The financial awards for the 152nd edition of the Open have been made public. Once again, records are being broken.
The R&A announced on Monday morning the prize pool for the 2024 Open taking place this very week at Royal Troon. The total prize pool will be 17 million dollars, which represents an increase of half a million dollars compared to 2023.
Winning the Claret Jug not only carves a place in golf history, but also grants the champion an exemption to play the tournament until the age of 60, access to the rest of the Majors for the next five years, a hundred points in the world ranking and, let’s be honest, a nice boost to the bank account.
The winner of the 152nd Open at Royal Troon will receive 3.1 million, the highest amount in the history of the Open, which returns for the tenth time to the famous courses of Ayrshire. The runner-up will pocket $1,759,000 and the third place $1,128,000. Making the cut at Royal Troon guarantees a minimum of $38,900.
Martin Slumbers, CEO of The R&A, has expressed his joy at having a record prize pool, but has also made clear his concern about how the prizes grow year after year. He sees a certain risk in the sustainability of the trend: “The R&A has the responsibility to strike a balance between maintaining the position of The Open in world golf (…). We remain concerned about the impact that substantial increases in men’s professional prizes are having on the perception of the sport and its long-term financial sustainability.”
This is not a new debate, far from it, but it is somewhat important that Slumbers has wanted to highlight it at the time of publishing the tournament prizes. He could have boasted about offering the highest prizes in history and has preferred to underline the concern about the drift that is being taken in this matter.
Complete prize table:
| 1 | $3,100,000 | 36 | $88,700 |
| 2 | $1,759,000 | 37 | $84,600 |
| 3 | $1,128,000 | 38 | $80,300 |
| 4 | $876,000 | 39 | $77,400 |
| 5 | $705,000 | 40 | $74,900 |
| 6 | $611,000 | 41 | $71,800 |
| 7 | $525,000 | 42 | $68,300 |
| 8 | $442,500 | 43 | $65,200 |
| 9 | $388,000 | 44 | $61,500 |
| 10 | $350,600 | 45 | $58,000 |
| 11 | $319,200 | 46 | $55,000 |
| 12 | $282,800 | 47 | $52,800 |
| 13 | $266,000 | 48 | $50,700 |
| 14 | $249,000 | 49 | $48,400 |
| 15 | $231,000 | 50 | $47,200 |
| 16 | $212,700 | 51 | $46,200 |
| 17 | $202,400 | 52 | $45,400 |
| 18 | $193,000 | 53 | $44,700 |
| 19 | $184,900 | 54 | $44,000 |
| 20 | $176,200 | 55 | $43,300 |
| 21 | $168,000 | 56 | $42,700 |
| 22 | $159,600 | 57 | $42,300 |
| 23 | $151,000 | 58 | $42,000 |
| 24 | $142,600 | 59 | $41,700 |
| 25 | $137,800 | 60 | $41,400 |
| 26 | $131,800 | 61 | $41,200 |
| 27 | $127,000 | 62 | $41,000 |
| 28 | $122,600 | 63 | $40,800 |
| 29 | $117,300 | 64 | $40,600 |
| 30 | $111,200 | 65 | $40,300 |
| 31 | $107,600 | 66 | $40,000 |
| 32 | $102,100 | 67 | $39,700 |
| 33 | $98,500 | 68 | $39,400 |
| 34 | $95,700 | 69 | $39,100 |
| 35 | $92,400 | 70 | $38,900 |
