A record-setting year on the PGA Tour ended in record fashion with the largest prize pool in league history up for grabs Sunday at the 2022 Tour Championship. Between deferral payments and bonuses, a total of $75 million was at stake for the best players on the PGA Tour with $18 million going to Rory McIlroywho came from six strokes back in the fourth round to win the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup for a record third time.
To put into perspective the size of this prize pool, it is just slightly less than that of the Players Championship, Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open … combined. The entirety of the purse is enough to weigh on players’ minds, but the grand prize alone creates some unease on the back nine Sunday given it surpasses every prize pool this season apart from the Players Championship.
Two of those championship checks were deposited into the bank account of Cameron Smith, who began the week six strokes behind FedEx Cup No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. The reigning Masters champion, Scheffler earned roughly $4 million more than the Australian throughout the 2021-22 season. He was able to add $5.75 million more to his total, ultimately falling to McIlroy by a single stroke.
Let’s look at how the payouts for the 2022 Tour Championships were divided among those who competed this week at East Lake.
2022 Tour Championship purse, prize money
Total purse: $75 million (FedEx Cup bonus)
1st — $18,000,000 — Rory McIlroy
2nd — $6,500,000 — Sungjae Im, Scottie Scheffler ($5.75 million each)
3rd — $5,000,000
4th — $4,000,000 — Xander Schauffele
5th — $3,000,000 — Max Homa, Justin Thomas ($2.75 million each)
6th — $2,500,000
7th — $2,000,000 — Sepp Straka, Patrick Cantlay ($1.75 million each)
8th — $1,500,000
9th — $1,250,000 — Tony FInau
10th — $1,000,000 — Tom Hoge
11th — $950,000 — Joaquin Niemann, Hideki Matsuyama ($925,000 each)
12th — $900,000
13th — $850,000 — Jordan Spieth, Aaron Wise ($825,000 each)
14th — $800,000
15th — $760,000 — Viktor Hovland, Matthew Fitzpatrick, J.T. Poston, Jon Rahm ($715,000 each)
16th — $720,000
17th — $700,000
18th — $680,000
19th — $660,000 — Cameron Young
20th — $640,000 — Cameron Smith
21st — $620,000 — Brian Harman, Billy Horschel, Collin Morikawa ($600,000 each)
22nd — $600,000
23rd — $580,000
24th — $565,000 — Sam Burns
25th — $550,000 — Adam Scott
26th — $540,000 — Corey Conners
27th — $530,000 — Kyoung-Hoon Lee
28th — $520,000 — Sahith Theegala
29th — $510,000 — Scott Stallings
30th — $500,000 — Will Zalatoris (DNP)
Due to his withdrawal from the Tour Championship, Zalatoris was awarded the 30th-place prize. Golfers who finished between 31st and 150th in the FedEx Cup received between $85,000 and $250,000 in deferred money following the St. Jude Invitational and BMW Championship.