LIV Golf burst onto the scene in 2022 with massive guaranteed contracts, no-cut events, and prize purses starting at $25 million. The scale was unprecedented and forced the golf world to take notice. So when a reporter asked USGA CEO Mike Whan at Shinnecock Hills whether matching the Masters’ $22.5 million purse really mattered, and if LIV’s uncertain future could influence major championship payouts, Whan addressed the question directly.

“I didn’t really know the second part of that,” Whan said during a press conference at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, “I didn’t know what LIV was pitching, so I can promise you that wasn’t part of our thinking. We also are not in a race. We’re not chasing. I don’t know if that answers your question, but we’re proud of where we are.

“I couldn’t tell you, and until I get some truth serum in here, how much farther we go in the years to come, but we think it’s a measure of how we feel about our championship. It needs to be significant and stand out. We think 22.5 does.”

He isn’t pricing the U.S. Open based on a rival league’s spreadsheet or competing against other majors. According to him, the pricing is based on their own sense of what the tournament is worth.

“We believe we’re the best championship in the game, and we want a lot of aspects to be the best championship in the game,” Whan said, referring to the USGA’s plays, treatment of players, and payout structure. He kept circling back to the same point: the U.S. Open gets more network TV time than any other major. To him, presentation, payout, and broadcast reach, stacked together, are “big” in his framing.

The numbers support his line of thinking. Way back in 1896, the U.S. Open purse was just $335. Fast forward to Shinnecock in 2018, and it had jumped to $12 million. Then in 2023, it hit $20 million, the biggest purse in major history then. Now, we’re looking at a $22.5 million purse, right up there with the Masters, and the champ pockets $4.5 million.

The U.S. Open isn’t the only major making changes this year. The PGA Championship bumped its purse to $20.5 million, up from $19 million in 2025, making it the third major to raise its prize fund for 2026. The Open Championship has held its purse at $17 million for two years and hasn’t announced its 2026 figure yet. Each major now carries a different prize fund, but the expectation stays the same: purses will rise again.

That assumption traces back to LIV’s arrival, so let’s look at where the league goes next before returning to Whan’s point.

How LIV Golf’s funding crisis could reshape future purses

For three years, LIV Golf’s entry into the sport led to a sharp increase in prize money. Total PGA Tour purse money jumped past $560 million for the 2022–23 season, a 33% rise from the year before, and major championships followed the same upward trend. Now that momentum is changing. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will end its financial support for LIV Golf after this season, and as a result, talk has turned to leaner purses at the league that started the race.

The PIF’s decision to exit is part of a broader shift in its investment strategy, and LIV did not meet the fund’s new criteria after losing over $1 billion between 2022 and 2024. Four events remain on LIV’s 2026 schedule, but the league’s long-term viability remains uncertain. Whatever shape LIV takes next, smaller purses or a new investor won’t affect the USGA’s purse strategy.

Whether the U.S. Open purse keeps climbing past $22.5 million is a question even Whan wouldn’t answer directly. But at Shinnecock this week, his point was clear: the U.S. Open isn’t measuring itself against what LIV Golf decides to spend next year. It’s measuring itself against what it already believes it is.