Aaron Rai’s first major championship win is coming with a massive paycheck.
Rai survived a jammed race at Aronimink Golf Club outside of Philadelphia on Sunday to claim the PGA Championship. He got to 9-under on the week and ended up claiming a three-shot win over the field, thanks in part to a wild nearly 70-foot birdie putt at the 17th.
The win was just the second of Rai’s career on the PGA Tour. He picked up his inaugural victory back at the Wyndham Championship in 2024 and entered this week at No. 44 in the Official World Golf Rankings. His 65 on Sunday marked the lowest round of his major championship career.
Along with the iconic Wanamaker Trophy, Rai is also taking home $3.69 million.
The PGA of America offered a $20.5 million purse this week. While that’s still less than some other big events on the golf calendar, it set a record for the PGA Championship.
By comparison, the 2025 PGA Championship offered a $19 million purse. That sent Scottie Scheffler home with a $3.42 million check for his win last season at Quail Hollow. While that was a then-record for the major, it was one of the lowest among the majors. The PGA Tour’s signature events typically offer $20 million purses, and The Players Championship tops the list at $25 million.
Rory McIlroy earned a $4.5 million check for his win at Augusta National last month, which was part of a $22.5 million purse at the Masters. The U.S. Open was close behind with a $21.5 million purse last season, and the British Open was last at $17 million.
Here’s a look at how much Rai and the rest of the field earned this week at Aronimink.
2026 PGA Championship payouts
1. Aaron Rai — $3.69 million
T2. Jon Rahm, Alex Smalley $1.804 million
T4. Justin Thomas, Ludvig Åberg, Matti Schmid — $843,867
T7. Cam Smith, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele — $637,050
T10. Kurt Kitayama, Chris Gotterup, Justin Rose, Patrick Reed — $496,708
T14. Matt Fitzpatrick, Scottie Scheffler, Max Greyserman, Ben Griffin — $364,763
T18. Jordan Spieth, Stephan Jaeger, Padraig Harrington, David Puig, Harris English, Min Woo Lee, Joaquin Niemann, Maverick McNealy — $221,832
T26. Nick Taylor, Alex Noren, Cameron Young, Andrew Novak, Daniel Hillier, Tom Hoge, Sam Burns, Hideki Matsuyama, Bud Cauley — $125,523
T35. Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Patrick Cantlay, Ryo Hisatsune, Daniel Berger, Ryan Fox, Haotong Li, Aldrich Potgieter, Si Woo Kim, Martin Kaymer — $78,806
T44. Matt Wallace, Shane Lowry, Jhonattan Vegas, Denny McCarthy, Chandler Blanchet, Taylor Pendrith, Dustin Johnson, Nicolai Højgaard, Michael Kim, Kristoffer Reitan, Chris Kirk — $50,291
T55. Collin Morikawa, Corey Conners, Andrew Putnam, Brooks Koepka, Mikael Lindberg — $34,186
T60. Sami Valimaki, Sahith Theegala, Rico Hoey, Rickie Fowler, Brian Harman — $29,218
T65. Casey Jarvis, Jason Day, Rasmus Højgaard, Keith Mitchell, Sam Stevens — $26,900
T70. Luke Donald, Ryan Gerard, John Parry, William Mouw, Kazuki Higa — $25,070
T75. Elvis Smylie, Rasmis Neergaard-Petersen, Alex Fitzpatrick, Daniel Brown — $24,192.50
79. John Keefer — $23,970
80. Ben Kern — $23,930
81. Michael Brennan — $23,910
82. Brian Campbell — $23,900
Players who missed the cut received $4,300 each.
