FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team are holding firm in their comments about getting compensated to participate in this biennial event, an uncomfortable topic that was bound to be a hot subject this week at Bethpage Black.
U.S. players are getting paid, European players are not. An the issue that first became a source of contention more than 25 years ago still simmers beneath the surface.
It doesn’t help that the European side is using it as a rallying cry and that the American players face charges of greed in the aftermath of the PGA of America’s decision earlier this year to give $500,000 to each player and captain, with $300,000 of it earmarked for charity.
“You guys keep talking about it and trying to make this a negative thing,” Xander Schauffele said in a news conference Tuesday after explaining that he believes the money will be used for positive in various communities that the players support.
Rory McIlroy said he would “pay for the privilege to play in the Ryder Cup” and the European side has publicly maintained that view.
Paul McGinley, a three-time Ryder Cup player and captain of the winning 2014 European side who works for the Golf Channel and Sky Sports told Sky that “Americans have been chasing this for awhile and they've got their way eventually. Players have got a lot of leverage in the game at the moment and they've forced the issue on it.”
It is unclear, however, which (if any) U.S. players actually requested to be paid.
How Paying Players Became a Ryder Cup Flashpoint
The issue originally surfaced in advance of the 1999 Ryder Cup, where several of the game’s players at the time, including Mark O’Meara, Tiger Woods and David Duval, questioned where all of the funds reaped from the staging of a Ryder Cup were going.
That eventually led to $200,000 payments made to players that were directed to a charity of their choice, a practice that continued until the change this year.
What is often left out is how the issue ever surfaced in the first place. And why the Europeans feel differently about it.
The Ryder Cup is a massive revenue producer for the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe.
And Ryder Cups staged in Europe are so important to the DP World Tour that the revenue basically underwrites tournament events in two of the four years that a Ryder Cup is not played. Players feel a sense of playing for their tour.
The U.S. is different. The PGA of America is not the PGA Tour, which receives a percentage of the Ryder Cup television rights fee, about $12 million in every two-year cycle. On an annual basis, that money is not enough to fund a single PGA Tour event.
Last year, when the issue surfaced, Bradley said that “not a single player has asked for this, has come to me with this. No player was part of this. Zero percent.”
But it’s been Bradley who was tasked with explaining the change.
“The PGA of America came to me, they wanted to bring the Ryder Cup into the present day,” he said. “The charity dollars hadn't changed since 1999 and they asked me to sort of shepherd their way into making it into 2025.
“I think for everyone it's a personal decision. A lot of guys aren't comfortable sharing what they're going to do with their money, but we're going to donate.
“For us, the PGA of America, this happens after the Ryder Cup, so this is something that we'll worry about after. But ultimately, the PGA of America asked me to help out with this, and this is the best way we came up with to do it.”
The Controversy Around U.S. Ryder Cup Team's New Stipend
The sticking points appears to be the fact that the players can pocket $200,000 if they choose. None have said they will do so, but the option exists, which creates some bad optics.
Schauffele, who this year made the least amount in official money of any of the 12 American Ryder Cuppers on the PGA Tour, received, $3,399,866. Seven U.S. players earned more than $8 million. (As did non-playing captain Bradley.)
The other side, of course, is that this event does not exist without the players. The PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe are pocketing enormous sums off the backs of the talent.
“Our players have a different view and collectively they all said no,” McGinley told Sky Sports. “They would prefer to see more money invested in the team and more money going back to PGAs of Britain and Ireland as well as Europe and the DP World Tour.
"There's enough money that they're all making everywhere else in the game and they took the view that Ryder Cup should be sacrosanct, should be different. We want to honor also the players that came before them rather, who didn't get paid as well.
"I think they can be admired for that and I do think we do have the moral high ground on it. We'll just have to see how that plays out and if it develops as a story during the week.”
Patrick Cantlay, who was believed to have sparked some of the pay-for-play furor two years ago in Rome, explained he will give the money to his own foundation which helps fund several initiatives, including the Southern California PGA Junior Tour, first responders and Folds of Honor.
Asked if he believed that the pay issue has led to charges that the event means more to Europe than American players, Cantlay said:
“I think this event is very good at generating lots of noise, and that's not going to help any of us put points on the board. I think we need to put 100 percent of our focus on playing the best golf we can and let the noise be exactly what it is, just noise.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as One Team Is Being Paid to Play This Ryder Cup, and the Other Is Using It as a Rallying Cry.