Perks of winning the PGA Championship

There are plenty of perks to winning the PGA Championship, aside from the prestige of winning a Major championship...

1. Prize Money

Prize money is a major incentive for the winner, with the PGA Championship offering up a huge purse. Last year's prize fund was $15m and this year's purse is sure to rise as we've been seeing with all Major purses since the introduction of the LIV Golf riches.

Last year's winner Justin Thomas picked up a check of $2.7m. This year's champion will probably earn more than $3m.

2. The trophy

The winner takes home the historic and iconic Wanamaker trophy, which is one of the best trophies in golf and one of the biggest, too. The PGA Champion gets to keep the Wanamaker Trophy for a year before returning it at the following year's tournament. A 90% replica of the trophy is given to the winner to keep once the original trophy is returned.

3. Lifetime exemption

A huge perk of winning the tournament is that PGA Champions are exempt into the Major for the rest of their career, so they get to return year after year without worrying about their world ranking or qualifying in other ways. This is why retired player and now-commentator Rich Beem still plays in the event each year, after he won the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine.

The Masters is the only other men's Major that offers a lifetime of return entries. The US Open gives a 10-year exemption to its champion, while the Open winner qualifies for the event until they're 60.

4. Major exemptions

PGA Champions earn invites to the three other Majors for the next five years, meaning they'll secure spots in the Masters, the US Open and Open Championship. One Major victory gets you a guaranteed 20 Major starts for the next five years.

5. Tour memberships

A five-year PGA Tour card is awarded to the PGA Champion, whilst the winner also earns a DP World Tour card for five years, too.

6. World ranking points

PGA Championship winners receive 100 Official World Golf Ranking points, effectively securing their spot in the top 50 for the next 18 months proceeding their victory. All of the four men's Majors offer 100 OWGR points to the winner, with the next-best Players Championship awarding 80.

7. FedEx Cup points

The winner of the PGA Championship picks up 600 FedEx Cup points, which is 100 more than the 500 on offer at regular PGA Tour events. All four men's Majors plus the Players Championship offer 600 FedEx Cup points.

8. Other tournament exemptions

Winners of the PGA Championship earn a spot in the Players Championship for the next five years as well as most other PGA Tour and DP World Tour events due to the memberships on offer. They also earn a spot in January's Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.

9. The Champions Dinner

Just like The Masters, the PGA Championship has its own past champions' dinner on the Tuesday of tournament week. The dinner has been running since 1965 and allows spouses and family, as opposed to Augusta National's 'Masters Club' that is only open to past Masters champions and the club's chairman.

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