PGA Championship 2026 Prize Money Payout: How Much Did Aaron Rai Get After His 1st Major Win?

Aaron Rai won the 2026 PGA Championship by finishing 3 strokes ahead of runners-up Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley.

PGA Championship 2026 Prize Money Payout: How Much Did Aaron Rai Get After His 1st Major Win?

Aaron Rai (Image via X/@DPWorldTour)

On Sunday, Aaron Rai emerged as the winner of the 2026 PGA Championship following an impressive performance. He took home the Wanamaker Trophy with a 9-under par score to finish 3 strokes ahead of runners-up Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley. How much money did he earn, though?

The leaderboard of the PGA Championship this year was stacked. After the end of the third round on Saturday, a total of 22 golfers were within 4 shots of the lead. This was the most in the history of the PGA Championship.

In the final round on Sunday, Rai emerged from the chasing pack. The English golfer made a birdie on the 1st hole before carding a bogey on the 3rd. Following a birdie on the 4th hole, he made 2 bogeys on the 6th and 8th holes.

At the 9th hole, the pendulum swung back in his favor as he landed the eagle. The 31-year-old drained a 40-foot eagle putt and found himself within 1 shot off the lead.

On the back nine, Rai made birdies on the 11th, 13th, and 16th holes and found himself in the lead. On the par-3 17th hole, he made an incredible 70-foot birdie to open up a 3-shot lead with just 1 hole to play.

Following this, he missed the birdie putt on the final hole. Despite that, he was able to claim a comfortable 3-shot victory as he carded a final round score of 65.

As one of the major championships in golf, the PGA Championship has a huge purse pool. This year, this event had a purse prize of $20.5 million. It marked the first time the PGA Championship had crossed the $20 million mark in prize money.

There was a $1.5 million increase from last year. World No.1 Scottie Scheffler earned $3.4 million from the $19 million pool in 2025 following his 5-shot victory.

Before that, the purse was at $18 million in 2024. Following his first major victory, Xander Schauffele earned $3.3 million. This year, Rai took home $3.69 million.

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Full 2026 PGA Championship Prize Money Payout

Aaron Rai was the big winner on Sunday. The Englishman broke through the pack and carded a final round score of 5-under par at the Aronimink Golf Club to claim just his second victory on the PGA Tour. With the win, he claimed the biggest share of the $20.5 million purse.

Aaron Rai
Aaron Rai (Image via X.@DPWorldTour)

Here is the detailed breakdown of the prize money payout:

  • Aaron Rai (1): $3,690,000
  • Jon Rahm (T2): $2,214,000
  • Alex Smalley (T2): $1,804,000
  • Justin Thomas (T4): $843,867
  • Ludvig Aberg (T4): $843,867
  • Matti Schmid (T4): $843,867
  • Cameron Smith (T7): $637,050
  • Rory McIlroy (T7): $637,050
  • Xander Schauffele (T7): $637,050
  • Kurt Kitayama (T10): $496,708
  • Chris Gotterup (T10): $496,708
  • Justin Rose (T10): $496,708
  • Patrick Reed (T10): $496,708
  • Matt Fitzpatrick (T14): $364,763
  • Scottie Scheffler (T14): $364,763
  • Max Greyserman (T14): $364,763
  • Ben Griffin (T14): $364,763
  • Jordan Spieth (T18): $221,832
  • Stephan Jaeger (T18): $221,832
  • Padraig Harrington (T18): $221,832
  • David Puig (T18): $221,832
  • Harris English (T18): $221,832
  • Min Woo Lee (T18): $221,832
  • Joaquin Niemann (T18): $221,832
  • Maverick McNealy (T18): $221,832
  • Nick Taylor (T26): $125,523
  • Alex Noren (T26): $125,523
  • Cameron Young (T26): $125,523
  • Andrew Novak (T26): $125,523
  • Daniel Hillier (T26): $125,523
  • Tom Hoge (T26): $125,523
  • Sam Burns (T26): $125,523
  • Hideki Matsuyama (T26): $125,523
  • Bud Cauley (T26): $125,523
  • Christiaan Bezuidenhout (T35): $78,806
  • Patrick Cantlay (T35): $78,806
  • Ryo Hisatsune (T35): $78,806
  • Daniel Berger (T35): $78,806
  • Ryan Fox (T35): $78,806
  • Haotong Li (T35): $78,806
  • Aldrich Potgieter (T35): $78,806
  • Si Woo Kim (T35): $78,806
  • Martin Kaymer (T35): $78,806
  • Matt Wallace (T44): $50,348
  • Shane Lowry (T44): $50,348
  • Jhonattan Vegas (T44): $50,348
  • Denny McCarthy (T44): $50,348
  • Chandler Blanchet (T44): $50,348
  • Taylor Pendrith (T44): $50,348
  • Dustin Johnson (T44): $50,348
  • Nicolai Højgaard (T44): $50,348
  • Michael Kim (T44): $50,348
  • Kristoffer Reitan (T44): $50,348
  • Chris Kirk (T44): $50,348
  • Collin Morikawa (T55): $34,186
  • Corey Conners (T55): $34,186
  • Andrew Putnam (T55): $34,186
  • Brooks Koepka (T55): $34,186
  • Mikael Lindberg (T55): $34,186
  • Sami Valimaki (T60): $29,218
  • Sahith Theegala (T60): $29,218
  • Rico Hoey (T60): $29,218
  • Rickie Fowler (T60): $29,218
  • Brian Harman (T60): $29,218
  • Casey Jarvis (T65): $26,900
  • Jason Day (T65): $26,900
  • Rasmus Hojgaard (T65): $26,900
  • Keith Mitchell (T65): $26,900
  • Sam Stevens (T65): $26,900
  • Luke Donald (T70): $25,070
  • Ryan Gerard (T70): $25,070
  • John Parry (T70): $25,070
  • William Mouw (T70): $25,070
  • Kazuki Higa (T70): $25,070
  • Elvis Smylie (T75): $24,193
  • Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (T75): $24,193
  • Alex Fitzpatrick (T75): $24,193
  • Daniel Brown (T75): $24,193
  • John Keefer (79): $23,970
  • Ben Kern (80): $23,930
  • Michael Brennan (81): $23,910
  • Brian Campbell (82): $23,900

The players who failed to make the cut also earned something. Marquee names like Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Keegan Bradley, and all who missed the cut earned $4,300.

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Aaron Rai becomes first English golfer in over 100 years to win PGA Championship

Aaron Rai etched his name in history books as he won the 2026 PGA Championship and captured his first major title. With the win, he became the first English golfer to come out victorious in this event in over 100 years.

Aaron Rai
Aaron Rai (Image via PGA Tour)

The PGA Championship is one of the oldest golf tournaments. Last week was the 108th edition of this iconic tournament.

In its rich history, there was only one English golfer who had won this event before Rai. That person was Jim Barnes.

The 4-time major champion won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1916. Due to the events of World War I, the event did not take place in 1917 and 1918. After the war, when the event returned in 1919, Barnes won again.

Since that victory, no English player had won the tournament. Rai thus became the first Englishman to claim this championship, 107 years after Barnes did.

The victory sees Rai jump up in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). The PGA Tour and DP World Tour star was ranked 44th before this event. Following the win, he is 15th in the world rankings.

Apart from a 5-year exemption on the PGA Tour, the Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open, and the Open Championship, he earns a lifetime exemption into the PGA Championship.

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