Brexit-influenced drop in British pound lowers Open purse
The winner of next week’s British Open will win about $1.5 million — or approximately $246,750 less than that champion would have won before the Brexit vote.
The R&A announced the prize pool for the Open at Royal Troon on Tuesday, noting that the 2016 total purse went up £200,000 from 2015 to £6.5 million. However, the value of the British pound to the U.S. dollar has dropped precipitously since the June 23 referendum that resulted in a narrow victory for the United Kingdom to pursue an exit from the European Union.
In the resulting fallout, the pound has gone from approximately $1.50 to approximately $1.29 on July 5. That means the nearly $1.76 million the British Open winner would have earned pre-Brexit is no more.
During last year’s Open Championship, the British pound was worth about $1.53, making the total purse approximately $9.7 million. This year, despite the pound increase in the overall purse, the purse is now valued at approximately $8.4 million.
By comparison, the year’s first two major championships have offered a purse of $10 million, with the winner getting $1.8 million or the typical 18 percent paid in golf. The Players Championship has golf’s richest purse, coming in at $10.5 million.
