The Senior British Open Championship purse is getting at 25 percent boost for 2020.
The R&A and the Staysure Tour announced Feb. 28 that the 2020 Senior British Open Championship prize pool will be $2.5 million, up from $2 million in 2020. This is the biggest purse in the 34-year history of the event.
The Senior Open, as it's formally called, will be played July 23-26 on the Old Course at Sunningdale Golf Club. The event is put on by the R&A and the Staysure Tour, which is the European Tour's senior tour. The PGA Tour Champions co-sanctions the event as one of its five major titles. It is the only PGA Tour Champions major played outside the United States.
Sunningdale hosts for the first time since 2015, when Marco Dawson beat Bernhard Langer in 2015 by a shot for a shock victory. Langer is the defending champion in 2020, having won an unprecedented fourth Senior Open in 2019 at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
Bernhard Langer won an unprecedented fourth Senior Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2019 and will defend his title at the Old Course where he was beaten to the trophy by a stroke to American Marco Dawson in 2015.
“We are pleased to be making a 25 percent increase in the prize fund for The Senior Open which is a significant investment and reflects our ambitions to elevate the championship for the world’s best senior professional golfers," said Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, Executive Director – Championships at The R&A. "We are grateful to Rolex for its continuing support of the championship.”
