Only three South Africans made the halfway cut at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush over the weekend.
Scottie Scheffler won a cool $3,1 million (R55 million) for his winning efforts at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush over the weekend.
It was the 29-year-old America’s fourth Major title and his second this year, after he also won the PGA Championship in May. He has won four titles in total on the PGA Tour this year.
Scheffler won on a score of 17-under-par, four better than second-placed Harris English.
Only three out of 11 South Africans made the halfway cut at Royal Portrush and they will be smiling all the way to the bank this week.
South Africans in the field
The best-placed South African was Christiaan Bezuidenhout who finished in a tie for 34th and he will pocket $86,517 (or R1,5 million) for his four days of work in Northern Ireland.
Thriston Lawrence, who finished fourth at the Open last year, had to settle for tied-45th this year and $51,186 (or R906,000) while Dean Burmester finished tied 61st for $41,100 (or R727,000).
But even the players who missed the cut this last weekend ended up being generously compensated, with the top 10 players (and ties) on the wrong side of the cut receiving $12,350, the next 20, $10,300, and the remainder of the field receiving $8,750.
That means the South Africans who didn’t get to play on Saturday and Sunday, namely Louis Oosthuizen, Daniel van Tonder, Justin Walters, Aldrich Potgieter, Dylan Naidoo. Darren Fichardt, Shaun Norris and amateur Bryan Newman, still got something for their efforts.
Richest in golf
The total purse at the Open this year was the same as year’s, namely $17 million, the least lucrative of the four Majors.
Sitting in first is the US Open with a purse of R21,5 million, followed by the Masters at $21 million and then the PGA Championship at $19 million.
The Players Championship, regarded as the unofficial fifth Major, has the biggest purse on the PGA Tour with $25 million.