Ryder Cup amplified by complex (and polarizing) compensation issue

As reports swirl that U.S. players could be paid to participate in future Ryder Cups, European stalwarts are doubling down on the purity of the event.

“I personally would pay for the privilege to play in the Ryder Cup,” Rory McIlroy told the Irish Golfer while at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Thursday. “I have come a long way in this especially with the Olympics, but the two purist forms of competition in our game right now are the Ryder Cup and Olympics, partly because of the purity of no money being involved.”

McIlroy’s comments were echoed by European teammate Shane Lowry, who is also in Dubai this week.

“I don’t really care whether I [get paid] or not, to be honest,” Lowry told reporters. “You know, the Ryder Cup is a privilege, and it’s what I work for.”

Compensation questions were fired off at European Ryder Cup mainstays a day after The Telegraph’s James Corrigan reported the PGA of America is considering proposals and nearing a structure that would pay U.S. players directly for the first time in the event’s nearly 100-year history. According to Corrigan, the proposal calls for each U.S. player to receive $400,000 for playing in the Ryder Cup.

The PGA of America declined comment on the story and also declined comment when reached by GOLF.com.

There’s currently no plan, however, for European players to be paid.

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While a few pros have broached the idea of Ryder Cup compensation over the years, it’s made little waves. The thought took a larger step last year in Rome, when a report surfaced that Patrick Cantlay was protesting not getting paid by refusing to wear a hat. Cantlay denied the report, but it started the conversation regardless. (Stefan Schauffele, the father of Xander Schauffele, was more direct with his opinions.)

At this year’s Presidents Cup, Golfweek’s Adam Schupak reported that players were no longer required to make a charitable donation with the $250,000 stipend they received and that the figure is expected to rise for the Ryder Cup and also be a stipend to do with what they please.

McIlroy said paying golfers at the Ryder Cup would give the event “a different feel,” adding the financial element could alter the cohesiveness of the team.

“I don’t think any of the 24 players on either team needs the $400,000,” he said Thursday. “Every two years we play there’s 104 weeks and for 103 you can play golf and can get paid so that’s reasonable enough. It won’t change anything on our side.”

McIlroy, specifically, has come full circle on the Ryder Cup. In 2009 he said it’s “not a huge goal of mine,” adding, “it’s an exhibition at the end of the day. … In the big scheme of things it’s not that important an event for me. Obviously I’ll try my best for the team — but I’m not going to go running around fist-pumping.”

More than a decade later, he fought back tears in an interview seconds after he beat Schauffele in singles to record his only point of the week in what turned out to be an American rout at Whistling Straits in 2021.

“I’m incredibly proud to be a part of this team,” McIlroy told NBC. “To be a teammate at all. All these guys, captains, vice captains. We’ve had a great time. It looks like it’s not going to pan out the way we wanted in the golf course. It’s been a tough week, but the more and more I play in this event, I realize that it’s the best event in golf, bar-none.”

While the pay-for-play talk has dominated the past year of the Ryder Cup conversation, Bethpage ticket prices for the 2025 iteration have also caused a stir. Tickets were only accessible via a lottery, with prices beginning at $255 for practice rounds and $749 for competition days. Fees have also been high, and those prices have skyrocketed even more on the secondary markets.

The PGA of America said on Wednesday that tickets for the three tournament days have already sold out due to “enormous” demand and more than half a million people registering for tickets via the lottery.

“If the PGA of America are looking for more money out of the Ryder Cup or the players are starting to be paid it ultimately comes from the people paying to watch the event, so it’s a double-edged sword,” McIlroy said. “The European consensus is we don’t want anything to change what we have over here so we probably won’t be getting paid for Bethpage, which is totally fine.”

Luke Donald will captain Europe for a second straight Ryder Cup, and he said last year he wasn’t interested in players needing to be paid.

“It’s one week where you play for more than yourself, not about money or points, it’s about coming together as a team and the fans feed off that — it’s all passion,” he said. “I don’t think we should ever get paid.”

If any of these reported changes are to take place, paying one squad and not the other will add an unorthodox yet fascinating Ryder Cup wrinkle. And with both countries being run by different organizations, that is certainly a possibility.

Come September 2025, Europe will try to win the first road Ryder Cup since it won at Medinah in 2012. And it certainly would taste a little sweeter doing it pro bono.