rose
$496,708
T10. Patrick Reed
$496,708
T14. Matt Fitzpatrick
$364,763
T14. Scottie Scheffler
$364,763
T14. Max Greyserman
$364,763
T14. Ben Griffin
$364,763
T18. Jordan Spieth
$221,832
T18. Stephan Jaeger
$221,832
T18. Padraig Harrington
$221,832
T18. David Puig
$221,832
T18. Harris English
$221,832
T18. Min Woo Lee
$221,832
T18. Joaquin Niemann
$221,832
T18. Maverick McNealy
$$221,832
T26. Nick Taylor
$125,523
T26. Alex Noren
$125,523
T26. Cameron Young
$125,523
T26. Andrew Novak
$125,523
T26. Daniel Hillier
$125,523
T26. Tom Hoge
$125,523
T26. Sam Burns
$125,523
T26. Hideki Matsuyama
$125,523
T26. Bud Cauley
$125,523
T35. Christiaan Bezuidenhout
$78,806
T35. Patrick Cantlay
$78,806
T35. Ryo Hisatsune
$78,806
T35. Daniel Berger
$78,806
T35. Ryan Fox
$78,806
T35. Haotong Li
$78,806
T35. Aldrich Potgieter
$78,806
T35. Si Woo Kim
$78,806
T35. Martin Kaymer
$78,806
T44. Matt Wallace
$50,348
T44. Shane Lowry
$50,348
T44. Jhonattan Vegas
$50,348
T44. Denny McCarthy
$50,348
T44. Chandler Blanchet
$50,348
T44. Taylor Pendrith
$50,348
T44. Dustin Johnson
$50,348
T44. Nicolai Hojgaard
$50,348
T44. Michael Kim
$50,348
T44. Kristoffer Reitan
$50,348
T44. Chris Kirk
$50,348
T55. Collin Morikawa
$34,186
T55. Corey Conners
$34,186
T55. Andrew Putnam
$34,186
T55. Brooks Koepka
$34,186
T55. Mikael Lindberg
$34,186
T60. Sami Valimaki
$29,218
T60. Sahith Theegala
$29,218
T60. Rico Hoey
$29,218
T60. Rickie Fowler
$29,218
T60. Brian Harman
$29,218
T65. Casey Jarvis
$26,900
T65. Jason Day
$26,900
T65. Rasmus Hojgaard
$26,900
T65. Keith Mitchell
$26,900
T65. Sam Stevens
$26,900
T70. Luke Donald
$25,070
T70. Ryan Gerard
$25,070
T70. John Parry
$25,070
T70. William Mouw
$25,070
T70. Kazuki Higa
$25,070
T75. Elvis Smylie
$24,193
T75. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
$24,193
T75. Alex Fitzpatrick
$24,193
T75. Daniel Brown
$24,193
79. John Keefer
$23,970
80. Ben Kern
$23,930
81. Michael Brennan
$23,910
82. Brian Campbell
$23,900
As mentioned, the increased PGA Championship purse size has the payouts absolutely booming at Aronimink, and not just the more than $3.6 million heading to the winner’s bank account. We also have all of the top-three finishers taking home more than $1 million and then the Top 33 on the leaderboard (before ties split the difference) who will clear $100,000 for the week.
Players who miss the cut at the PGA Championship still receive prize money
Bryson DeChambeau at the PGA Championship | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
The PGA Championship and the governing PGA of America have been one of the tournaments that compensates players who miss the cut in the major championship. Obviously, their payout and stipend is lesser than that of players who made the weekend, but players who missed the cut at Aronimink will still take home $4,300, so they didn’t work for nothing on the weekend.
Even that prize money has actually increased in recent years, as we saw players who missed the cut in 2025 take home just $4,000. While $300 doesn’t make a world of difference for these pro golfers, it’s still a cool thing at select majors when players are rewarded for just making it into the field.
PGA Championship purse history: Winners and their prize money
Year
Winner
Winner’s Prize Money
Total Purse
2025 PGA Championship
Scottie Scheffler
$3.42 million
$19 million
2024 PGA Championship
Xander Schauffele
$3.33 million
$18.5 million
2023 PGA Championship
Brooks Koepka
$3.15 million
$17.5 million
2022 PGA Championship
Justin Thomas
$2.7 million
$15 million
2021 PGA Championship
Phil Mickelson
$2.16 million
$12 million
The PGA Championship has traditionally been the smallest purse among the four major championships in golf, and this pretty clearly shows that. While even last year, the total purse had increased by $7 million over the previous five years of the tournament, they were the last of the four majors to cross the $20 million threshold, which they just did this year.
As we always talk about, part of that is simply the money boom in the world of golf essentially since right after the COVID-19 pandemic. But regardless, the PGA of America has undoubtedly followed suit with that, and have caught up at least somewhat to their major championship peers when it comes to the prize money being doled out.
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