The Masters gets underway today with the winner of one of golf’s most prestigious events set to come away with a mammoth cheque.
The first major of the year takes centre stage at Augusta National and all eyes will be on Tiger Woods following his remarkable recovery. He returns to competitive action for the first time in 14 months after a dreadful car accident last February and Woods told reporters at his Tuesday press conference : "As of right now, I feel like I am going to play.
"I can hit it just fine – I don't have any qualms about what I can do physically from a golf standpoint. Walking is the hard part! 72 holes is a long road.
“It is a tough challenge and a challenge I am up for. I love competing. And if I feel like I can still play I'm going to. There will be a day when that won't happen."
Despite Woods going on to insist he believes he can win another Masters, it is Jon Rahm who is the favourite to clinch his first green jacket and the estimated £1,581,894 cash prize. The combined purse for 2022 is £8,720,738 but despite that eye-watering figure it only ranks third overall for prize money on offer amongst the four golf majors.
The US Open tops the list with a £9.5m total, followed by the PGA Championship which boasts a £9.1m purse. Current estimates on this year’s Masters earnings are unchanged from last year when Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese golfer to win a major golf tournament.
But the prize money for other placings are also healthy sums for whoever performs well during the exclusive event. The overall split of the purse will shift of course, depending on how many players tie in various positions across the field.
However, the eventual champion's prize money is locked in with a cool £1.5 million on offer for the wearer of the green jacket come Sunday. The full breakdown of prize money is as follows:
1st: £1,581,894
2nd: £949,136
3rd: £597,604
4th: £421,838
5th: £351,532
6th: £316,378
7th: £294,408
8th: £272,437
9th: £254,860
10th: £237,284
11th: £219,707
12th: £202,130
13th: £184,554
14th: £166,977
15th: £158,189
16th: £149,401
17th: £140,612
18th: £131,824
19th: £123,036
20th: £114,247
21st: £105,459
22nd: £98,428
23rd: £91,398
24th: £84,367
25th: £77,337
26th: £70,306
27th: £67,669
28th: £65,033
29th: £62,396
30th: £59,760
31st: £57,123
32nd: £54,487
33rd: £51,850
34th: £49,653
35th: £47,456
36th: £45,259
37th: £43,062
38th: £41,305
39th: £39,547
40th: £37,789
41st: £36,032
42nd: £34,274
43rd: £32,516
44th: £30,759
45th: £29,001
46th: £27,243
47th: £25,486
48th: £24,079
49th: £22,849
50th: £22,146
