The championship with the richest prize money payout in women’s golf just got a little richer. On Wednesday, the USGA announced that the overall purse for the 81st U.S. Women’s Open, being held at famed Riviera Country Club outside Los Angeles, was on the rise again, increasing $500,000 to a total payout of $12.5 million.
That sum is large even in a vacuum, but what makes it truly notable is the fact that just five years ago, the championship’s purse was only $5.5 million. It’s part of a conscious plan that the USGA embarked on when signing a presenting sponsor in order to help invest in the championship, first with ProMedica and now with Ally.
“I must say that we’re quite proud of that, in that going back to 2022 when we really stepped up our purse and increased to $10 million, and that journey continues,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA chief championship officer, during a press conference on Wednesday at Riviera. “We’re proud that it continues this year, and we’re proud to lead on that front as we lift up the women’s game.”
The increase is part of an overall trend in rising prize money payouts in the women’s game. The LPGA is giving out a total of $132 million this season, an all-time high. (In 2022, the number of $88.9 million.) And in April at the Chevron Championship, the tournament boasted its biggest payday of $9 million.
Similarly, the purses at the other women’s majors also have seen impressive growth in recent years. Take a look:
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship: $12 million in 2025, $4.5 million in 2021 AIG Women’s Open: $9.75 million in 2025; $4.5 million in 2020 Chevron Championship: $9 million in 2026; $3.1 million in 2021 Amundi Evian Championship: $8 million in 2025; $4.5 million in 2021
“The women deserve to play with the monetary returns that we’re providing, and the game is following, and we want to lift that side of it up, the experience that the players have and how they can recover from a day on the golf course and all of those things,” Bodenhamer said. “We’re thinking about it holistically. We’re treating the men and the women equitably in that manner. What we do at the U.S. Open, we’ll do at the U.S. Women’s Open. That’s really important.
“But I think it’s just a holistic approach and trying to lift up and be inspirational to those that are coming in future generations, the little girls and the little boys.”
We’ve charted the growth in the U.S. Women’s Open before, but it’s worth showing again if only to remind everyone that that the overall purse for the U.S. Women’s Open didn’t pass $10,000 until 1965, the 20th year of the championship. And a winner of the major didn’t make $10,000 until 1977.
Here’s a historic look at the prize money payouts in the championship for context about this year’s historic payday:
YEAR: WINNER, OVERALL PURSE, WINNER’S SHARE 1947: Betty Jameson, $7,500, $1,200 1966: Sandra Spuzich, $20,000 $4,000 1975: Sandra Palmer, $55,000, $8,044 1977: Hollis Stacy, $75,000, $11,040 1978: Hollis Stacy, $100,000, $15,000 1990: Betsy King, $500,000, $85,000 1995: Annika Sorenstam, $1 million, $175,000 2000: Karrie Webb, $2.75 million, $500,000 2014: Michelle Wie, $4 million, $720,000 2017: Sung-Hyun Park, $5 million, $900,000 2019: Jeuong Lee6, $5.5 million, $1 million 2022: Minjee Lee, $10 million, $1.8 million 2023: Allisen Corpuz, $11 million, $2 million 2024: Yuka Saso, $12 million, $2.4 million2025: Maja Stark $12 million, $2.4 million
The specific prize money payout breakdown won’t come until Saturday after they’ve made the cut. Here’s how it broke out a year ago when the prize money payout was $12 million. We’ll update this on the weekend when the 2026 payouts are released.
Win: $2,400,000
2: $1,296,000
3: $809,242
4: $567,305
5: $472,511
6: $418,969
7: $377,717
8: $338,290
9: $306,165
10: $281,219
11: $256,638
12: $237,290
13: $221,105
14: $204,069
15: $189,467
16: $177,298
17: $167,563
18: $157,828
19: $148,093
20: $138,358
21: $129,961
22: $121,565
23: $113,412
24: $105,867
25: $99,296
26: $93,699
27: $89,440
28: $85,667
29: $82,017
30: $78,366
31: $74,715
32: $71,065
33: $67,414
34: $64,129
35: $61,452
36: $58,774
37: $56,219
38: $53,785
39: $51,352
40: $48,918
41: $46,484
42: $44,050
43: $41,617
44: $39,183
45: $36,749
46: $34,559
47: $32,368
48: $30,300
49: $29,083
50: $27,866
51: $27,136
52: $26,527
53: $26,041
54: $25,797
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
