The USGA is making a quirky change to the prize money payouts for its winners in 2024

In February, when the USGA announced that Ally would become the presenting sponsor for the U.S. Women’s Open, USGA CEO Mike Whan revealed that the overall purse for this year’s championship at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club would jump from $11 million to $12 million—keeping it as the richest women’s golf tournament in the world. But on the eve of the championship proper, Whan offered a little wrinkle to the prize money payout this week, noting that the winner would take home $2.4 million.

Not only is that a 20 percent bump from the $2 million Allisen Corpuz earned for winning at Pebble Beach a year ago, it’s also 20 percent of the overall purse. That’s an increase from the 18 percent that is handed out at USGA events.

The decision to increase the winner’s payday was a conscious one says Whan, who says that a 20 percent payout for winners will apply to the U.S. Open and both the men’s and women’s Senior Opens.

“We saw that in some elevated events on the PGA Tour and kind of looked at that ourselves from a standpoint of how that looked, and we liked it,” Whan said. “When you start talking about the kind of money we're talking about in $12 million and more, it has very little effect kind of all the way down the line, but even makes the win even more significant. So, yeah, you'll see the same as we talk about other championships.”

By comparison, the PGA Tour actually has an 18 percent payday for its winners across the board, and has for several years. Most LPGA events pay out approximately 15 percent of the overall purse to the winner although the winner of this year’s CME Group Tour Championship is expected to make $4 million from an $11 million overall purse.

The USGA won't release the rest of the prize money payouts for the U.S. Women's Open until a 36-hole cut is made, but the governing body will remain generous to players who don’t even play all four rounds, paying at least $10,000 to all professionals whether they make the cut or not.