Brian Harman has admitted he would compete at The Open Championship without prize money being on offer but insisted a number of his fellow competitors would not.
Harman will defend his Open title at Royal Troon this week, one year on from his runaway victory at Royal Liverpool. On becoming Champion Golfer of The Year, the PGA Tour star got his hands on the iconic Claret Jug, as well as a cool $3 million in prize money.
If he is to go back-to-back this time around, Harman will come away with an additional $100,000 on top of the $3 million win, after the R&A increased the overall purse of the final major championship of the year by $500,000.
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Rising prize pots within men's professional golf have become a common theme in recent years amid the rise of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf setup. In response, the PGA Tour has ramped up their purses, and this has seeped onto the major stage too, as seen in Ayrshire, Scotland this week.
Amid the financial arms race within the game, Harman was asked if he would compete in this week's Open Championship for free amid the history around the event, to which he simply replied: "Yeah, I would personally. I'm not sure everyone would, but I would."
Pressed on why he felt some of his other players would not be comfortable competing without prize money on offer, he added: "Because some people care more about money than I do, I suppose. I play golf too -- I play golf for me. Like I play golf to see how good I can get at golf.
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"I play golf because I enjoy torturing myself with things that are really hard to do. That's just me. Most times when I get done with a tournament, I couldn't tell you within commas of how much that I made that week." A number of players who have made the jump from the PGA Tour to LIV in recent years have made no secret about the financial lure the breakaway league poses.
Speaking to Netflix's Full Swing cameras, two-time major champion Dustin Johnson was open on the reasoning behind his Saudi switch, having signed a deal worth a reported $125 million with Greg Norman and co. "For me it was playing less, making more money. Pretty simple," Johnson commented.
"Someone offers anyone a job, doing the same thing they're already doing but less time at the office and they're gonna pay them more. Pretty sure you're gonna take it. And something's wrong with you if you didn't." His former Ryder Cup teammate Bryson DeChambeau offered a similar response, labeling his LIV more a 'business decision' two years ago.
"At the end of the day, it's a business decision for my family's future,'' he said. "And it gave me a lot more free time.'' DeChambeau is one of the favorites to take home the $3.1 million on British soil this week, heading into the championship having won the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 last month.
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