PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The purse for this week’s Players Championship is – to borrow a phrase from Phil Mickelson – obnoxiously large. The winner receives $3.6 million; solo 39th will bank $91,000 or a grand more than Jerry Pate earned for winning the first Players at TPC Sawgrass in 1982. And finish DFL and you’ll still take home $43,000. Not a bad week for surviving the cut and stinking up the joint over the weekend.
But it ain’t all about the Benjamins, if you believe Viktor Hovland and Joel Dahmen.
Hovland is a man of simple means. Give him a side of guacamole and extra meat at Chipotle and he’s a happy man. At the Genesis Invitational last month, the 24-year-old Norwegian spoke about the difference in having a bulging bank account all of a sudden.
“I didn’t have to count every single dollar that I spend on air travel and food. That was like a big thing,” Hovland said. “Instead of not getting guac at Chipotle, I could get double meat and some extra guac and I don’t have to worry about it. It’s just stuff like that on a daily basis, like you don’t have to think about it. If you think a certain thing is good for your game or good for your health or whatever it is, then you go do it, you don’t have to worry about how much it’s going to cost. That was about it.”
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And what of this week’s mega-millions purse?
“Yeah, it’s a lot of money for sure. Definitely a lot of guac and double meat,” he said. “But regardless of how I finish this week, it’s not really going to change my life, at least not right now. Obviously it’s nice to have in the bank for the future and whatever, but I live in Oklahoma and I still have the same joggers that I had two years ago and probably should upgrade those. But yeah, I mean, I live a pretty easy lifestyle, but it’s more about having the chance to lift the trophy and be a part of something special.”
What would Hovland splurge on if he were to claim the top prize?
“I don’t know, maybe a nice party for the boys back home in Oklahoma, and when I get home to Norway we can go out and have some fun,” he said. “That’s about it.”
Dahmen, who said he’s already won more money ($8,236,182) than he ever imagined making in his lifetime, would love to win the Players, but it won’t send him on a buying spree.
“I’m not going to buy a jet and mansion,” Dahmen said. “I’m just going to buy more White Claws and I already can afford those.”
