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US Open Golf 2022: $17.5M Purse Announced, $3.1M Prize Awarded to 1st Place
June 15, 2022
The U.S. Open increased its overall purse to $17.5 million for its 2022 iteration, per Jason Sobel of the Action Network, an increase of about $5 million from last year.
It also pushed the prize pool above the most recent Masters Tournament and PGA Championship.
The prize for first place will be $3.1 million.
The news comes amid a small defection in professional golf to the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf, a new tour accused of being part of the Saudi Arabian government's sportswashing of human-rights abuses.
A number of prominent players—most notably Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Patrick Reed—joined the LIV circuit.
The PGA Tour has suspended those players, though the United States Golf Association runs the U.S. Open and at least for now is allowing LIV golfers to participate in the event. That may change in the future, however:
"I could foresee a day," USGA CEO Mike Whan said about it eventually being more difficult for LIV players to participate in the U.S. Open. "Do I know what that day looks like? No, I don't. To be honest with you, what we're talking about [LIV Golf] was different two years ago, and it was different two months ago than it is today. We've been doing this for 127 years, so I think [the USGA] needs to take a long-term view of this and see where these things go. So we're not going to be a knee-jerk reaction to kind of what we do."
Seven LIV Golf players—including Mickelson, Johnson and Garcia—will be playing in this week's event at Brookline, Massachusetts' The Country Club.
The defection of players to LIV Golf has become the prominent storyline surrounding the sport and likely will continue throughout the tournament despite some players growing weary of the conversation, including Brooks Koepka:
Rex Hoggard @RexHoggardGCBrooks Koepka on the LIV Golf situation:<br>"I don't understand. I'm trying to focus on the U.S. Open, man. I legitimately don't get it. I'm tired of the conversations. I'm tired of all this stuff. Like I said, y'all are throwing a black cloud on the U.S. Open. I think that sucks."
Perhaps the tournament's large prize pool will add a bit of sunshine for players like Koepka.