Scottie Scheffler was the 2022 Masters champion on Sunday, and in the process won $2.7 million according to Sports Illustrated. The winner’s purse at the 2022 Masters is up 30%, as Hideki Matsuyama of Japan won $2.07 million in 2021.
In terms of the total purse, the total prize money for the 2022 Masters was $15 million in 2022, while the total prize money in 2021 was $11.5 million. Interestingly, when Horton Smith won the first Masters in 1934, he only won $1500. There was not a pay raise again until 1946 when Herman Keiser won $2500. When Sam Snead won his three Masters in 1949, 1952, and 1954, he only won a grand total of $11,750.
From 1961 to 1969, the Masters champion received $20,000 per year. In this time we saw legends Jack Nicklaus win three times and Arnold Palmer win twice. In the 1970s, there was a gradual rise for the champion. The winner’s share rose to $25,000 in 1970, $30,000 in 1973, $35,000 in 1974, $40,000 in 1975, $45,000 in 1978, and $50,000 in 1979.
In 1984 when Ben Crenshaw won the Masters, he won $108,000. It was the first time the Masters champion received money in the six digits. Then in 2001, Tiger Woods was the first golfer to win over a million dollars for putting on the green jacket as he won $1,008,000. It should be noted that Woods only won $486,000 when he won in 1997. Then in 2019, Woods also became the first $2 million winner of the Masters, as he won $2.07 million, the same amount that Matsuyama won in 2019.
When you compare the Masters champion to other majors, Jon Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open champion received $2.25 million, Collin Morikawa, the 2021 British Open champion, received $2.07 million, and Phil Mickelson, the 2021 PGA champion, won $2.1 million. One must also remember that Woods won $8 million this past year for winning the Player Impact Program Award despite not playing on the PGA Tour, and that Australia’s Cameron Smith won $3.6 million this year for winning the Players Championship.
Despite the big money being handed out, Scheffler will not be able to see the entire $2.7 million. That is because according to Michael McCann and Robert Raiola of Sportico, $999,000 of his earnings will go to the Internal Revenue Service, and $155,000 will go to the Georgia Department of Revenue.
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