R&A will give more than £1m to Open winner

THE winner of next month’s Open Championship at St Andrews will earn more than £1 million for the first time in the event’s history.
The Open Championship trophy is displaed on the 18th green prior to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. Picture: Getty ImagesThe Open Championship trophy is displaed on the 18th green prior to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. Picture: Getty Images
The Open Championship trophy is displaed on the 18th green prior to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. Picture: Getty Images

The R&A has announced that the 144th Open champion will pocket a cheque for £1,150,000 from a total prize pot of £6.3 million.

The winner’s prize is an increase of £175,000 from last year while the overall prize fund is up £900,000 from that event at Royal Liverpool.

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“The Open is one of the world’s pre-eminent sporting events,” said Peter Dawson, the R&A’s chief executive.

The Championship represents the pinnacle for the world’s greatest golfers and this increase is appropriate for an event with The Open’s global appeal.”

It means the winner of the St Andrews event will pick up the biggest-ever prize in a major.

Jordan Spieth earned £1,140,000 on each occasion for his victories in both The Masters and US Open this season.

Giving an indication of how much The Open prize fund has rocketed over the years, Nick Faldo earned £85,000 for his win at St Andrews in 1990.

The player finishing 15th on the Old Course in just over three weeks’ time will earn around a similar sum this time around.

The announcement comes hot on the heels of the R&A securing new TV deals that will see the world’s oldest major move to Sky Sports and NBC Sports from 2017 onwards.