‘Way Overpaid’: Hours After Viktor Hovland’s $3.6 Million Win, Jack Nicklaus Tarnishes His Hard Work With a Bizarre Comment

Along with the thrill and excitement of golf enthusiasts, the 2023 Memorial Tournament has come to an end. The $20 million event had quite intense competition by the end of the week. And amongst all that pressure, Viktor Hovland was able to grab the win in front of the GOAT, Jack Nicklaus. With the victory, he also won a big chunk of the event’s purse, and even Jack had to admit the money was huge!

Apart from the 2023 Memorial Tournament winner, many more golfers bagged some cash from the event. Players like Danny McCarthy, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Jon Rahm took home their shares from the $20 million purse. But did players from earlier times have the same luck with golf money?

Jack Nicklaus thinks golfers nowadays are overpaid

On Sunday, Viktor Hovland became the 2023 Memorial winner and bagged a whopping prize of $3.6 million. And as Viktor Hovland got done and dusted with the Memorial Tournament, marking his 4th major title, he and Jack shared the stage at the post-event press conference. During this conference, the event’s founder, 83, was asked to share his thoughts about how golfers are paid differently today compared to his time.

To this question, Jack replied by stating a couple of his own earnings, “My largest tournament win on the Regular Tour was the Masters in 1986. $144,000. And then I won, my last tournament I won was the Tradition on Senior Tour and that was $150,000. 3.6 million? You guys are way overpaid,” afterward he shared a laugh. 

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He further went on to say that he is glad about what the pay situation is like nowadays and that he loves that he and other golfers of his time are the forerunners that made this scenario happen for the golfers today. The golf legend said, “I think it’s fantastic. I hope next year we pay him 7.2 million.”

Who all bagged the cash prize at the Memorial this season?

Apart from the winner of Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament, there were other players who got well paid for putting in their sincere efforts throughout the week. Denny McCarthy won a whooping $2,180,000 after finishing second, World no. 1 Scottie Scheffler won $1,380,000 after ending up at third rank and SI Woo Kim bagged a hefty $980,000. 

Other than these players, Rory McIlroy and Adam Schenk shared a T7 and won a massive sum of  $650,000 while Jon Rahm ended up at T16 and took home $275,500. 

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