The pay-for-play conversation ahead of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black is not quieting down anytime soon. Following reports that the PGA of America was considering paying U.S. Ryder Cup team members $400,000 each for the biennial event -- set to take place outside New York City this fall -- 12 former U.S. Ryder Cup captains sent a letter to the organization coming out against the plan.
"This was never intended to get out," one captain told Sports Ilustrated, which reported the letter's existence. "This was done with the idea that you should play for your country and not reap financial benefit. We are trying to honor those who came before us and honor the Ryder Cup. It's given us a lot of great moments in our lives. We've just wanted to show support."
The PGA of America currently offers players $200,000 each; that sum is donated to charities and junior golf organizations in those players' names. This has been the practice ever since 1999 when compensation was also a topic of discussion relating to the Ryder Cup as players including Tiger Woods questioned the structure.
"It's never really been about getting paid; it's how can we allocate funds to help our sport or help things that we believe in back home -- because it's so hard to get onto that team; there's only 12 guys," Woods said last week when asked about the subject at the Hero World Challenge. "What's wrong with being able to allocate more funds? … I hope they would get $5 million each and donate it all to charity, different charities. I think it's great. What's wrong with that?"
Woods was not the only player asked about the issue last week. U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and multi-time team member Patrick Cantlay gave their thoughts on the matter as well. While Bradley was "disappointed" with the leaks, Cantlay stated he is solely focused on winning match points when donning the red, white and blue.
Paying players was a foremost conversation at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome when rumors spread throughout the grounds of Marco Simone that Cantlay was not wearing a team hat as a silent protest due to lack of compensation. Emotions boiled over following a heated match featuring Cantlay and Rory McIlroy sparking a back-and-forth between the Northern Irishman and Cantlay's caddie, Joe LaCava, that carried into the parking lot.
Members of the European Ryder Cup team, such as McIlroy and Shane Lowry, have pushed back at the notion of Ryder Cup compensation. The two have insisted that they would pay for the privilege to pay in the Ryder Cup, not the other way around.
"What Tiger said was 100% correct," Bradley told Sports Illustrated last week. "I don't think the charity dollars have changed from '99. It's been the same number. But it's the PGA of America's decision. I have to wait and see what they want to do. I don't have the power to change any of that. What I can say is that not a single player has asked for this, has come to me with this. No player was part of this. Zero percent."
