The Royal & Ancient has announced an increase of £100,000 in the prize money for the 132nd Open Golf Championship which takes place at Royal St. George’’s, Sandwich, from July 17-20, taking the total on offer to £3.9 million.
The additional £100,000 has been distributed through the field with an average increase from second place (£420,000) to 70th place (£8,700) of 3.1%. The winner will receive £700,000, the same as 2002, while at the other end of the scale, the last of the non-qualifiers will be guaranteed £2,000.
"We have raised the prize money by a modest amount following several years of substantial increases," said David Hill, Championship Secretary of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club.
"And in continuing with our policy of rewarding players throughout the field, we have distributed the increase through to the player finishing in 70th place."
In recent years prize money has been substantially increased and in the ten years since Greg Norman won at Royal St. George’’s, the first prize has increased seven-fold, from £100,000 to £700,000, and the total from £1million to £3.9 million.
