By: Kevin Cunningham March 17, 2025
J.J. Spaun lost the 2025 Players Championship to Rory McIlroy on Monday.
Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
A massive amount of Players Championship money was up for grabs during Monday’s playoff at the 2025 Players Championship. As the loser, J.J. Spaun nearly lost as much money as he won. Here’s what you need to know about the ramifications of the playoff.
The Players Championship has the biggest purse in golf, with $25 million total on the line during tournament week. The winner, of course, gets by far the largest share.
This year’s winner was Rory McIlroy. By coming out on top of the three-hole Monday playoff, McIlroy walked away with $4.5 million. The story was not as good for Spaun, depending on how you look at it.
Though he lost on Monday, Spaun still walked away with $2.725 million. That’s a much larger amount than most other tournaments offer for second place. In fact, it’s almost double what winners of regular PGA Tour events get. It’s also Spaun’s biggest PGA Tour paycheck to date.
While Spaun will no doubt be happy to see that amount drop into his bank account, it will hurt to know how much he lost. By losing the three-hole aggregate playoff to McIlroy, Spaun missed out on an extra $1.775 million, or $591,667 per hole.
For perspective, that amount is more than Joe Highsmith earned for winning the 2025 Cognizant Classic at the Palm Beaches a few weeks ago ($1.656 million).
It’s also more than Spaun took home for his only PGA Tour victory, the 2022 Valero Texas Open. That week he earned $1.548 million.
1st: $4,500,0002nd: $2,725,0003rd: $1,725,0004th: $1,225,0005th: $1,025,0006th: $906,2507th: $843,7508th: $781,2509th: $731,25010th: $681,25011th: $631,25012th: $581,25013th: $531,25014th: $481,25015th: $456,25016th: $431,25017th: $406,25018th: $381,25019th: $356,25020th: $331,25021st: $306,25022nd: $281,25023rd: $261,25024th: $241,25025th: $221,25026th: $201,25027th: $193,75028th: $186,25029th: $178,75030th: $171,25031st: $163,75032nd: $156,25033rd: $148,75034th: $142,50035th: $136,25036th: $130,00037th: $123,75038th: $118,75039th: $113,75040th: $108,75041st: $103,75042nd: $98,75043rd: $93,75044th: $88,75045th: $83,75046th: $78,75047th: $73,75048th: $69,75049th: $66,25050th: $64,25051st: $62,75052nd: $61,25053rd: $60,25054th: $59,25055th: $58,75056th: $58,25057th: $57,75058th: $57,25059th: $56,75060th: $56,25061st: $55,75062nd: $55,25063rd: $54,75064th: $54,25065th: $53,75066th: $53,25067th: $52,75068th: $52,25069th: $51,75070th: $51,25071st: $50,750
72nd: $50,250
