How much will an American golfer actually get for winning The Open 2023? UK’s aggressive tax laws explored

The Open Championship 2023 is set to tee off on Thursday, July 20, at Royal Liverpool. The fourth and final major championship of the year has a prize purse of $16.5 million. The total purse has seen a hike of $2.5 million from 2022, making it the most expensive edition of the event yet. The event will have the world’s top golfers competing for the prestigious claret jug.

According to the R&A, the winner of the major will bag a whopping $3 million, an increase from the $500,000 won by Cam Smith last year at St. Andrews. However, there are high chances that the winner won’t be taking home the full sum. It is pertinent to note that competing in a UK tournament can be shockingly expensive for any American player owing to the country’s aggressive tax laws.

For the unversed, the United Kingdom is infamous for its tax laws. The laws are so aggressive that many English athletes have relocated to places like Monaco or the Bahamas in the past. Almost every other country’s taxing authority takes a chunk of prize money as income tax. However, the UK government goes the length to charge athletes for a representative percentage of the overall endorsement money they made in the country.

To simplify, an American golfer winning The Open aka The British Open will see 20 per cent of the $3 million winner’s paycheck taken away by the UK authorities. Moreover, the player will also have to pay a significant amount from their off-course earnings, sponsorship and endorsement, while competing at Royal Liverpool.

For instance, if Scottie Scheffler manages to win this weekend, he could well head back to the US with only $1.2 million, 40 per cent of the total sum he won, with the rest being withheld in the UK as taxes. It is also noteworthy that each player will have to spend a significant sum on travel, lodging and caddie expenses, etc.

While the appeal of the major stays intact, it’s safe to say that most players will be leaving Hoylake with lesser in their bank accounts than what they came with.

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The Open Championship 2023 prize money

The Open Championship 2023 winner will bag the $3 million paycheck. While the champion takes the major share of the purse, the runner-up will return home with a paycheck of $1,708,000. The golfer finishing third will also win over the million mark, bagging $1,095,000. The golfer finishing fourth will get $851,000 and the fifth-placed golfer will win $684,500.

Much like other PGA Tour events, the major championship will have a 36-hole-cut on Friday. Owing to the cut, all remaining golfers will win big paychecks with the 70th-placed player on The Open final leaderboard getting $37,800. Interestingly, golfers failing to make the cut will also receive paychecks ranging from $12,000 to $8,500 to cover their expenses.