How PGA Tour Purses Are Paid Out

A PGA Tour purse is not split evenly among the players; it is divided using a fixed percentage table, with the winner taking 18 percent of the total and every finishing position below earning a smaller set share. So the runner-up receives about 10.9 percent, third place roughly 6.9 percent, and the payouts scale steadily downward through everyone who makes the cut.

Because the distribution is defined as percentages rather than fixed dollar amounts, the same table works no matter how large the purse is. Double the purse and every player’s check doubles, but the winner still gets 18 percent. Here is how that structure works, why it is so top-heavy, and what it means for players fighting over a single position on Sunday.

The purse is split by percentage, not evenly

The most important thing to understand is that a golf purse is carved up according to a standard distribution table the PGA Tour applies to full-field events. The champion earns the largest slice by far, and each subsequent position earns a defined, smaller percentage.

That is very different from a league where every player draws a fixed salary. In golf, what you earn in a given week depends entirely on where you finish, and the gaps near the top are large. The table below shows the standard percentage each of the top finishing positions receives.

The percentages keep shrinking down through the field, all the way to the players who just made the cut. Add every position’s share together and the full purse is accounted for.

Why finishing one spot higher matters so much

Because the top of the table is steep, moving up even a single position can be worth a large sum. Consider the jump from second to first: the winner’s 18 percent is well over 60 percent more than the runner-up’s roughly 10.9 percent. On a big purse, that difference alone can be worth well over a million dollars.

This is the financial engine behind the tension of a Sunday back nine. A player is not only chasing the trophy and the ranking points; each position gained near the lead translates into a disproportionate bump in earnings. Lower down the leaderboard the gaps between positions are much smaller, which is why the fiercest money battles happen at the top.

What happens with ties

Ties are common in golf, and the Tour has a simple, fair method for them. When two or more players tie for a position, the prize money for all the tied positions is added together and split equally among them.

For example, if two players tie for second, the money allotted to second and third places is combined and each player receives half of that total. The same principle applies to any tie, whether it is a two-way tie for the lead decided before a playoff or a five-way tie for 20th. No player in a tie earns more than another in the same tie.

Making the cut is the paycheck threshold

In a standard full-field event, only players who survive the 36-hole cut are paid. Miss the cut and you generally leave with nothing for that week, which makes the cut line one of the most stressful markers in the sport. Everyone who plays the weekend earns something, even the player who finishes last among them, because the percentage table extends all the way down the field.

This structure rewards consistency: a player who regularly makes cuts and finishes in the middle of the pack can build solid season earnings even without wins, while a boom-or-bust player who either contends or misses the cut has far more volatile income.

Majors and elevated events use a similar shape

The four men’s majors are organized by their own governing bodies rather than solely by the PGA Tour, so each sets its own purse and can define its own breakdown. In practice, though, they use a very similar steep, top-weighted structure, with the champion taking roughly 18 percent of the purse and payouts scaling down through everyone who makes the cut.

Because major and marquee-event purses are among the largest in golf, that familiar percentage split produces some of the biggest individual checks in the sport. The takeaway across all of them is the same: the money is heavily concentrated at the top, it follows a percentage table rather than fixed amounts, and where you finish on Sunday is what determines your share.