- The PGA of America will now provide a $200,000 stipend to each U.S. Ryder Cup team member.
- European captain Luke Donald stated his players would not accept payment for participating in the event.
- Several American players, including Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, plan to donate their stipends to charity.
For nearly a century, golfers were not directly compensated for their participation in the Ryder Cup.
In addition to the charitable donations ($300,000) the PGA of America gave on behalf of the 12 American players and the captain since 1999, the organization voted in November 2024 to also fund a $200,000 stipend for the U.S. squad.
Europe captain Luke Donald noted in an interview with SkySports on Monday, Sept. 22 that European players would never accept the idea of being paid to play in a tournament as prestigious as the Ryder Cup.
‘Every one of them was like, ‘This isn’t a week to get paid,” Donald told SkySports. ‘We have such a strong purpose in this team and what we play for.’
But U.S. players and captain Keegan Bradley said that it won’t go directly to their pockets, however. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said Tuesday he and several of his teammates will donate their extra cash to charity.
‘I’ve never been one to announce what we do. I don’t like to give charitable dollars for some kind of recognition,’ said Scheffler, who said he and his wife are active in various local Dallas-area charities. ‘We have something planned for the money that we’ll be receiving. I think it’s a really cool thing that the PGA of America has empowered us to do.’
Xander Schauffele was another U.S. golfer who said he planned to donate the money and blamed the media for hyping up the discourse surrounding the Americans’ bonus.
‘You guys keep talking about it and trying to make it this negative thing. It’s whatever everyone views it as,’ Schauffele said Tuesday. ‘There’s a lot of pride that comes into playing in one of these, and yes, we’re happy to get paid for this, and yes, I plan on donating it. It’s something that selfishly will make me feel good about what I do.’
Bradley said the changes came about because the PGA asked him last year how to modernize the compensation structure and he gave his input. Team member Patrick Cantlay said he wasn’t privy to those discussions.
“I don’t think any of the team members were,” said Cantlay, who said he’ll be donating to a set of charities that are significant to him.
‘This event is very good at generating lots of noise and that’s not going to help us put points on the board,’ Cantlay added. ‘I think we need to put 100% of our focus on playing the best golf we can and let the noise be exactly what it is, just noise.’
