Ryan Fox got his moment on Sunday afternoon, and he took advantage of it perfectly.
Fox sank a huge birdie putt at the 18th hole at Royal Birkdale to claim The Open Championship on Sunday. That lifted Fox past Cameron Young to his first ever major championship title. And, as a result, he’s taking home a more than $3 million check.
The British Open offered a record amount of money this week, but the post was still significantly lower than the other three major championships.
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The R&A put up a record $17.75 million purse for this week’s major championship in England. That’s up $500,000 from last year, and now officially the largest pot that The Open has ever had. Thanks to his win, Fox earned a $3.2 million check to go with the Claret Jug. That’s up $100,000 from 2025.
While that’s a record for the British Open, it is by far the lowest among the four major championships. Both the U.S. Open and the Masters had $22.5 million purses this season, which are the largest in men’s major championship history. The PGA Championship surpassed the $20 million mark with its $20.5 million purse this season, too.
The PGA Tour’s signature events typically offer $20 million purses throughout the season, and The Players Championship tops the list at $25 million.
Even though the British Open still has a ways to go to catch up to its three counterparts in the United States, it has made massive strides since the last time the event was held at Royal Birkdale. Back in 2017, when Jordan Spieth lifted the Claret Jug, the R&A offered a $10.25 million purse. Spieth claimed $1.845 million for his win.
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Fox, a 39-year-old from New Zealand, has won twice on the PGA Tour in his career. He picked up his inaugural win at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic last year, and then backed it up later that season at the RBC Canadian Open. He entered the week at No. 56 in the Official World Golf Rankings having never finished inside the top 10 at a major championship — though he did post a record-matching 62 on Saturday to vault himself into contention.
Here’s a look at how much Fox and the rest of the field earned this week at Royal Birkdale.
2026 British Open payouts
1. Ryan Fox — $3.2 million
2. Cameron Young — $1.842 million
3. Sam Burns — $1.181 million
T4. Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood — $827,500
T6. Casey Jarvis, Lucas Herbert, Si Woo Kim — $550,883
T9. Adam Scott, Russell Henley, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Ludvig Åberg, Ryan Gerard — $336,380
T14. Corey Conners, Sungjae Im, Hideki Matsuyama, Bryson DeChambeau — $234,325
T18. Rickie Fowler, Chris Gotterup, Bud Cauley, Marco Penge, Alex Noren, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Smith, Kristoffer Reitan, Daniel Brown, Xander Schauffele — $164,575
T28. John Parry, Victor Perez, Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Pierceson Coody, Robert MacIntyre, Jacob Bridgeman, Max Homa, Shane Lowry, Cameron John, Kazuma Kobori, Jackson Suber — $102,817
T40. Thomas Detry, JJ Spaun, Kurt Kitayama, Michael Thorbjornsen, Matt Wallace, Rory McIlroy — $69,750
T46. Michael Southgate, Eugenio Chacarra, Patrick Reed, Francesco Molinari, Hennie Du Plessis, Jose Luis Ballester Barrio, Jon Rahm — $51,707
T53. Ryo Hisatsune, Michael Brennan, Shaun Norris, Sahith Theegala, Alex Smalley, Eric Cole — $45,183
T59. Ben Griffin, Aldrich Potgieter, Min Woo Lee, Nick Taylor, Naoyuki Kataoka, Johnny Keefer — $43,025
T65. Peter Uihlein, Justin Thomas — $41,987.5
T67. Sepp Straka, Nico Echavarria — $41,350
T69. Andy Sullivan, Tyrrell Hatton — $40,800
T71. Laurie Canter, MJ Daffue, Alex FItzpatrick — $40,450
T74. Keegan Bradley, Kazuki Higa, Marcus Plunkett — $40,075
77. Jack McDonald — $39,825
78. Jesper Svensson — $39,700
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The first 10 and ties who miss the cut will earn $12,900 each. The next 20 golfers and ties will earn $10,750. Everyone else will earn $9,100.