Winners, Losers & Payouts: 2026 RBC Heritage

One week after The Masters, the PGA Tour showed up at Harbour Town Golf Links pretending things might calm down.

Instead, the RBC Heritage delivered a playoff, at times a borderline Ryder Cup atmosphere, and another reminder that professional golf has fully entered its “everyone gets rich” era.

At the center of it all: Matt Fitzpatrick vs. Scottie Scheffler—a matchup that somehow turned into a lesson in both precision and perspective.

But when it mattered most…Fitzpatrick hit the shot. Scheffler didn’t.

And the difference between those two things? About $1.44 million, a fancy trophy, and a proper plaid jacket.

The winner: Fitzpatrick plays the exact shot required

Fitzpatrick finished the week at 18-under, then immediately went to work in the playoff—flushing a 4-iron to 13 feet and pouring in the birdie to win.

Simple. Clean. Buckets $$$.

The victory paid $3.6 million, the standard 18% winner’s share of a $20 million purse.

More importantly, it reinforced something Harbour Town always proves: this place doesn’t care how far you hit it. It cares if you can hit that shot, right now.

Fitzpatrick could.

The runner-up: Scheffler loses… again…kind of

Scheffler also finished 18-under. He also played well enough to win. He also had control of the tournament late.

Then came the playoff.

One approach shot—uncharacteristically short—flipped everything. Suddenly, he was watching instead of winning.

And yet, for this devastating turn of events, he earned $2.16 million.

This is where modern golf becomes unintentionally funny.

He lost.
He also made more money than most people will earn in decades.

At some point, we need to redefine what “losing” means.

The leaderboard: where things get ridiculous

Beyond the top two, the 2026 RBC Heritage leaderboard reads less like a competition and more like a financial distribution exercise.

Si Woo Kim quietly finished third at 16-under and picked up $1.36 million, the kind of payday that usually comes with significantly more attention.

A three-way tie for fourth included mending Collin Morikawa, sweet swinging Harris English, and robo-stud Ludvig Åberg—each finishing at 13-under and earning $823,333.

That’s right—tie for fourth, still clearing over $800K. Casual.

Tour minion Bud Cauley slid into solo seventh and walked away with $665,000.

Then came the group at T8:
Top 10 finishes for each – Rickie Fowler, Kurt Kitayama, Gary Woodland (who dunked it on 18 from the fairway), and Patrick Cantlay—all at 11-under, all taking home $555,000, and a good amount of FedEx Cup points.

Four players. Same score. Same half-million-dollar paycheck.

Normal stuff.

Even the middle of the pack cashes in

And this is where things really stop making sense.

Players tied for 12th—including Xander Schauffele—earned just under $400,000.

A massive tie for 16th, featuring names like Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, and Akshay Bhatia, still paid about $255,000 each.

And if you just hung around, made pars, and avoided disaster? A top-20 finish guaranteed roughly $250,000.

That’s not a prize. That’s a business model.

The crowd: subtlety not included

Harbour Town typically feels like a polite handshake of a tournament. This week, it felt more like a Ryder Cup audition. With Scheffler in the mix, the crowd leaned hard into the “USA” energy late Sunday.

The Sunday vibe was loud, partisan, and very much not neutral. Fitzpatrick didn’t exactly quiet the crowd politely. He ended the tournament with one swing and one putt, then let the silence do the talking.

Winners and Losers from the RBC Heritage:

Winner: Fitpatrick. He held off fast-charging Scheffler and hit the shot of the tourney on 18 in the playoff. When it mattered most on Sunday, Fitzy hit one of his TGL-like lasers that helped seal the victory.

Loser: Sepp Straka. We didn’t see this collapse coming. After firing rounds of 66-67-67 the first three days to put him squarely into contention on Sunday, he pooped the proverbial bed and posted a final round, 7-over, 78. He fell 38 spots and finished up T-42. That is one of the worst drops of the season.

Winner: Justin Thomas. His first three rounds were remarkably bad, especially for a past champion. But his final round 66 should give him some confidence heading into his next start. But let’s not kid ourselves, T-77 will always look ugly.

Winner: Michael Kim. Having to deal with zero pressure certainly freed up Kim to play his best golf on Sunday, but firing a 62 is ridiculous. He was able to play in relatively perfect conditions earlier in the day compared to others who teed it up 3 hours later, but a 62 on a tricky track is still something to brag about. He rose an astounding 44 spots to finish up T25 and pick up a decent chunk of FedEx Cup points.

Loser: LIV Golf. Harbour Town, as always, was fun to watch Thurs-Sunday. For competing tour LIV, the two biggest stories for them last week were 1. Their funding from PIF may dry up, and fast; 2. Their biggest star, Bryson “The Beastmaster” DeChambeau, injured himself making a TikTok. Sure, Jon Rahm won another tourney in Mexico, but did anyone even watch? Well, for golf insiders, we know the public didn’t watch much on Thursday because it just wasn’t possible with the 2+ hours of technical difficulties LIV had just to get their broadcast working. Ouch.  

2026 RBC Heritage prize money payouts:

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