Players have competed in the Ryder Cup for nearly a century without receiving appearance fees, but could that be about to change at next year’s contest at Bethpage Black?
The biennial event takes place from September 26-28, live on Sky Sportswhere Keegan Bradley will be looking to reclaim the trophy for the United States after they were beaten by Luke Donald’s European side in Rome last autumn.
Talk about whether American players should be paid to participate in the Ryder Cup has been a debate since before the turn of the century, although multiple reports have suggested that could that become a reality for the first time.
The PGA of America has yet to comment on the Daily Telegraph report that Team USA players will get roughly $400,000 (£315,000) to tee it up in the 2025 contest, with any decision to pay players likely to divide opinion within the golfing world.
“I think it’s kind of sad,” former PGA Championship winner Rich Beem told Sky Sports News. “I think with the honour of playing in the Ryder Cup with all the history, with all of the great players in the game, the Hall of Famers, why would the players feel like they need to get paid?
How did money impact the last Ryder Cup?
2023 USA captain Zach Johnson played down suggestions that Patrick Cantlay was upset at not being paid to play at the Ryder Cup, following Sky Sports‘ Jamie Weir‘s report that Cantlay was demonstrating his frustration by refusing to wear a team cap.
“There was a lot of speculation (about Cantlay wanting to be paid), which the players denied,” former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley said. “But there’s no smoke without fire there, there was something going on behind the scenes.
“There was a real negative reaction towards the speculation in Rome that the American players were looking to get paid and that’s where the hats off thing came from.”
Fans waved caps in the air at the American during the Saturday afternoon fourballs and mocked the former FedExCup champion, only for Cantlay to birdie his last three holes and give him and Wyndham Clark a 1up victory over Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick.
McIlroy and several European players were involved in a conversation with Cantlay’s caddie Joe LaCava, who appeared to step across the line of a European putt as he waved his own cap in the air, with the confrontation escalating and finishing with Shane Lowry ushering McIlroy away in a car park.
Would Team Europe follow suit?
There are no plans for Europeans to be paid to appear currently, with captain Luke Donald “100 per cent” against changing the tradition of the event and McIlroy among the players to speak out in support of the current system.
“The Ryder Cup represents true sport,” Donald said after last year’s win in Rome. “It’s the purest form of competition we have, and I think because of that, the fans love it. It’s purely, purely sport. That’s what makes it so special.”
Speaking at the DP World Tour Championship, McIlroy told the BBC: “I personally would pay for the privilege to play on the Ryder Cup. 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.
“We have all had a conversation with Luke about it over the past few weeks because we obviously heard,” McIlroy revealed. “The common consensus among us is that $5m would be better off spent elsewhere on the DP World Tour to support other events or even to support The Challenge Tour.”
Where does the Ryder Cup money go now?
McGinley explained: “If you look at the bodies who own the Ryder Cup, on the European side we have a combination of the European tour, the PGA of Britain and Ireland and the PGA of Europe.
“The money that’s made from the Ryder Cup goes into that organisation and then back into grassroots, helps the next Tyrrell Hattons and Rory McIlroys come through, as well as introducing new people to the game.
“Over on the American side it’s the PGA of America and that’s the club pros over there. There’s something like 30,000 club pros, and the money goes into them to help bring new initiatives and more people into the game.
“It’s not like some big corporate entity is taking all this money and running away with it and the players are saying we want some of it too. I know they’re professional sportsmen but boy oh boy are they not getting paid enough at the moment, with all that’s going on in the game?
Do the players need the money?
Potential appearances fees come in an era where players are competing for record prize purses on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, with Team USA golfers already getting paid to feature in the Presidents Cup.
“These players have already made so much money anyways, they don’t need to make it on the Ryder Cup,” Beem added. “It’s not like we’re having anybody that’s just crawling in and making a meagre amount.
“I would imagine every player has made several million pounds that would be in contention of making the Ryder Cup, then obviously Scottie Scheffler has made in excess of $60m.
“They feel like they need to get paid and are using the fact that the PGA of America is making a lot of money off it, but they’re also paying a lot of money on these players during the week and all the weeks leading up to it.”
When did money first get discussed?
Team USA players were talking about being paid to play as far back as the 1999 Ryder Cup, where Mark O’Meara and David Duval were among those to question how profits made from the event were dispersed and whether a fee should be given.
Duval warned of a potential boycott if a solution wasn’t reached, while Tiger Woods questioned how players were compensated, with charitable contribution then created for golfers to donate.
Woods told the Washington Post in August 1999 about appearances fees: “I would like to see us receive whatever the amount is, whether it’s $200,000, $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 and I think we should be able to keep the money and do whatever we see fit.
“I personally would donate all of it to charity. With all the money that’s being made, we should have a say in where it goes.”
Could the move motivate Team Europe?
Europe will be chasing a historic away victory next September, which would be their first on American soil since the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012, with Beem believing that Americans being paid to play could act as an incentive for Donald’s side to impress.
“I think that’s going to give them (Europe) some firepower,” Beem explained. “I think the captain Luke Donald’s going to use this to his advantage. In what form or fashion? I have no idea, but I’d be sorely disappointed if he didn’t.
“Europe are going to need all the fuel they can get. The crowds are going to be out of control, so I think that the European side need every ounce of firepower they can have and anything to kind of get underneath the American skin.
“You’re going to have 35,000 hearty souls out there at Bethpage Black rooting on Team USA trying to recapture the Ryder Cup. Any little bit that Luke Donald can put in his back pocket to use against Americans, you better believe he’s going to do so.”
Sky Sports will continue to be the home of the Ryder Cup, with all three days of the 2025 exclusively live. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and more with NOW.
