Come the end of Sunday , one lucky golfer will go home at least $ 10 million richer . That same man may also pocket another cool $ 1.44 million , depending on whether he manages to win the PGA Tour 's season-ending Tour Championship . Some $ 8 million will be on offer to the elite 30-man field at Atlanta 's East Lake course , and a handful of those players will be hoping to grab the bumper jackpot bonus for being top of the FedEx Cup playoffs standings . Brandt Snedeker did so last year , taking home $ 12.5 million from the final four tournaments after winning the decider . The U.S. circuit can potentially make instant millionaires at 34 of its sanctioned events -- 35 if you count the $ 990,000 on offer to the winner of the Tampa Bay Championship . But it was not always so and prize purses have come a long way in the past two decades -- especially since the advent of a certain Tiger Woods.. `` The tour when I started in 1956 was for about $ 650,000 total purse for 40 tournaments , '' recalls Billy Casper , one of professional golf 's pioneers -- a man who was something of an unsung hero compared to the well-marketed `` big three '' of Arnold Palmer , Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player . `` It started growing in '58 and we grew along with it , '' Casper told CNN . `` It took Palmer about 12 years to become a millionaire . I was the second millionaire and it took me 14 years . '' Now 82 , Casper can look back on a 45-year playing career in which he won three major titles and 51 PGA Tour events -- putting him seventh on the U.S circuit 's all-time list . But it says something about the development of the game that the most money he ever won came in his final victory on the seniors ' Champions Tour -- a $ 60,000 first prize . `` I played about 45 years and I won $ 7 million . If I 'd played 45 years from , say , 1960 on I 'd have made a couple of hundred million . '' In order to start out as a professional , Casper had to go into considerable debt , borrowing $ 15,000 . `` I had no money to start with , my wife had no money . I had a three-year contract and at the end of three years I paid back the people who 'd advanced me the money and gave them a large percentage ( reportedly 30 % ) of what I won , '' he says . `` I had a small sum in the bank , a little house and I owned a '57 Cadillac and I was on my way . '' Known as `` Buffalo Bill '' due to a strict diet of organic meat and vegetables that slimmed him down to a more athletic figure , Casper set about his golf career with the discipline he had learned in a four-year stint in the U.S. navy . `` It was really a different time of training and building one 's life . There was n't a lot of money available . You had to stay with it , '' he says . `` I approached golf tournaments the same way -- I was never worried about majors , I just wanted to play the best I could each week . I was n't like Nicklaus -- he geared himself to winning majors and he played for the majors . I wanted to play every week . I always played for my family . '' A devoted family man and devout Mormon , Casper says he still has a `` close relationship '' with the military . In the 1960s he visited U.S. troops ( `` hitting golf balls off aircraft carriers '' ) at bases in Vietnam , Thailand and Japan . Even now , he is giving back to the armed forces through his charity work -- in the past three years Casper 's golf facility operations company has helped raise more than $ 1.1 million for the Wounded Warrior veterans project via the `` World 's Largest Golf Outing '' event . Last month 's staging , held at 110 of the 150 courses run by Billy Casper Golf -- the largest domestic operator in the U.S. -- brought in $ 725,000 . Casper says the abolition of conscription in the early 1970s has led to some of the United States ' present social problems . `` There was a time when it was mandatory , they had a draft . Young people spent a certain amount of time in the military and it gave them a wonderful base to launch their lives by , '' he says . `` They got their feet on the ground , they understood what life was all about and they could make a decision as to what they wanted to do -- stay in the military or get out and follow something else . `` When that was abolished , that 's when we started having problems with our young people . I think it was a wonderful program and it helped young people to build their talents , skills and abilities to go into society and be productive and carry on for their lives and education . I think we missed a lot when that was stopped . '' While golfers these days earn massive amounts of money , they also give a lot back -- this year the PGA Tour 's total charitable donations have reached almost $ 2 billion , dating back to 1938 . Everyone from world No . 1 Woods to your average tour pro seems to have a cause celebre , and Casper believes they are a breed apart from their fellow athletes in other sports . `` Most of them do a lot of charity work . I had my own tournament for 22 years and we 've given over $ 3 million to kids , '' he says . `` Everybody seems to have something they 're involved in -- they 're raising funds and they 're grateful for the life they 're leading and they 're willing to share what they earn . `` Other sports are nowhere near as close to this . I think it 's a top class of people who play the game . They have the chance to be involved with all the big companies and are very interested in helping people . '' Despite the recent years of economic hardship , Casper says his company has actually grown -- taking over struggling public courses in 24 states and turning them around . `` Everybody is having problems right now and they 're looking for ways to keep afloat , '' he says . `` There are a lot of courses that have gone to grass , they 've shut down . '' Casper says the secret to his business success is down to traditional values . `` We run our courses as if we are dealing with family -- all of our clients and clientele we deal with like they 're family . When you deal with people that are family you deal differently than if you 're in business , '' he says . `` We develop this wonderful relationship that if you come to one of our courses then you feel wanted and you want to come back . '' Casper , who has achieved so much for so long , hopes that he can continue `` to be of service to my fellow beings through the game of golf . '' `` Recently I gave a lecture and a gentleman came to me and asked how I 'd like to be remembered . I 'd never been asked that before , so I thought for a few seconds , and I said I want to be remembered that I had a great love for my fellow man . ''
This weekend the winner of the PGA Tour 's lucrative playoffs will be crowned . A $ 10 million jackpot is available following 2013 's fourth end-of-season tournament . PGA Tour makes multiple millionaires each season -- a far cry from its formative years . The top prize for this year's event was won by Sergio Garcia, who earned $10.5 million.