Open Championship Purse Increases to Record $2.5M for Winner

The R&A announced Friday it's increased the purse for next week's 2022 Open Championship by 22 percent from last year, bringing the total prize money to $14 million.

Ryan Herrington of Golf Digest noted the winner at the Old Course at St Andrews will receive a tournament-record $2.5 million along with the famed Claret Jug.

"We have made this substantial investment while balancing our wider commitments to developing golf at all levels around the world and to continuing to elevate the AIG Women's Open," R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said.

Purse size is one of the biggest storylines in the sport since Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf debuted last month with massive guaranteed contracts and no-cut tournaments with lucrative prize pools.

While the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, formerly known as the European Tour, have banned golfers who jumped to LIV from their events, the four major tournaments are individual entities and have so far allowed those golfers to compete.

In June, the R&A confirmed that would be the case for the Open Championship, as well.

"The Open is golf's original championship, and since it was first played in 1860, openness has been fundamental to its ethos and unique appeal," Slumbers said at the time.

Next week's Open will mark the end of the 2022 major schedule. Three different players have captured the titles awarded so far: Scottie Scheffler in The Masters, Justin Thomas in the PGA Championship and Matt Fitzpatrick in the U.S. Open.

Collin Morikawa is the defending Open Championship winner after taking home the Claret Jug from Royal St George's last July.

Scheffler, Thomas, Fitzpatrick and Morikawa are once again among the top contenders at St. Andrews. Other top-tier title hopefuls include Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth. Tiger Woods is also expected to compete in the event for the first time since 2019.

Play is scheduled to begin Thursday at St. Andrews in Scotland.