British Open Payout 2013: Golfers Who'll Enjoy Bigger Payday at Next Major

Phil Mickelson will be taking an over-sized check worth a tidy $1.43 million to his bank after capturing his first British Open title. 

Obviously, he will not be on the below list. Well, technically I suppose I could include him. Rory McIlroy made $1.445 million last year by winning the PGA Championship. However, I'm going to focus a little more on golfers with a chance to make a more drastic improvement, and Mickelson belongs nowhere near that group. 

With a five-under 66 on Sunday, Lefty moved to three under and won by three strokes. It was a final round for the ages, which not only led to Mickelson notching his fifth major and first British Open title, but adding a bucket's worth of cash for his four days of work. 

Mickelson's cash haul is nearly double the $823,167 that second-place finisher Henrik Stenson earned. 

So, with the year's third major a thing of the past, it is time to set our sights to the Oak Hill Country Club, located in the Town of Pittsford, New York, for the PGA Championship beginning on August 8. 

Check out the final leaderboard and the payouts, and then I'll take a closer look at three golfers who will close out the major season with a better showing. 

2013 Open Championship Prize Money

POS	PLAYER	TO PAR	R1	R2	R3	R4	EARNINGS
1	Phil Mickelson	-3	69	74	72	66	$1,442,826
2	Henrik Stenson	E	70	70	74	70	$832,106
T3	Ian Poulter	+1	72	71	75	67	$428,776
T3	Adam Scott	+1	71	72	70	72	$428,776
T3	Lee Westwood	+1	72	68	70	75	$428,776
T6	Hideki Matsuyama	+2	71	73	72	70	$249,377
T6	Zach Johnson	+2	66	75	73	72	$249,377
T6	Tiger Woods	+2	69	71	72	74	$249,377
T9	Francesco Molinari	+3	69	74	72	72	$175,582
T9	Hunter Mahan	+3	72	72	68	75	$175,582
T11	Brandt Snedeker	+4	68	79	69	72	$142,756
T11	Angel Cabrera	+4	69	72	73	74	$142,756
T13	Justin Leonard	+5	74	70	74	71	$121,381
T13	Miguel Jimenez	+5	68	71	77	73	$121,381
T15	Eduardo De La Riva	+6	73	73	75	69	$95,043
T15	Harris English	+6	74	71	75	70	$95,043
T15	Charl Schwartzel	+6	75	68	76	71	$95,043
T15	Danny Willett	+6	75	72	72	71	$95,043
T15	Matt Kuchar	+6	74	73	72	71	$95,043
T15	Keegan Bradley	+6	75	74	70	71	$95,043
T21	Stephen Gallacher	+7	76	70	76	69	$72,218
T21	Darren Clarke	+7	72	71	76	72	$72,218
T21	Richard Sterne	+7	75	75	68	73	$72,218
T21	Rafael Cabrera Bello	+7	67	74	76	74	$72,218
T21	Sergio Garcia	+7	75	73	68	75	$72,218
T26	Jason Dufner	+8	72	77	76	67	$56,873
T26	Stewart Cink	+8	72	75	76	69	$56,873
T26	Jonas Blixt	+8	72	78	73	69	$56,873
T26	Steven Tiley	+8	72	75	73	72	$56,873
T26	Paul Lawrie	+8	81	69	70	72	$56,873
T26	Ernie Els	+8	74	74	70	74	$56,873
T32	Oliver Fisher	+9	70	78	77	68	$39,251
T32	Shane Lowry	+9	74	74	75	70	$39,251
T32	Fred Couples	+9	75	74	73	71	$39,251
T32	Y.E. Yang	+9	78	70	73	72	$39,251
T32	Thongchai Jaidee	+9	79	71	71	72	$39,251
T32	Bubba Watson	+9	70	73	77	73	$39,251
T32	Bud Cauley	+9	74	75	71	73	$39,251
T32	Martin Kaymer	+9	72	74	72	75	$39,251
T32	Dustin Johnson	+9	68	72	76	77	$39,251
T32	Jason Day	+9	73	71	72	77	$39,251
T32	Jamie Donaldson	+9	74	71	71	77	$39,251
T32	Ryan Moore	+9	72	70	72	79	$39,251
T44	Bo Van Pelt	+10	76	73	77	68	$24,641
T44	Tim Clark	+10	72	76	76	70	$24,641
T44	Martin Laird	+10	70	71	81	72	$24,641
T44	Freddie Jacobson	+10	72	75	75	72	$24,641
T44	Geoff Ogilvy	+10	75	75	72	72	$24,641
T44	Mark Brown	+10	77	73	72	72	$24,641
T44	K.J. Choi	+10	76	74	71	73	$24,641
T44	Jordan Spieth	+10	69	74	76	75	$24,641
T44	Shingo Katayama	+10	73	77	69	75	$24,641
T44	Matthew Fitzpatrick	+10	73	76	73	72	$0
T54	Padraig Harrington	+11	73	75	77	70	$20,955
T54	Marcus Fraser	+11	73	74	76	72	$20,955
T54	Gonzalo Fdez-Castano	+11	70	79	73	73	$20,955
T54	Carl Pettersson	+11	74	76	70	75	$20,955
T58	Mark O'Meara	+12	67	78	77	74	$20,077
T58	Richie Ramsay	+12	76	74	72	74	$20,077
T58	Boo Weekley	+12	74	76	71	75	$20,077
T58	Tom Lehman	+12	68	77	75	76	$20,077
T58	Graeme McDowell	+12	75	71	73	77	$20,077
T58	Johnson Wagner	+12	73	72	73	78	$20,077
T64	Ben Curtis	+13	74	71	80	72	$19,085
T64	Chris Wood	+13	75	75	75	72	$19,085
T64	Branden Grace	+13	74	71	77	75	$19,085
T64	Webb Simpson	+13	73	70	77	77	$19,085
T64	Bernd Wiesberger	+13	71	74	75	77	$19,085
T64	Ken Duke	+13	70	77	73	77	$19,085
T64	Gregory Bourdy	+13	76	70	74	77	$19,085
T71	Gareth Wright	+14	71	78	75	74	$18,398
T71	George Coetzee	+14	76	71	75	76	$18,398
T73	Shiv Kapur	+15	68	77	83	71	$17,864
T73	Kyung-tae Kim	+15	73	76	77	73	$17,864
T73	Russell Henley	+15	78	71	75	75	$17,864
T73	Todd Hamilton	+15	69	81	70	79	$17,864
T73	Thomas Bjorn	+15	73	74	72	80	$17,864
T73	Jimmy Mullen	+15	71	78	75	75	$0
T79	Kevin Streelman	+16	74	71	82	73	$17,253
T79	Mikko Ilonen	+16	72	78	76	74	$17,253
T79	Peter Senior	+16	74	76	73	77	$17,253
82	Josh Teater	+17	72	77	75	77	$16,947
83	Graham Delaet	+19	76	72	76	79	$16,795
84	Sandy Lyle	+23	76	72	80	79	$16,642

Matt Kuchar, $95,043

Matt Kuchar got off to a slow start in this tournament by firing a 74 and 73. However, his trend of one-stroke improvement continued. He finished off with weekend scores of 72 and 71 to wind up tied for 15th.

Kuchar was undoubtedly hoping for a better finish, but his strong close was a great sign.

Heading into the U.S. Open, Kuchar was on fire. He was fresh off a victory in the Memorial and he was second in his previous start.

Then he was a lackluster 28th at the U.S. Open and played poorly in a European stop in his only start between the majors.

I expect Kuchar to get back to his excellent consistency to close the year, and he is my early pick to win the PGA Championship.

Bubba Watson, $39,251

Were it not for a third-round 77, Bubba Watson would have been in line for a bigger payday. However, that one bad round is not overly shocking. The 2013 Masters champ has had a hard time putting together four solid rounds all year.

He doesn't have a top-three finish yet this year, and only three top 10s.

However, he is beginning to turn the corner. A month ago, his fourth-place finish at the Travelers Championship was his best since his fourth in his first start of the year. He posted four rounds in the 60s to finish tied for 30th at Greenbrier in his only start between majors. 

Watson has been solid with his putter in this stretch, and that continued with him needing 1.78 putts while hitting 62.5 percent of his greens in regulation at Muirfield.

And his power certainly isn't suffering: 

Watson is a streaky player. He's been coasting a bit this season, but I see him finding the zone just in time for the PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy, $0 

I'm not really going out on a limb on this one. All Rory McIlroy will have to do at the PGA Championship to make more money than he did at the British is make the cut. 

Well, maybe I am going out on a limb?

McIlroy was awful in his two rounds. He wasn't even close to the cut, which was at eight over. After rounds of 79 and 75, McIlroy finished at 12 over.

This tweet by by Golf Digest's Dan Jenkins sums up his play:

There is little sign that the former No. 1 is about to turn his game around, but he is too talented not to.

According to McIlroy, it is all in his head:

While a mental block in golf is nothing to be taken lightly, it is easier to overcome when someone has as much natural talent as McIlroy. 

I'm not going to predict McIlroy will contend for the title at Oak Hill, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did, and he'll definitely play better than he did this week.