1916

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

FIRST-PLACE WINNINGS BY THE NUMBERS

1916

Jim Barnes sank a 4-foot putt on the 36th and final hole to win $500 at the inaugural match-play championship.

1924

Walter Hagen won the first of four straight PGA Championships, each of which had $1,000 for the winner's share.

1936

Denny Shute won the first of back-to-back PGA Championships, both of which had a winner's share of $1,000.

1944

Bob Hamilton's win over Byron Nelson netted him $3,500, a 250% increase from the most recent tournament (1942).

1958

Dow Finsterwald received $5,500 for winning the first stroke-play PGA Championship.

1963

Jack Nicklaus' first of five career PGA Championships had a winner's share of $13,000.

1978

John Mahaffey erased Tom Watson's 7-shot lead in the final round to win $50,000 at Oakmont Country Club.

1991

John Daly landed a spot in the 1991 PGA Championship as the ninth alternate and won $230,000 for his first career win.

1999

Tiger Woods won his second career major, a 1-shot win over Sergio Garcia at Medinah that netted him $630,000.

2003

Shaun Micheel earned the first million-dollar prize ($1,080,000) in PGA Championship history with a win at Oak Hill.

2009

Y.E. Yang won $1.35 million in becoming the first golfer to erase a 54-hole lead by Tiger Woods in a major.

2012

Rory McIlroy shot a final-round 66 to win $1,455,000 and break Jack Nicklaus' 42-year-old record for margin of victory (eight strokes).

2020

Collin Morikawa received $1.98 million for winning the COVID-delayed PGA Championship.

2024

Xander Schauffele's first major win – after 19 previous top-20 major finishes – earned him $3.33 million at Valhalla.

The total purse of $18.5 million was a record $2.5 million higher than the previous year.

In addition to the $500 in cash, Barnes also received a diamond-studded gold medal and the Wanamaker Trophy.

Hamilton's only career major win came one year after World War II forced the cancellation of the 1943 PGA Championship. It was the only major played in 1944 (and again in 1945).

Shute received another $1,000 for winning the 1937 championship at Pittsburgh Field Club.

The winner's share was $8,000 a year earlier when Finsterwald finished in second place, making 1958 the biggest all-time percentage decrease (-31.3%).

Despite lower revenues in the COVID-impacted season, the PGA Championship's total purse and winner's share were unchanged from 2019.

Nicklaus won a total of $203,000 for hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy five times. Adjusted for inflation, those earnings are just over $1.3 million.

Hagen's four straight wins netted an inflation-adjusted total of $72,622, or less than the payout for 42nd place in the 2024 PGA Championship.

The second of a career-best four wins in 2012 earned McIlroy his biggest share of prize money to date. It wasn't topped until his $1.6-million win in The Open Championship in 2014.

The first Asian-born player to win a major, Yang has only one other career win, the 2009 Honda Classic. Like Micheel, his PGA Championship win accounts for a large percentage (15%) of his career earnings.

Woods won $1.3 million over his first 10 stroke-play events in 1999. He won $5.2 million over his final 10 stroke-play events, which included seven wins.

Mahaffey still holds the record for biggest 54-hole comeback, using a final-round 66 to go from fifth place to a tie with Watson and Jerry Pate after 72 holes. His lone career major win came on the second sudden-death playoff hole.

Daly's PGA Championship win accounted for nearly 60% of his earnings for the entire 1991 PGA Tour season.

One of five players whose only career PGA Tour win is a major, Micheel became the first million-dollar PGA Championship winner. More than 20 years later, that win still accounts for approximately 12% of his career earnings.