The PGA Champions Tour is arguably as common as common PGA golf, as you get to see a tremendous vary of {golfing} legends nonetheless taking part in at a excessive degree and competing towards one another. The tour initially began in 1980 and solely over 55s might enter, however the minimal age was later lowered to 50.
One of the crucial common occasions of this senior tour is the U.S. Senior Open. It was established in 1980 and is held yearly at varied prestigious golf programs all through the States, with previous venues together with Broadmoor, Salem, Indianwood, Inverness Membership and Crooked Stick.
A lot of the recognition of this match stems from the truth that the prize cash is essentially the most profitable on the PGA Champions Tour. This 12 months, we noticed legendary golfers compete for a complete purse of $4 million, which beat the earlier highest purse on the Posco E&C Songdo Championship held in South Korea.
This 12 months’s competitors was improbable, and we bought to see some glorious golf from legends akin to Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Bernhard Langer. Finally, Richard Bland took the highest prize cash and gained the Open, holding out towards Hiroyuki Fujita, however how a lot did every participant earn? Under, we check out this prestigious {golfing} match, its historical past and the way that $4 million purse was distributed.
The U.S. Senior Open – a quick introduction
The U.S. Senior Open is certainly one of 5 main championships on the senior tour (the others being the Areas Custom, KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Kaulig Firms Championship and The Senior Open Championship). It’s sometimes one of the watched and hottest, along with The Senior Open Championship, which is held in Scotland.
Some fast information about this competitors embrace:
- Based in 1980.
- Organized by the US Golf Affiliation.
- Acknowledged as a significant championship.
- Minimal age of fifty for contributors.
- The occasion is open to each amateurs and professionals.
- Up to now, every year has been gained by a professional.
- It’s normally held in June/July every year.
Solely seven folks have gained the U.S. Senior Open a number of occasions, with Miller Barber successful it 3 times, and Gary Participant, Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Allen Doyle, Kenny Perry and Bernhard Langer every successful it twice. A number of gamers have additionally gained each the U.S. Open and the U.S. Senior Open competitions, with Jack Nicklaus being one of the best instance – he gained 4 U.S. Open titles and two Senior Opens.
This 12 months, the match was held on the legendary Newport Nation Membership in Rhode Island. That is the course that hosted the primary U.S. Open in 1895 and has hosted a number of different main tournaments since. It’s recognized for its stunning clubhouse that was designed in a Beaux-Arts fashion.
Prize cash distribution – essentially the most profitable legends match
The U.S. Senior Open will be troublesome for sports activities betting followers because the type of the older gamers can differ enormously. It’s doable to put wagers and use reside sports activities betting on the rounds, and you’ll normally discover a vary of props bets too, akin to particular person gamers’ ultimate handicap and ending positions. Due to the large prize cash, the competitors is normally improbable, although, so there’s loads of alternative to snag some well-placed bets.
This 12 months, the entire prize fund was $4 million. Positive, this may increasingly not look like a lot in comparison with the $21.5 million purse of the U.S. Open, nevertheless it’s at the moment the highest-paying match on the Champions Tour. Additionally, contemplating the unique prize cash for the inaugural 1980 competitors was $100,000 (equal to round $381,000 right this moment), issues have come a great distance!
Under, you possibly can see a whole breakdown of the prize cash distribution:
- Richard Bland – $800,000
- Hiroyuki Fujita – $432,000
- Richard Inexperienced – $255,061
- Steve Striker – $178,788
- Thongchai Jaidee, Bob Estes – $140,476
- Vijay Singh – $119,039
- Ernie Els, Stephen Ames, Paul Stankowski – $97,243
- Peter Baker – $80,880
- Cameron Percy, Y.E. Yang, Steven Alker, Rocco Mediate – $67,122
- Alex Čejka, Olin Browne, Birk Nelson, Padraig Harrington, Jerry Kelly – $49,740
- Rob Labritz – $40,958
- Craig Barlow, Michael Lengthy, Joakim Haeggman, Jay Haas, Ken Duke, Ok.J. Choi, Mario Tiziani, Justin Leonard, Greig Hutcheon – $30,441
- Phillip Worth, Doug Barron, Mark Hensby, Billy Andrade, Lee Westwood, Retief Goosen, Paul Broadhurst – $20,429
- Thomas Bjorn, Katsumasa Miyamoto, Man Boros, Stuart Appleby – $15,799
- Will Yanagisawa, Darren Clarke, Omar Uresti, Greg Chalmers, Brett Quigley, Bernhard Langer – $12,003
- Miguel Angel Jiménez, Kirk Triplett, Kevin Sutherland – $9,165
- Phillip Archer, Jeff Maggert, Mathew Goggin – $8,312
- Jim Furyk, Eric Axley – $8,014.50
- Michael Wright, Michael Jonzon, David Morland, Patrik Sjöland, Judd Gibb, David Branshaw, Kris Blanks – $7,669.57
- Scott Dunlap, Brian Gaffney, Michael Muehr, Jeff Martin – $7,286
- Fran Quinn – $6,979
- Bob Might – $6,903
- Kenny Perry – $6,826
As you possibly can see, the prize cash is top-heavy, with the highest 5 spots accounting for roughly 30% of the purse. Certainly, Richard Bland walked away with a good-looking paycheque of $800,000 for the highest spot. Nonetheless, even for bottom-half finishes, you possibly can nonetheless pocket $6,000+ – this could’t be laughed at for enjoying a couple of rounds of golf!
Many senior gamers proceed to play at tournaments just like the U.S. Senior Open as a result of they provide nice payouts, and permit them to proceed to compete at a excessive degree {of professional} golf and benefit from the sport they love. Certainly, many professionals have excelled and earned extra taking part in within the PGA Championship Tour than they did throughout their common skilled profession!
These are the highest 10 PGA Championship golfers by way of prize cash gained:
- Bernhard Langer – $35,964,514
- Hale Irwin – $27,158,515
- Gil Morgan – $20,631,930
- Jay Haas – $19,886,530
- Tom Kite – $16,303,747
- Tom Watson – $15,074,227
- Dana Quigley – $14,898,463
- Larry Nelson – $14,637,172
- Jim Thorpe – $13,936,083
- Tom Jenkins – $13,869,308
As you possibly can see, there’s some potential for critical earnings! That is partially aided as a result of nature of golf. In comparison with different, extra intense sports activities like soccer and rugby, golf places much less pressure in your physique and you’ll sometimes preserve a excessive degree of play for longer. Which means that oftentimes, many professional golfers can proceed taking part in into their mid-50s and past, and nonetheless compete at tournaments like this.
Will the 2025 U.S. Senior Open have a bigger purse?
From what we are able to see, the prize cash for the PGA Championship competitions continues to extend. Nonetheless, the U.S. Senior Open purse seems to have stalled at $4 million. This has been the prize cash since 2017, and earlier than that, it elevated both yearly or each two years.
Will probably be fascinating to see if the purse ever goes past $4 million. For the time being, we don’t imagine it should. The one factor that would push it larger is that if different main tournaments enhance their purse to be larger than the U.S. Senior Open. This might immediate the match organizers to go one step additional and enhance it once more to maintain the celebrated title of being essentially the most profitable senior match.
Regardless, we’re excited to see the lineup for subsequent 12 months’s U.S. Senior Open and for extra {golfing} motion from the over 50s legends. We are able to additionally look ahead to the opposite tournaments on the remainder of the 2024 calendar.