British Open Prize Money 2017: Total Purse Info for Royal Birkdale Golf Club

The 2017 Open Championship will be contested from Thursday through Sunday at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England.

If the previous two Open Championships at Royal Birkdale are any indication, this should be one of the stiffest tests the pros face all year. In fact, no one shot under par at either the 1998 or 2008 Opens.

Per a press release from the R&A (h/t Geoff Shackelford), the total prize-money pool is $10,250,000. In addition to receiving one of the most prized trophies in world sport (the Claret Jug), the winner of the 2017 Open Championship will also get a cool $1,845,000.

Here's a look at the prize money for the top 10 finishers:

The Open has taken place at Royal Birkdale nine times, and there has never been a fluke winner. For example, Arnold Palmer has won here, and so has Tom Watson. Mark O'Meara and Padraig Harrington won The Masters and PGA Championship, respectively, in the years they won the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale.

Therefore, don't expect the winner to come out of left field. That being said, the competition is so fierce this week that it wouldn't be a surprise to see a lesser-known player in good form take the trophy.

Here's a peek at three players—one sleeper, one veteran and one favorite—who will have good weeks.

Sleeper: Russell Henley

If you take a look at Russell Henley's page on the PGA Tour website, you'll notice that he does pretty much everything well. He hits the ball long and straight off the tee, has an above-average approach game and is one of the best putters on Tour.

Henley also has an impressive major record dating back to the 2015 Masters. He's played in eight of the 10 majors (he did not participate in the 2016 Masters or U.S. Open) and managed top-30 finishes in six of them.

It's easy to forget now after Brooks Koepka destroyed his U.S. Open competition on Sunday, but Henley was within striking distance of the lead when he teed off on the final day. Unfortunately, his normally trusty putter abandoned him, and he shot a 79 to close with a 27th-place finish.

Expect Henley to bounce back from that disastrous U.S. Open ending and land in the top 10 this week.

Veteran: Lee Westwood

Westwood has finished in the top five of major tournaments 11 times in his career. Somehow, he has not won yet.

The guess here is that Westwood will find himself in contention yet again deep into Sunday. The 44-year-old Englishman has plenty of experience on links courses, and he has finished top 10 in The Open five times. His efforts at Royal Birkdale in 1998 and 2008 weren't as successful, but he made the cut twice.

Still, playing at Royal Birkdale in major settings twice undoubtedly gives him a leg up on pretty much everyone in the field save for a few players (e.g. Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington). Given how tricky the course can be, especially in bad weather, Westwood can use his experience to his advantage.

Westwood didn't fare well at his last tournament this season, as he missed the cut at the Irish Open, but prior to that, he made six straight cuts, including four top-20 finishes. He'll manage a top-20 result this week at minimum.

Favorite: Jon Rahm

Lee Trevino is another legend who has won at Royal Birkdale, doing so in 1971. He spoke with Art Stricklin of Golf.com recently about some wild times then (if you get a chance, read the entire piece) and predicted that 22-year-old Jon Rahm would emerge victorious this year:

"You can tell just by watching him he loves links golf, has played it a bunch, and has got the power to be successful. Just look what he did on the links at the Irish Open last week. That’s who I would be putting my money on next week."

After missing the cut at the U.S. Open and publicly losing his cool, Rahm finished 10th at The Open de France and dominated the Irish Open, finishing 24 under and beating runners-up Richie Ramsay and Matthew Southgate by six strokes.

When he's on, Rahm is one of the best golfers in the world. He is second on the PGA Tour in strokes gained tee to green behind only Dustin Johnson and has managed eight top-10 finishes in 15 events in 2017.

Although Rahm is young, he is very talented and has a lot of experience playing links golf. Therefore, he could emerge as the winner this week.

However, it comes down to whether Rahm keeps his cool on the course. If he does, then he could win this tournament running away. If he doesn't, then he could miss the cut.

The prediction here: Rahm manages to stay calm and finishes no worse than fifth.