As the first of eight PGA Tour Signature events, The Sentry had a big payoff to any of the 58 players who played 72 holes in the no-cut event last week at Kapalua.
Only The Players Championship ($25 million purse) exceeds the Signature events during the regular season. And winner Hideki Matsuyama took a big lead when he set the PGA Tour 72-hole scoring record at 35-under-par 257 to win The Sentry by three shots over Collin Morikawa.
Matsuyama, who won his 11th PGA Tour title, took home $3.6 million for winning, with Morikawa earning $2.16 million.
Sungjae Im collected $1.36 million for his solo third and Johnathan Vegas got $975,000 for a solo fourth.
To put Matsuyama’s payday in perspective, it was more than David Duval earned in 1998 when he won the Tour’s money title with $2,591,031. Matsuyama is now 13th on the career money list with more than $55.4 million.
Vegas’ total for fourth would have won the Tour money title as recently as 1987.
The player who finished in 58th and last place at The Sentry, Brian Harman, still won $48,500, which was about Florida’s per capita income was as recently as 2017.
Of course, inflation factors in and Tour purses have skyrocketed to try and keep pace with the major championships and LIV Golf.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour money list: Hideki Matusyama takes early lead with $3.6 million
