The 2023 U.S. Open will have a historic $20 million purse up for grabs

The purse for this year's U.S. Open is massive.

While the professional golf world is reeling after the PGA/LIV merger that rocked the sport, the game goes on as the U.S. Open gets underway on Thursday at the Los Angeles Country Club.

This year’s purse will be the largest in men’s major championship golf history, per Golf Digest. Successful golfers will reap rewards from a $20,000,000 purse.

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Golf Digest’s report speculates the enlarged purse could be in response to what’s been going on with the PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s previous competition in payouts.

Mike Whan, USGA CEO, said the decision to increase from last year’s $17.5 million was done understanding “what else is going on in the golf world,” alluding to the PGA Tour’s $20 million purses for designated events as well as LIV Golf’s $20 million offers for their individual events.

Per Bet MGM, the winner for this year’s U.S. Open will walk away with $3,600,000, while second place will earn $2,180,000 and third will net $1,380,000.

As the tournament gets underway, there are a host of favorites and some intriguing sleepers who could walk away from a cut of this historic purse.

While the golf world will surely have the PGA/LIV merger at the front of the conversation at this week’s U.S. Open, this colossal amount of prize money will surely be on the back of plenty of golfers’ minds.

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