First place prize money is actually not increasing very quickly. While there was an increase in the late 90s (presumably the alleged Tiger effect), the rate of increase slowed down tremendously in the 2000s. And you can't blame it all on the recession, because it's been relatively flat since the mid 2000s. First place at the Masters was the same 3 years in a row. And it was the same for 3 consecutive years before that. From 1979 through 2001, the prize money had gone up every single year.