US team to get paid for playing in Ryder Cup

NEW YORK – US Ryder Cup players will be paid to play in the biennial matchplay competition for the first time, starting with the 2025 edition at Bethpage Black in New York.

The PGA of America said in a statement on Dec 16 that US team members will each get US$500,000 (S$674,200), with US$300,000 of that going to charity and the remaining US$200,000 serving as a stipend.

The pay is an increase from the US$200,000 that was designated only for charity and had been in place since 1999.

The PGA of America added that no golfers asked to be compensated, and credited past and present players and captains for making the Ryder Cup one of the top sporting events in the world.

USA Today newspaper cited a letter to past Ryder Cup captains from PGA of American president Don Rea, who said the stipend was added “out of respect for the players” and would be separate from what they receive for expenses.

“It’s recognition for what all the players have done for the Ryder Cup over the years,” Rea wrote.

Players on the European Ryder Cup Team do not get paid for participating in the event.

When reports of compensation for US players surfaced in November, long-time European Ryder Cup stars Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy said they did not need financial incentives to give their all in the often emotional competition.

“I think for us, we play for the badge and we also play for the European Tour,” Rose said.

The topic of whether competitors should be paid to play in the Ryder Cup became a hot topic at the 2023 edition in Rome where reports suggested American Patrick Cantlay declined to wear a Team USA hat as a sign of protest.

Cantlay denied that was the reason and instead said the team-issued hat simply did not fit.

Tiger Woods, a 15-time Major champion who has been on eight US Ryder Cup teams, said two weeks ago that he was in favour of players getting paid to play in the biennial event if it was put entirely towards charity.

“I hope they would get US$5 million each and donate it all to charity, different charities,” he said at the Hero World Challenge event he hosts in the Bahamas. “I think it’s great. What’s wrong with that?”

Woods was among the top players who once questioned where Ryder Cup proceeds ultimately ended up, which led to the PGA of America to give money to US players starting in 1999 that they had to allocate to charities.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler weighed in on the matter at the Hero World Challenge and said paying Ryder Cup players would not take anything away from the competition.

“As far as I’m concerned, I think all of us on the American side are more than willing to play in the Ryder Cup for free,” he said.

“We’ve been playing in the Ryder Cup for free for a long time. And if they want to pay us to play in the tournament, that’s great.”

Scheffler’s comments echoed those of Rose and McIlroy, who went further than his European counterpart and said that he would even fork out his own money to compete in the prestigious competition.

“I personally would pay for the privilege to play on the Ryder Cup,” McIlroy told the BBC.

“The two purest forms of competition in our game right now are the Ryder Cup and the Olympics, and it’s partly because of that – the purity of no money being involved.”

The next Ryder Cup is scheduled for Sept 26-28 when the Americans will try to reclaim the trophy from Europe.

The Europeans will be defending the title they won in Italy in 2023, but they will be chasing their first victory in the event on US soil since the famous “Miracle at Medinah” in 2012. REUTERS, AFP