Money, money, money. For better or worse, it’s the underlying subplot regarding the uncertain future of men’s professional golf. And if you pay attention to social media, for worse seems to be far outweighing for better these days. If there is a tipping point regarding how much golf fans care about how much tour pros are making in tournaments, it feels like that point has likely passed.

That said, you can’t ignore that this week at the 50th anniversary of the Players Championship, the 144 golfers in the field are playing for A LOT of money. It’s just a fact; the overall purse up for grabs at TPC Sawgrass is $25 million, the most of any event on the PGA Tour. And the prize money payout for the winner is also a record amount, $4.5 million going to the last man standing.

And that prize money payout has grown substantially in a short period of time. As we have noted previously, when Rory McIlroy won the Players just five years ago, he claimed a then-record $2.25 million for his victory. A solo fifth-place finish this week earns you $1.025 million.

Indulge us for our annual review of just how much the prize money has risen—again for better or worse—at this championship over the years, seemingly more appropriate given the golden anniversary being celebrated this year.

Year: Total Purse/First place
1974: $250,000/Jack Nicklaus, $50,000
1982: $500,000/Jerry Pate, $90,000
1987: $1 million/Sandy Lyle, $180,000
1993: $2.5 million/Nick Price, $450,000
2000: $6 million/Hal Sutton, $1.08 million
2007: $9 million/Phil Mickelson, $1.62 million
2014: $10 million/Martin Kaymer, $1.8 million
2018: $11 million/Webb Simpson, $1.89 million
2019: $12.5 million/Rory McIlroy, $2.25 million
2021: $15 million/Justin Thomas, $2.7 million
2022: $20 million/Cameron Smith, $3.6 million

Here then is the prize money payout for any golfer making the cut this week at TPC Sawgrass. We’ll update the post after the end of the tournament to list how much each player walked off with from Ponte Vedra Beach.

Win: $4,500,000

2: $2,725,000

3: $1,725,000

4: $1,225,000

5: $1,025,000

6: $906,250

7: $843,750

8: $781,250

9: $731,250

10: $681,250

11: $631,250

12: $581,250

13: $531,250

14: $481,250

15: $456,250

16: $431,250

17: $406,250

18: $381,250

19: $356,250

20: $331,250

21: $306,250

22: $281,250

23: $261,250

24: $241,250

25: $221,250

26: $201,250

27: $193,750

28: $186,250

29: $178,750

30: $171,250

31: $163,750

32: $156,250

33: $148,750

34: $142,500

35: $136,250

36: $130,000

37: $123,750

38: $118,750

39: $113,750

40: $108,750

41: $103,750

42: $98,750

43: $93,750

44: $88,750

45: $83,750

46: $78,750

47: $73,750

48: $69,750

49: $66,250

50: $64,250

51: $62,750

52: $61,250

53: $60,250

54: $59,250

55: $58,750

56: $58,250

57: $57,750

58: $57,250

59: $56,750

60: $56,250

61: $55,750

62: $55,250

63: $54,750

64: $54,250

65: $53,750

Main image: Jared C. Tilton