In plotting  the golf purses as a function of the first place prize, we found something very interesting. We plotted the average purse [AVG] and what appears to be the distribution choice of most tournaments [STD].
 It turns out that these curves, plotting each position as a percentage of the first place money is almost identical to a curve where each position equals the first place prize divided by the position of the player [ATG]. The chart showing these plots is found below. All the 41 individual tournaments for 2002 are plotted in black. These curves are essentially the same today.

As you will notice our distribution curve (in white) is only slightly below the others at the top positions, but at about the 30th position our payout is better.
It should be noted that the first to last place payout for most tours averages about 90 to 1 except the Iron Man American (Nationwide) which has a very good payout close to the average cut. The Iron Man Fifty plus Tour has a ridiculous Average of about 231 to 1.

These curves are for the PGA Tour.
Their official Distribution is calculated as a per cent of the Gross purse for each position as follows:

We did an analysis of the official purse distributions of the PGA. 
This further substantiates our position.
PGA distribution curves.