Australia’s Cameron Smith has claimed his maiden major victory at the 2022 British Open, hoisting the coveted Claret Jug and pocketing another casual US$2.5 million / AU$3.7 million worth of prize money in the process — but what did every other player earn?
This year, The Open – which was hosted on the hallowed grounds of St Andrews – distributed both its largest purse and the largest winner’s share in tournament history. All up, the total comes to a staggering US$14 million / AU$20.6 million.
“There have been significant changes in prize money over the last year,” said Martin Slumbers, CEO of the R&A (via Reuters).
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“We have therefore increased the prize fund by 22%, which means that the prize money has increased by more than 60% since 2016.”
Despite the bump, The Open still only represents the fifth-highest payday of the season behind the three other majors — the US Open, the Masters, and the PGA Championship — and the Players Championship. It ranks even further down the list when the Saudi-backed rebel league LIV Golf is accounted for (but let’s not go there).
While the difference between Cameron Smith and Cameron Young was just a single stroke by when the event’s 150th iteration concluded, the disparity in dollars was far more significant. US$1,005,000 / AU$1,477,455 to be precise. In third place, crowd favourite Rory McIlroy will see even less with a sub-million lump sum (USD).
In any case, it’s a helluva lot more than Jamie Rutherford at 83rd – who’ll only receive US$30,950 / AU$45,00 – and certainly more than your average punter working a nine-to-five.
Check out the 2022 British Open prize money below.
British Open Prize Money – St Andrews (2022)
NOTE: All $$$ = USD
1. Cameron Smith [Winner]: $2,500,000 (-20)
2. Cameron Young: $1,455,000 (19)
3. Rory McIlroy: $933,000 (-18)
T-4. Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland: Ordinarily $725,000 | $654,000 each (-14)
T6. Brian Harman, Dustin Johnson: Ordinarily $505,000 | $469,500 each (-13)
T-8. Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Spieth: Ordinarily $366,000 | $325,666 each (-12)
T-11. Sadom Kaewanijana, Abraham Ancer, Tyrrell Hatton, Dean Burmester: Ordinarily $264,000 | $231,000 each (-11)
T-15. Lucas Herbert, Xander Schauffele, Anthony Quayle, Francesco Molinari, Adam Scott, Si Woo Kim: Ordinarily $191,500 | $165,583 each (-10)
T-21. Billy Horschel, Min Woo Lee, Trey Mullinax, Shane Lowry, Kevin Kisner, Matt Fitzpatrick, Scottie Scheffler: Ordinarily $139,000 | $120,286 each (-9)
T-28. Tony Finau, Corey Conners, Harold Varner III, Will Zalatoris, Dylan Frittelli, Thomas Pieters: Ordinarily $101,500 | $90,917 each (-8)
T-34. Thomas Detry, Robert MacIntyre, Talor Gooch, Lee Westwood, Sahith Theegala, Jon Rahm, Victor Perez, Aaron Wise: Ordinarily $79,250 | $68,906 each (-7)
T-42. Sam Burns, Jason Kokrak, Thriston Lawrence, Adrian Meronk, Chris Kirk: Ordinarily $56,500 | $51,000 each (-6)
T-47. Patrick Reed, Garrick Higgo, Jordan Smith, Yuto Katsuragawa, Joo-Hyung Kim, Filippo Celli: Ordinarily $43,700 | $40,100 each (-5)
T-53. Joaquin Niemann, Danny Willett, Robert Dinwiddie, Lars Van Meijel, Justin Thomas, Paul Casey, Jason Scrivener, Brad Kennedy, Nicolai Hojgaard: Ordinarily $37,000 | $35,256 each (-4)
T-62. Cameron Tringagle, Sebastian Munoz, John Parry, David Carey, Ian Poulter, Russell Henley: Ordinarily $33,900 | $33,442 each (-3)
T-68. Sergio Garcia, Hideki Matsuyama, Christian Bezuidenhout, Richard Mansell: Ordinarily $32,600 | $32,318 each (-2)
T-72. David Law, Kurt Kitayama: Ordinarily $31,950 | $31,888 each (-1)
T-74. Marcus Armitage, Justin De Los Santos: Ordinarily $31,700 | $31,638 each (E)
T-76. Wyndham Clark, Adri Arnaus, Aaron Jarvis (a): Ordinarily $31,450 | $31,325 each (+1)
T-79. Barclay Brown (a), Laurie Canter: Ordinarily $31,075 | $31,013 each (+2)
T-81. Sam Bairstow (a), Sungjae Im: $30,950 each (+4)
83. Jamie Rutherford: $30,950 (+4)
Prize money decreased by $125 per qualifying place above 70 to a minimum of $30,950.
Cameron Smith becomes just the fifth Australian to ever win the British Open, joining Peter Thompson (1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1965), Kel Nagle (1960), Ian Baker-Finch (1991), as well as Greg Norman (1993) — and the first to win in 29 years since The Shark.
