What Do You Get For Winning The PGA Championship?
The PGA Championship might be the lesser of the four majors but it's still head and shoulders above the new-fangled Designated Events and the rest of the schedule.
This is what the winner of the Wanamaker Trophy will pick up on Sunday night..
– First up that trophy. Which is certainly one of the biggest and most recognisable pots in the game. The trophy was first brought out in 1916 with Rodman Wanamaker, a sportsman and heir to a department store empire, putting up $2,500 of his own money as well as the silver cup, which stands at 28 inches high, for the prize fund, and ordered a silver cup to be played for.
In the 1920s the defending champion Walter hagen was forced to admit that he had mislaid it. Having won his seventh major in 1925 Hagen went partying in Chicago and left the trophy in a cab. It was found years later in Detroit in the basement of a company who made Hagen's clubs.
The winner's name is added to the original trophy and the trophy that we see today is a replica. The winner receives a trophy, 90 per cent of the original size, each year.
- The prize money is not to be sniffed at with the winner trousering $3,240,000. Last year Justin Thomas won $2.7m. If you make the cut you are guaranteed at least $43k.
- This week's winner will get to play in the PGA Championship for as long as they choose to. This compares similarly to The Masters though you do get a tap on the shoulder when you've outstayed your welcome at Augusta. The US Open offers a 10-year exemption while the Open champion can play in the game's oldest major until they turn 60. The winner of the PGA can play in the other three majors for the next five years.
- There is also the none too small matter of getting a PGA Tour card for the next five years so you're sorted work wise for the foreseeable future. And you can book your holiday in Kapalua to kick the year off. You also have membership to the DP World Tour.
- All four of the men's major winners pick up 100 world ranking points – this compares to winner of The Players receiving 80 points. Last year Thomas moved from 9th to 5th with his victory. To give us some idea of how profitable a win would be is that Brooks Koepka landed 50 points for his second place at Augusta in April which bolted him from 118th to 39th. For anyone playing on the LIV Golf tour a victory would be huge given the lack of any other points elsewhere.
- The FedEx Cup will become more interesting from next year and the PGA champion will pick up 600 points which compares to 500 on offer for the other weeks.
This is what the winner of the Wanamaker Trophy will pick up on Sunday night..
– First up that trophy. Which is certainly one of the biggest and most recognisable pots in the game. The trophy was first brought out in 1916 with Rodman Wanamaker, a sportsman and heir to a department store empire, putting up $2,500 of his own money as well as the silver cup, which stands at 28 inches high, for the prize fund, and ordered a silver cup to be played for.
In the 1920s the defending champion Walter hagen was forced to admit that he had mislaid it. Having won his seventh major in 1925 Hagen went partying in Chicago and left the trophy in a cab. It was found years later in Detroit in the basement of a company who made Hagen's clubs.
The winner's name is added to the original trophy and the trophy that we see today is a replica. The winner receives a trophy, 90 per cent of the original size, each year.
- The prize money is not to be sniffed at with the winner trousering $3,240,000. Last year Justin Thomas won $2.7m. If you make the cut you are guaranteed at least $43k.
- This week's winner will get to play in the PGA Championship for as long as they choose to. This compares similarly to The Masters though you do get a tap on the shoulder when you've outstayed your welcome at Augusta. The US Open offers a 10-year exemption while the Open champion can play in the game's oldest major until they turn 60. The winner of the PGA can play in the other three majors for the next five years.
- There is also the none too small matter of getting a PGA Tour card for the next five years so you're sorted work wise for the foreseeable future. And you can book your holiday in Kapalua to kick the year off. You also have membership to the DP World Tour.
- All four of the men's major winners pick up 100 world ranking points – this compares to winner of The Players receiving 80 points. Last year Thomas moved from 9th to 5th with his victory. To give us some idea of how profitable a win would be is that Brooks Koepka landed 50 points for his second place at Augusta in April which bolted him from 118th to 39th. For anyone playing on the LIV Golf tour a victory would be huge given the lack of any other points elsewhere.
- The FedEx Cup will become more interesting from next year and the PGA champion will pick up 600 points which compares to 500 on offer for the other weeks.