The USGA have confirmed a record prize purse will be on offer at this week's US Open, with the 156 players competing for an eye-watering £15.7 million ($20m) at Los Angeles Country Club.
After a year like no other in professional golf, this week's US Open is arguably the most highly anticipated yet, as it takes place just nine days after the PGA Tour announced a shock agreement with LIV Golf and the DP World Tour. The PGA Tour and LIV have been at war since the latter's inception last June.
Their ugly 12-month spat now appears to be over though, after it was confirmed the two rival circuits had signed an agreement to operate under the same entity funded by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The Saudis involvement within the sport has skyrocketed over the past year, after bankrolling the LIV Golf setup. And their power within golf has only extended, after the PGA Tour confirmed that PIF had made 'capital investment' to facilitate the new entity.
Amid LIV's financial dominance, the PGA Tour aimed to match their former rivals after rolling out an elevated events schedule that saw a whole host of tournaments receive a £15.7 million prize pot. This move has now been reciprocated by the USGA, with the US Open's purse becoming the biggest across the four majors.
In April, Masters bosses increased its purse to £14.2 million ($18m), whilst the PGA Championship followed suit, bumping up theirs to £13.7 million ($17.5m). Looking to grow the event, USGA CEO said: "In general for us, we want this to be big.
"We have to find the right balance of bigness in terms of where we play it, how we televise it, how many people we let on this golf course. I think purse is part of that.” Whilst tournament organisers have matched the numbers on offer at the PGA Tour's top events, Whan admitted the USGA are in no 'chase' to become golf's top payers.
"“We understand that purses can be relative, and in order to be big we have to understand what else is going on in the world, and we do,” he added. “We’re not in a chase to be the biggest check, but we want to make sure that the money and the opportunity here, whether they’re a tour player, college player, amateur, how they got here, that’s still part of the bigness, and we believe it is.”
