Rory McIlroy could enjoy a bumper payday if he remains in contention at the PGA Championship this weekend.
The Hollywood golfer has the lead going into day two at Southern Hills after finishing his first round on five under par.
McIlroy carded seven birdies and two bogeys in an opening 65 to record his lowest round in a major since the 2011 US Open.
His last major win came in the 2014 US PGA and he will pocket over €2million if he can end his major drought in Oklahoma on Sunday.
The prize money for first place is $2,160,000, while it is $1,296,000 for second, $816,000 for third, $576,000 for fourth and $480,000 for fifth.
But McIlroy has vowed not to get ahead of himself despite heading into day two in pole position.
He said: “It was a great start to the tournament.
“I’ve been playing well coming in here. I’ve been carrying some good form. Obviously I took a lot from that last round at Augusta (64), played well at the Wells Fargo there and played good in the practice rounds earlier this week.
“I think when your game is feeling like that, it’s just a matter of going out there and really sticking to your game plan, executing as well as you possibly can, and just sort of staying in your own little world.
“I did that really well today. It was nice to get off to that good start and sorta keep it going.
“I feel like this course, it lets you be pretty aggressive off the tee if you want to be, so I hit quite a lot of drivers out there and took advantage of my length and finished that off with some nice iron play and some nice putting.
“It is a great start but I’m not getting ahead of myself. I did pretty much everything you need to do out there and I’m going to have to keep doing the same the next three days.”
McIlroy held a one-shot lead over Will Zalatoris and Tom Hoge, while playing partners Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth were facing battles to make the cut after rounds of 74 and 72 respectively.
Woods was two under par for his first five holes but struggled from then on and admitted his right leg – which he feared could have to be amputated following last year’s car crash – was not “feeling as good as I would like”.
Spieth needs to lift the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday evening to become only the sixth player to complete a career grand slam.
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