WGC purses jump to a crazy $10 million in 2018

The WGC purses are now an absurd $10 million, making the sweetest deal in sports even sweeter.

The WGCs are made-for-TV moneybaths. We don’t know quite how to categorize them. Some find the four-event series off-putting while others welcome any reason to put most of the best players in the world in one spot. They will never carry the weight or importance of a major championship.

But one area where they do compete with the majors, especially right now, is in purse size. This year, the WGC purses are moving to an even $10 million. That’s an absurd amount of money for a regular season event. It’s crazy. It’s obscene. I remember just a few years ago when the PGA of America and PGA Tour made this joint announcement that they were moving their two prized events, the PGA Championship and The Players, to $10 million. It seemed like a new frontier but one that would be a plateau for awhile in the constant arms race between the organizations that run these majors and different events. Now we have a dang WGC, starting with this week’s Mexico Championship, that has $10 million on the table.

I’ve written this several times over the years but the WGCs are the sweetest deal in sports. If you qualify, it’s an automatic paycheck. These events usually have 75 or less players in them so there are never cuts. And with purses now in the $10 million range, there’s just so much cash to spread around to a limited group. It’s become a running joke about the heist that the last place finisher can pull at these things. We’ve seen Steven Bowditch finish 49 shots worse than the winner of this event, just two years ago, and walk away with almost $50,000. We’ve seen Daniel Berger hit a shot, then withdraw, and head home with a similar last-place payout.

This year’s WGC Mexico Championship winner will take a nice $1.7 million chunk of that $10 million purse. That’s a $500k bump from last year’s mark of $9.5 million. I’m not sure when or if the steady climb will ever end but $10 million sure seems like a level where things should slow down or even out a bit. But who the hell knows, maybe next year we’re at $11 million. Here’s where this year’s WGC purse stacks up against some of the richest purses from last season — these will all (except for maybe the U.S. Open) probably grow again this year in the never ending arms race.

• U.S. Open — $2.16 million of $12 million purse
• Masters — $1.98 million of $11 million purse
• PGA Championship/The Players -- $1.89 million of $10.5 million purse
• British Open -- $1.845 million of $10.25 million purse

It’s incredible money from the top to the bottom of the leaderboard and part of the reason some find it all off-putting. The limited fields mean the rich get richer and it’s free world rankings points. Once you’re in that top 50 or 60 in the world, it’s crazy to pass on playing these WGCs unless you’re truly secure at the very top of the world rankings and have made enough money to last several lifetimes. Even then, it makes sense to play the full WGC circuit.

Here’s the full payout table for the 64 players in this Mexico field. We’ll update this when results go final as some totals will obviously be impacted by ties.