Even if you have zero interest in the game of golf, I can give you 1.7 million reasons why this weekend's British Open was a big deal.

You may not know Jordan Spieth from Michael Jordan, and you may think Louis Oosthuizen is an exotic brand of vodka. You may not know the British Open from the opening of an umbrella, but you know what $1.7 million dollars is -- and that's exactly how much money Zach Johnson made in just five days of 'work' for winning the open championship.

According to golfweek.com, Johnson pocketed $1,794,960 for winning golf's third major of the year. That's not chump change. But, the fact is, everyone who was playing on the weekend took home a nice check.

Nobody who made the cut and was playing this weekend made less than $21,000, except for the amateurs, who don't take any prize money. That's not bad money for a weekend of playing golf.

While Mark Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen both came close to winning by making it into the four-hole playoff with Johnson, the difference between winning and not winning was staggering. They each pocketed $837,262, which isn't bad at all, but it's nearly a million dollars less than the champion. You are talking serious pressure on those four playoff holes.

It explains why avid golfers were getting up in the middle of the night to watch LIVE coverage of the tournament from St. Andrews, Scotland. And, when weather delayed the final round of the tournament until Monday, millions of people around the world were tuning in at work via television, radio, internet, and phone apps so see who was going to take the big prize.

By the way, 21 year-old phenom Jordan Spieth, who was tied for the lead heading into the final two holes and trying to win his third straight major, but finished one shot short of making the playoff, took home a nice check for $460,377.

It's the kind of dollars most of us only dream about making, but somehow we take great joy in watching somebody else go after the big money.

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