Players Championship 2015 Prize Money: Purse and Payout Info for TPC Sawgrass
A field stacked with the best golfers in the world will take to TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for the 2015 Players Championship. Play begins on Thursday, May 7. The tournament is one of the most lucrative in the sport.
Per PGATour.com, the total purse is $10 million with the winner set to take home $1.8 million. We haven't seen the official payout structure for the players who finish behind the leader, but the Masters Tournament's purse setup might be some indication.
The 2015 Masters had a total purse of $10 million as well, with the same $1.8 million figure going to Jordan Spieth as he won his first green jacket. Per Augusta.com, here's how the PGA Tour structured the payouts for the Masters:
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| Place | Payout Amount |
| 1st | $1,800,000 |
| 2nd | 1,080,000 |
| 3rd | 680,000 |
| 4th | 480,000 |
| 5th | 400,000 |
| 6th | 360,000 |
| 7th | 335,000 |
| 8th | 310,000 |
| 9th | 290,000 |
| 10th | 270,000 |
| 11th | 250,000 |
| 12th | 230,000 |
| 13th | 210,000 |
| 14th | 190,000 |
| 15th | 180,000 |
| 16th | 170,000 |
| 17th | 160,000 |
| 18th | 150,000 |
| 19th | 140,000 |
| 20th | 130,000 |
| 21st | 120,000 |
| 22nd | 112,000 |
| 23rd | 104,000 |
| 24th | 96,000 |
| 25th | 88,000 |
| 26th | 80,000 |
| 27th | 77,000 |
| 28th | 74,000 |
| 29th | 71,000 |
| 30th | 68,000 |
| 31st | 65,000 |
| 32nd | 62,000 |
| 33rd | 59,000 |
| 34th | 56,500 |
| 35th | 54,000 |
| 36th | 51,500 |
| 37th | 49,000 |
| 38th | 47,000 |
| 39th | 45,000 |
| 40th | 43,000 |
| 41st | 41,000 |
| 42nd | 39,000 |
| 43rd | 37,000 |
| 44th | 35,000 |
| 45th | 33,000 |
| 46th | 31,000 |
| 47th | 29,000 |
| 48th | 27,400 |
| 49th | 26,000 |
| 50th | 25,200 |
Even 50th place isn't too bad for four days of work.
Top Contenders
Jordan Spieth
The 21-year-old Texan was dominant from start to finish at Augusta National. Performances like that raise the bar for the remainder of a player's career. Spieth has the talent to meet the expectations. He's the current FedEx Cup leader, and his confidence should be high after winning his first major.
Spieth also played well in this tournament last year. He settled for a tie for fourth in 2014 when he finished with a two-over 74 on the final day. As a player with another year of experience and accomplishments under his belt, Spieth is one to watch.
Rory McIlroy
After a stellar 2014, Rory McIlroy is still looking to put his stamp on 2015. That's not to say the world No. 1 has had a bad year thus far. He finished fourth at the Masters and won the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship last week.
Per Hank Gola of the New York Daily News, McIlroy said Spieth's success pushed him to play well in the match-play event.
""I think everyone, not just me, but everyone on tour was inspired seeing Jordan do what he did at Augusta," McIlroy said Sunday in San Francisco.
"This is the start of a nice little run of golf for me and I wanted to come out and play well and increase my lead in the world rankings, which I've done after this win, and keep it going. But it's always nice to have people pushing you, and I feel like he's one of the guys doing that right now."
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The two men are grouped together—along with Jason Day—for the first two rounds of the tournament. That group should have a good amount of attention.
If Tiger Woods can pull off an inspired performance at TPC Sawgrass, it might be the most amazing victory of his career. Already dogged by the anniversary of his father's death this week, Woods is also dealing with the very public split between himself and girlfriend Lindsey Vonn.
Woods talked about his struggles just after a practice round at TPC Sawgrass. Per Steve DiMeglio of USA Today, Woods said:
"I've always had to deal with stuff outside the ropes, and once you're inside the ropes it's time to tee it up and time to play. You go out there, and for me I focus, I get into my little world, my little zone and do the best I possibly can for that, well, it used to be four hours. Now they're five-hour rounds, a five-hour time period. You grind it out and win golf tournaments because at the end, to me that's what I want to do at that particular week is win a tournament.
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Some players thrive on the field, course or court when things around them are in disarray. Woods hopes to be one of those athletes on Thursday when play kicks off at The Players Championship.
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