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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

For the seventh event of the 2024 season, the PGA Tour Champions stopped at Irvin, Texas, to showcase a different kind of play and field. At the Las Colinas Country Club, 78 PGA Tour Champions players and 40 selected celebrities teed up for competitive and exciting rounds of golf.

In the field were stars from sports like MLB All-Star pitcher Mark Mulder and Hall of Famer Pudge Rodriguez, golfers like Annika Sorenstam and Blaire O’Neal, Ben Higgins from The Bachelor, and many others from the NHL and tennis, who started the first round at the Irvin Greens. While the celebrities play alongside the pros, the prize money for both groups is distributed uniquely.

What will the players at Invited Celebrity Classic bag on the last day?

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This year, the Invited Celebrity Classic has increased its overall prize purse. In 2023, only $2 million was up for the 78-player field and $500,00 for the 40 celebrity golfers. Though the celebrity prize purse has remained the same, the prize pool has been up to $2.2 million for the players.

As the PGA Tour Champions policy follows, the winner of the Invited Celebrity Classic receives a check of $330,000 from the total prize purse. Whereas the runner-up has to suffice with $193,600, ideally. Since there are no cuts observed for the event, all the golfers will go home with something in there, with the bottommost getting $1,100.

Comparatively, the prize purse is much lower than the two PGA Tour events happening this week: RBC Heritage ($20 million, winner’s payout, $3.6 million) and the Corales Puntacana Championship ($4 million purse, where the winner will get $720,000). However, it is still the highest prize purse for the PGA Tour Champions 2024 events outside the majors.

The prize money breakdown for the full field is given below:

PositionAmount
1st$330,000
2nd$193,600
3rd $158,400
4th$132,000
5th$105,600
6th$88,000
7th$79,200
8th$70,400
9th$61,600
10th$57,200
11th$52,800
12th$48,400
13th$44,000
14th$41,800
15th$39,600
16th$37,400
17th$35,200
18th$33,000
19th$31,020
20th$29,040
21st$27,280
22nd$25,520
23rd$24,200
24th$23,100
25th$22,000
26th$20,900
27th$20,020
28th$19,140
29th$18,260
30th$17,380
31st$16,500
32nd$15,840
33rd$15,180
34th$14,520
35th$13,860
36th$13,200
37th$12,540
38th$12,100
39th$11,660
40th$11,220
41st$10,780
42nd$10,340
43rd$9,900
44th$9,460
45th$9,020
46th$8,580
47th$8,140
48th$7,700
49th$7,260
50th$6,820
51st$6,380
52nd$5,940
53rd$5,500
54th$5,280
55th$5,060
56th$4,840
57th$4,620
58th$4,400
59th$4,180
60th$3,960
61st$3,740
62nd$3,520
63rd$3,300
64th$3,080
65th$2,860
66th$2,640
67th$2,420
68th$2,200
69th$2,068
70th$1,936
71st$1,804
72nd$1,672
73rd$1,540
74th$1,452
75th$1,364
76th$1,276
77th$1,188
78th$1,100

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At the Invited Celebrity Classic, the prize money was not the only different thing. While the first round went smoothly, the second could not, which produced an anomaly that had never been witnessed before.

What went wrong at the Invited Celebrity Classic? 

The weather went haywire in the middle of the tournament. The event’s second round was suspended because of inclement weather. The usual 54-hole event was cut short to 36 holes because the PGA Tour Champions had shared a forecast that warned about thunderstorms and lighting.

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via Getty

Hence, the winner will be announced after only playing two rounds. After playing only one round, the lead was taken by Thomas Bjorn, who shot 7 under 64. Following the German pro was 11-time PGA Tour Champions winner Jerry Kelly, who tied with three others, who all scored 6 under 65. Who will come out as the victor and bag the $330,000 prize purse? It remains to be seen.