The $500k difference between USA and Europe at the Ryder Cup

Whether players should get paid to appear in the Ryder Cup has been a contentious issue down the years. There are two sides of the argument.

The one that has held sway for so long is that the prestige and playing for your country/continent far outweighs any thoughts of money. The counter-argument is that everyone involved makes a buck out of the Ryder Cup so why shouldn’t the players too?

Tiger Woods spoke about it in late 2024.

“We had the same conversation back in 1999 (when the Americans pulled off a stunning win at Brookline),” said Woods.

“We didn’t want to get paid. We wanted to give more money to charity [but] the media turned it round against us and said we wanted to get paid.

“The Ryder Cup makes so much money, why can’t we allocate it to various charities?”

By contrast, Rory McIlroy also gave his opinion at the back end of 2024.

“I personally would pay for the privilege to play in the Ryder Cup,” said the Northern Irishman.

“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.”

His thoughts were echoed by many of his European teammates.

Will players get paid to appear in the 2025 Ryder Cup?

The common belief among most golf fans is that players still don’t get paid. After all, it’s been that way since the first edition was played 98 years ago.

But will things change in 2025? The answer is ‘yes’. At least on the American side.

In December, the PGA of America announced that each of the 12 players on Keegan Bradley’s US team will be paid.

They will receive $500,000, with $300,000 donated to a charity/charities of each player’s choice and the remaining $200,00 being termed a “stipend”.

“The players and captains, past and present, are responsible for the Ryder Cup becoming the most special competition in golf and one of the most in-demand events on the international sports scene,” the PGA of America said in a statement.

“While no players asked to be compensated, the PGA of America board of directors has voted to increase the allocation to the members of the US Ryder Cup team from $200,000 to be directed to charities – a figure unchanged since 1999 – to $500,000, with $300,000 of that to be directed to the charity or charities of the players’ choice.

“The balance is a stipend.”

Will Team Europe also get paid?

European skipper Luke Donald has insisted he is “100 per cent” against changing the tradition so his team won’t be paid.

Does that give Europe the moral high ground? Team USA’s Xander Schauffele believes that some sections of the media will spin it that way.

“I just see it as a whole lot of money going to charity and we’re going to take a lot of c**p,” said the double major winner.

“It’s never going to be perceived that way, just with how the media talks about stuff and how things shook down in Italy (2023 Ryder Cup).

“It’s going to go to charity. I spoke to Keegan and he had a plan before, and that got blown up by the leak of the whole thing.

“Keegan had a plan to get all the boys to do something really nice. And now everyone is pointing fingers on how this thing has shaken down.”

One thing’s for sure, the controversy won’t go away and Patrick Reed was asked about it when coming over to the UK to contest the recent BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Reed, dubbed ‘Captain America’ for his past chest-thumping exploits for Team America in the Ryder Cup, thinks money should definitely not be involved.

“I really think it is unnecessary. There are certain events that money means absolutely nothing and that’s one of them.”

Despite their protestations that the money is going to charity, it’s hard not to conclude that it’s a bad look for the Americans.

Whether they like it or not, the association has now been made.

If things go wrong for Bradley’s team at Bethpage Black later this month, many will use the money debate as a stick to beat them with.