Tiger Woods’ Ryder Cup record has long been a paradox. One of the greatest players in golf history, who even stepped up to help Team USA this year despite declining captaincy, yet on this stage, he struggled badly.
In eight appearances, Woods played 37 matches, winning just 13 while losing 21 and tying three. His teams went 1–7 during his Ryder Cup career, leaving him with just over 39% of potential points won.
For some, those results echo back to a comment Woods, who has never been shy after giving a foul-mouthed nickname to Rory McIlroy, made in 1999 that still hangs over the Ryder Cup conversation today.
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At the PGA Championship at Medinah that summer, Woods was pressed about the event’s intensity. His answer was blunt: “I remember players in the past skipping the Ryder Cup because it was an exhibition . . . That’s exactly what it is.”
When asked whether he understood why the word might sound dismissive, Woods didn’t flinch. “It is an exhibition,” he said. “Any event where professionals aren’t paid constitutes an exhibition. That’s how it started.”
The timing of those remarks was explosive. Then-U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw, already fired up ahead of the matches, blasted back: “It’s not an exhibition. How can they say that?”
Though Crenshaw later apologized for his outburst, calling it an emotional reaction, his point reflected the traditional view that representing your country should be reward enough.
“All I can tell you is that I come from a different generation,” Crenshaw said. “Ryder Cup means quite a lot to a lot of us. We want to continue to see that from both sides of the Atlantic.”
David Duval, who made similar comments at the time, walked his phrasing back, calling it a “poor choice of words.” Woods, however, held firm. His position wasn’t about player salaries for their own sake, he argued, but about control over Ryder Cup profits.
“The Ryder Cup is a big money maker,” Woods said in 1999. “There’s so much money being made, why can’t we allocate funds to our communities?”
That line of thinking has finally come full circle in 2025. For the first time in Ryder Cup history, the U.S. team is being compensated: each player will receive a $200,000 stipend plus an additional $300,000 directed to charities of their choice, a total $500,000 package.
For traditionalists, paying players chips away at the Ryder Cup’s soul — a competition built on pride, not paychecks. But for realists, the move was bound to happen given the revenue Ryder Cups generate — upwards of $60 million to $70 million in some years. Woods, Duval, and Mark O’Meara were well ahead of their time in pointing out the imbalance.
Woods’ Ryder Cup record still stands out as a blemish on his career. It’s unclear if his mindset hurt his play — or if his struggles shaped that mindset.
