How much did Xander Schauffele win of $18,500,000 PGA Championship prize purse? Winner's payout for Major tournament explored
The PGA Championship put golf firmly back into the spotlight over the weekend. With golfers competing for what the PGA of America announced as an $18.5 million prize purse, everyone showed up and showed out.
There were record-tying rounds in pursuit of what amounted to a $3.3 million stake for the champion. The total purse is about $1 million more than 2023, and it is up $6.5 million from 2021. The winner's share also got inflated as a result. That winner ended up being Xander Schauffele.
It was a tense final round that opened with a two-way tie atop the leaderboard and nine players within four strokes of the lead. Ultimately, Schauffele came out on top.
Though Collin Morikawa and others were also involved, the tournament ended up largely being a three-man race between Viktor Hovland, Schauffele, and Bryson DeChambeau.
Xander Schauffele wins first Major
Twice, Xander Schauffele has been the second name on the leaderboard at a Major tournament in his nine-year career. He finished tied for second at the Masters Tournament in 2019 and tied for second at the Open Championship in 2018.
Finally, he broke through. He put in a record round of 62 in the first round, and then put together a nice final three rounds to secure victory. He had the advantage over Bryson DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland, who were a few holes ahead. That didn't end up helping as much, as DeChambeau birdied the 18th to draw into a tie with Schauffele. Schauffele responded with his own 18th hole birdie to win.
The result was still very tight, but Schauffele put together an epic performance worthy of a career-defining performance. He said via ESPN that he felt as if it was the best golf of his career:
"I'd say it's very close to it, if not it," he said. "I feel there's spurts, moments in time where you feel like you can control the ball really well, you're seeing the greens really well, you're chipping really well. But over a prolonged period, it's tough to upkeep high performance."
Fortunately, it paid off with a win. It's one thing to shoot impressively in one round, but it's another entirely to shoot this well across four rounds in a Major against the world's best golfers.