Memorial Tournament purse 2017: Winner’s payout is $1.5 million in prize money

The Memorial is one of the more prestigious events on the PGA Tour schedule, and the purse size backs it up now.

The Memorial Tournament has not only become one of the most prestigious events on the PGA Tour, but it’s also now one of its most lucrative. In prior years, the purse at Jack Nicklaus’ event fell in the middle, and sometimes even slightly on the lower side, compared to the average weekly purse in this post-Tiger boom era. It was a massive purse for a golf event, no doubt, but it didn’t exactly stand out from all the rest.

Now it’s one of the richest in the game, handing out a massive $1,556,000 winner’s check from a total $8.7 million purse. Before 2016, the winner got just over $1 million from a $6.2 million purse. Last year, it took an enormous jump to $8.5 million. We never see events make that kind of move with their purse, save for an occasional major or The Players. Those events are in a never-ending arms race to push the limits, with the U.S. Open making the big increase this year to a whopping $12 million.

So why the huge increase? The PGA Tour wants to make sure some of its marquee events hosted by some of the most important legends in the game continue to draw the strongest possible fields and keep the prestige fitting with their namesakes and hosts. We’ve seen tournaments hosted by legends slowly fade after those legends die or have to step back from the game, the most notable example being the Byron Nelson. There are only so many events on the schedule that the best in the world can play, and you have to pick and choose. The Byron Nelson and Colonial, the unofficial Ben Hogan home, have lost some of their luster as we get further and further away from the days when they ruled over the game.

The Tour has made an effort to make sure the Memorial, Jack Nicklaus’ party in his hometown and on his course, and the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, maintain their prominent stature on the schedule. So we got a massive jump in the purses to keep the events attractive and a three-year PGA Tour exemption to the winner. The winner of a typical weekly event on the PGA Tour gets a two-year exemption. These added perks will help to keep these tourneys in high demand and separate from some of the others that get lost in the shuffle.

The Memorial already had a strong field and list of winners. Now it’s just got a ton of money backing it up, too. The leaderboard on Sunday is loaded with stars who don’t really need the money or a three-year exemption, and are probably more concerned with just getting a W heading into the U.S. Open and getting a chance to be Jack’s champion.

Here’s the full payout table — obviously these amounts will be impacted by ties and we’ll update when results go final: