Should players get paid at the Ryder Cup? Inside the money fight dividing Team USA and Europe.

Luke Donald sounds off on Team USA’s Ryder Cup players getting paid this week.
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This isn’t a week to get paid. Um, you know, we have such a strong purpose in this team and what we play for. The sneakiest rivalry with the RDER Cup has nothing to do with the golf. That’s right, Brooks Kepka. It’s of course about money. For the last 25 years, American players have gotten $200,000 straight to a charity of their choosing. But this year, the money’s going up $300,000 to a charity of your choosing, but also $200,000 in the form of a stipend. Do with it whatever you please. 2023 was just the latest flare up. This dates all the way back to the ‘9s when captain Ben Krenshaw had to scold his players in a team meeting at the PGA Championship because they wanted more compensation. We had the same conversation back in 99 and it was we we didn’t want to get paid. We wanted to give more money to charity. Krenshaw ultimately lost that battle mainly because two of the best players in the world Tiger Woods and David Duval they spoke out and said this event has gone corporate this is not an exhibition cup itself makes so much money why can’t we allocate it to various charities so the next 12 Ryder Cups after that Americans are getting this charitable donation and now they’re getting some cash on the side of that which wouldn’t be a big deal at all if the Europeans were getting it too but they’re not team Europe’s revenues go straight to the DP World Tour, which is important because it actually helps keep that tour afloat, which is mostly important because this creates a very uneven playing field in the court of public opinion. Because once Rory and Shane and company found out about these increases going to American players, they basically screamed in unison, “Take my credit card, please swipe it. I would gladly pay to play in the Ryder Cup.” We try and do a lot of things during the week that has a lot of meaning, has a lot of value. We love to make this one of the best weeks of their lives. How do you even begin to fight against that messaging? I guess you do what Keegan Bradley did and he immediately said, “Hey, all 500 grand I’m getting, it’s all going to charity. A lot of good is going to come from this.” I think that the players are going to do a lot of good with this money. But you could also just keep saying what Tiger’s been saying for more than the last two decades. The Ryder Cup itself makes so much money. $750 tickets, hospitality suites that shoot up into the sky, TV rights for a handful of days every other September that are worth tens of millions of dollars. If anyone knows what it’s like to bring more value to a golfing enterprise than you probably get in return, it’s Tiger Woods. He’s the one flushing the irons. He’s the one sending fans into a frenzy. Shouldn’t he have a greater say on where some of the money goes? That question will probably divide these two teams forever.