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The 2025 Players Championship stands every year as the most significant tournament on the PGA Tour’s own schedule, and as such, it doles out the biggest purse to golfers. A total of $25 million was up grabs Sunday at TPC Sawgrass with players who made the cut grabbing a slice of the largest prize fund of the season.
However, 72 holes was not enough to decide a champion. In fact, more than $7 million remained unclaimed as Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun battled for first and second place in a three-hole aggregate playoff on Monday. McIlroy ultimately came through with his second Players Championship title, birding the first hole and never looking back during a chilly and windy affair at TPC Sawgrass.
The winner’s share stood at $4.5 million for the second straight year making it the single highest payout in 2024-25, even more than the four major championships. In order to grab that massive check, McIlroy beat Spaun by two strokes across holes No. 16, No. 17 and No. 18. In doing so, he claimed the $4.5 million prize, nearly double what Spaun will bring home for his second-place finish.
Although The Players Championship is neither a major nor one of the PGA Tour’s “signature events,” its purse does have similarities to the latter. Each of the top-40 players at the week’s end will clear six figures in earnings with those inside the top 13 cashing at least $500,000 each. Golfers who finish inside the top five will each see seven figures hit their respective bank accounts.
Here are the winners from the biggest-money events on the PGA Tour so far throughout the 2025 season.
- The Sentry: Hideki Matsuyama ($3.6 million)
- Pebble Beach Pro Am: Rory McIlroy ($3.6 million)
- Genesis Invitational: Ludvig Åberg ($4 million)
- Arnold Palmer Invitational: Russell Henley ($4 million)
- The Players Championship: Rory McIlroy ($4.5 million)
Let’s take a look at The Players Championship payout broken down through the top 65 players who make the cut and played the weekend at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
2025 Players Championship payout, purse, prize money
Total purse: $25 million
1st: $4,500,000 — Rory McIlroy
2nd: $2,725,000 — J.J. Spaun
3rd: $1,725,000 — Lucas Glover, Tom Hoge, Akshay Bhatia ($1,325,000 each)
4th: $1,225,000
5th: $1,025,000
6th: $906,250 — Corey Conners, Danny Walker, Bud Cauley ($843,750 each)
7th: $843,750
8th: $781,250
9th: $731,250 — Robert MacIntyre
10th: $681,250 — Collin Morikawa, Davis Thompson ($656,250 each)
11th: $631,250
12th: $581,250 — Patrick Cantlay, Jake Knapp ($556,250 each)
13th: $531,250
14th: $481,250 — Sepp Straka, Denny McCarthy, Tommy Fleetwood, Aaron Rai, Sam Ryder, Alex Smalley ($418,750 each)
15th: $456,250
16th: $431,250
17th: $406,250
18th: $381,250
19th: $356,250
20th: $331,250 — Keegan Bradley, Ryan Fox, Joe Highsmith, Matt McCarty, Daniel Berger, Shane Lowry, Scottie Scheffler, Min Woo Lee, Max McGreevy, Stephan Jaeger ($240,250 each)
21st: $306,250
22nd: $281,250
23rd: $261,250
24th: $241,250
25th: $221,250
26th: $201,250
27th: $193,750
28th: $186,250
29th: $178,750
30th: $171,250 — Will Zalatoris, Russell Henley, Harris English ($163,750 each)
31st: $163,750
32nd: $156,250
33rd: $148,750 — Justin Thomas, Taylor Moore, J.T. Poston, Rico Hoey, Kurt Kitayama ($136,250 each)
34th: $142,500
35th: $136,250
36th: $130,000
37th: $123,750
38th: $118,750 — Davis Riley, Justin Lower, Taylor Pendrith, Si Woo Kim ($111,250 each)
39th: $113,750
40th: $108,750
41st: $103,750
42nd: $98,750 — Mac Meissner, Jesper Svensson, Matt Kuchar, Billy Horschel, Tom Kim, Hayden Springer, Chris Kirk, Ryan Gerard ($81,687.50 each)
43rd: $93,750
44th: $88,750
45th: $83,750
46th: $78,750
47th: $73,750
48th: $69,750
49th: $66,250
50th: $64,250 — Jacob Bridgeman, Beau Hossler ($63,500 each)
51st: $62,750
52nd: $61,250 — Sahith Theegala, Byeong Hun An ($60,750 each)
53rd: $60,250
54th: $59,250 — Joel Dahmen, Camilo Villegas, Mattieu Pavon, Carson Young, Charley Hoffman ($58,250 each)
55th: $58,750
56th: $58,250
57th: $57,750
58th: $57,250
59th: $56,750 — Jordan Spieth
60th: $56,250 — Jhonattan Vegas
61st: $55,750 — Will Chandler, Chandler Phillips, Austin Eckroat, Sungjae Im, Trey Mullinax, Cameron Young ($54,500 each)
62nd: $55,250
63rd: $54,750
64th: $54,250
65th: $53,750
66th: $53,250
67th: $52,750 — Emiliano Grillo
68th: $52,250 — Isaiah Salinda
69th: $51,750 — C.T. Pan, Sami Valimaki ($51,500 each)
70th: $51,250
71st: $50,750 — Rickie Fowler
72nd: $50,250 — Xander Schauffele
