USGA boosts prize money to $22.5M at US Open

The 2026 U.S. Open purse is on par with that of the Masters.

On Wednesday, United States Golf Association CEO Mike Whan announced the purse for the 126th edition of the U.S. Open will be $22.5 million, which represents an increase of $1 million from last year.

The winner of this week's event at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. will pocket $4.5 million, also matching the first-place prize this year at Augusta National. Rory McIlroy successfully defended his Masters title in April and claimed his sixth major title.

Whan answered with the following when asked, in part, if he felt like he needed to equal the purse of this year's Masters:

"I think at the end of the day, we want to make sure -- we believe, and it's fair if you want to disagree with it, we believe we're the best championship in the game, and we want a lot of aspects to be the best championship in the game," Whan said. "Where we go, how we treat the players, how we pay out, how we're televised, and we're proud of the fact there's more network hours on the U.S. Open than any other major championship.

"Yeah, some of that's just personal pride. We want to be big. We want to be the best. We want to make sure it's life-changing in multiple ways.

"We also are not in a race. We're not chasing. I don't know if that answers your question, but we're proud of where we are. I couldn't tell you and until I get some truth serum in here how much farther we go in the years to come, but we think it's a measure of how we feel about our championship. It needs to be significant and stand out. We think 22.5 does."

JJ Spaun took home $4.3 million for winning last year's U.S. Open.

The PGA Championship increased this year's purse to $20.5 million, with $3.69 million going to first-time major champion Aaron Rai.

The Open Championship's purse was $17 million last year, with Scottie Scheffler taking home $3.1 million.

--Field Level Media

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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 10:05 AM.