The Masters winner will earn around £7,500 per shot – a miniscule amount compared to the biggest earners in sport
New data shows that Oleksandr Usyk received roughly £200,000 for every time he landed a punch on in his 2nd victory over Anthony Joshua
Ahead of the Masters starting on Thursday at Augusta, new data shows that golf’s most prestigious tournament among other individual competitions across sport is being left behind in terms of prize money.
The latest findings, conducted by LegalSportsbooks.com, found that Scottie Scheffler earned £7,400 ($9,700) for every one of his shots en-route to winning the 2022 Masters.
And with the total prize money staying the same for this year’s competition, whoever gets to wear the Green Jacket come Sunday will still see their earnings dwarfed in comparison to other sports – and even other competitions in golf.
Despite the Masters being arguably the most prestigious competition in the game, golf alone has other tournaments which provide greater winning prize money.
This includes the FedEx Cup as last year’s winner Rory McIlroy received around £50,000 ($62,000) more than Scheffler did per strike of the ball.
Boxing leads the way when comparing winning prize money offered per touch. The most notable fight of 2022 saw Oleksandr Usyk defeat Anthony Joshua in their rematch with the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO champion earning a near £200,000 ($235,000) for each of his completed punches.
And despite making 229 fewer touches than golf’s current world number one did at last year’s Masters, Tommy Fury still received more than £130,000 ($175,000) in prize money per touch during his fourth-round win against YouTube star Jake Paul earlier this year.
A spokesperson for LegalSportsbooks.com said: “The Masters is regarded as the greatest spectacle in golf and a significant individual event on the sporting calendar. Our recent findings show that the winner at Augusta will earn just under £7,500 for every shot – but this sum pales into insignificance compared to some of the biggest winning purses in sport.
“Despite the prestige that wearing the green jacket brings, from an earnings perspective, winning the FedEx Cup appears to be more imperative than winning the Masters.
“Last year’s case study shows Rory McIlroy earned around £56,000 per touch from winning the FedEx Cup while Scottie Scheffler’s triumph at the 2022 Masters saw the world number one receive just £7,400 in comparison.
“This figure makes prize money in boxing pack a hefty punch with the sport’s biggest fight of last year netting Oleksandr Usyk, who defeated Anthony Joshua in their rematch, a whopping £200,000 for every hit on the two-time former unified world heavyweight champion.
“While the Masters is lagging behind in terms of prize money it offers to its winner, with no change in the winning purse this year compared to 2022, this is still significantly higher than what Novak Djokovic claimed when defeating Nick Kyrgios at last year’s Wimbledon final and what MVP Patrick Mahomes received at Super Bowl 57 in February.”
Prize money per touch across recent individual events in sport
| Event | Touches | Winning prize money (GBP) | Prize money per touch (GBP) |
| Oleksandr Usyk beating Anthony Joshua (2nd fight) | 170 | £33,792,719.32 | £198,780.70 |
| Tommy Fury beating Jake Paul | 49 | £6,420,863.05 | £131,038.02 |
| Rory McIlroy winning The 2022 FedEx Cup | 263 | £14,725,769.01 | £55,991.52 |
| Scottie Scheffler winning The 2022 Masters | 278 | £2,064,080.25 | £7,424.75 |
| Novak Djokovic winning Wimbledon 2022 Final | 473 | £2,000,000.00 | £4,228.33 |
| Patrick Mahomes at Super Bowl LVII | 33 | £115,454.20 | £3,498.61 |
| Leon Edwards beating Kamaru Usman (3rd fight) | 123 | £288,250.02 | £2,343.50 |
Source: Prize money reported figures and touches taken from various online sources, including official tournament websites. Competitions with prize money in USD converted to GBP at the time of report.
*Prize money excludes all bonuses and salary arrangements.
