The Players Championship already had a claim to having the most lucrative purse in professional golf, handing out $US12.5 million overall in Players prizemoney in 2019 with Rory McIlroy earning $US2.25 million for his one-stroke victory over Jim Furyk. The USGA matched that last year with the US Open at Pebble Beach, but apparently PGA Tour officials really wanted to keep the “richest tournament in golf” title all to themselves. So in January, they announced they were upping the ante for this year at TPC Sawgrass, increasing the overall prizemoney payout to $US15 million and giving the winner a $US2.7 million first-place prize.

Just how big a payday is this? Here is the prizemoney payout last year from the other three Majors (all in $US):

Masters: $11.5 million total/$2.07 million winner
PGA Championship: $11 million/$1.98 million
Open Championship: $10.75 million/$1.935 million

Or put another way, you can finish in third place this week at TPC Sawgrass and still make more than $1 million. Or how about this: you can finish 22nd or better and make more money in one tournament than Arnold Palmer made in his winningest single season on the PGA Tour ($162,896 in 1971).

It’s impressive, too, when you consider the evolution of the Players prizemoney payout since the tournament’s inception in 1974.

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
2020: $15 million/$2.7 million

Without further ado, here is the prizemoney 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: $US2,700,000
2: $1,635,000
3: $1,035,000
4: $735,000
5: $615,000
6: $543,750
7: $506,250
8: $468,750
9: $438,750
10: $408,750
11: $378,750
12: $348,750
13: $318,750
14: $288,750
15: $273,750
16: $258,750
17: $243,750
18: $228,750
19: $213,750
20: $198,750

21: $183,750
22: $168,750
23: $156,750
24: $144,750
25: $132,750
26: $120,750
27: $116,250
28: $111,750
29: $107,250
30: $102,750
31: $98,250
32: $93,750
33: $89,250
34: $85,500
35: $81,750
36: $78,000
37: $74,250
38: $71,250
39: $68,250
40: $65,250

RELATED: What would you shoot at TPC Sawgrass under Players Championship conditions

41: $62,250
42: $59,250
43: $56,250
44: $52,250
45: $50,250
46: $47,250
47: $44,250
48: $41,850
49: $39,750
50: $38,550
51: $37,650
52: $36,750
53: $36,150
54: $35,550
55: $35,250
56: $34,950
57: $34,650
58: $34,350
59: $34,050
60: $33,750

61: $33,450
62: $33,150
63: $32,850
64: $32,550
65: $32,250