Since its inception in 1927, the Ryder Cup has been ceremonial. Participating in the Ryder Cup is one of the highest honors. It is a dream come true for any professional golfer. For 97 years, they have been playing without being paid. But this year, the PGA of America changed things up. They declared that each player would get $500,000, with $300,000 going to charity and $200,000 as a stipend at Bethpage Black. Since then, the golfing world has been discussing it extensively, and rightfully so.

Tiger Woods has been quite outspoken about the Ryder Cup payment issue, and he did just that at the 2024 PNC Championship. During the pre-tournament press conference, Woods was asked about his reaction to the announcement, and he praised the decision, emphasizing its charitable elements.

“Yeah, I think it’s great,” he responded. “It’s three times as much money that the players were able to donate to charity. So, I think it’s a great move and headed in the right direction,” the 15-time major winner continued. In 1999, it was decided that each player would get $200,000 for each player, with half of that going to a college golf program and the other half to a charity of the player’s choice.

The money debate began when Patrick Cantlay did not wear his hat at the Marco Simone, allegedly protesting the unpaid tradition. It was all sorted later though. Cantlay just could not find the right-fitting hat, but hey, the damage was done.

Interestingly, Woods has been voicing the charitable approach; “The Ryder Cup itself makes so much money—why can’t we allocate it to various charities? And what’s wrong with each player, 12 players getting a million dollars and the ability to divvy it out to amazing charities that they’re involved in that they can help out? It’s their hometowns, where they’re from, all the different junior golf associations or endeavors that the members are involved in,” he had once said.

 Scheffler and his teammates faced significant backlash from fans after the compensation was confirmed. And a few professionals are also totally against the new format.

The clash of opinions on the Ryder Cup paycheck

Earlier this year, McIlroy stated in an interview with BBC Sport that he would personally cover the cost of becoming a member of the Ryder Cup squad. As he noted, “The two purest forms of competition in our game right now are the Ryder Cup and the Olympics, and it’s partly because of that—the purity of no money being involved.” Ryder Cup is one of the most decorated, and respected tournaments in the sport.

McIlroy is not the only one who thinks this. As Shane Lowry had put it, “You’re not even giving back because it’s a privilege to be there.” Lowry will sacrifice anything to be a member of the Ryder Cup team. “I’d give anything to know that I’m on the team next year,” he stated. However, not everyone shares the same view. Scottie Scheffler, for example, has expressed a different opinion.

“It’s never really been about getting paid; it’s how we can 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 are only 12 guys. What’s wrong with being able to allocate more funds?” he explained.

Scottie Scheffler commented on this matter. “As far as I’m concerned, I think all of us on the American side are more than willing to play in the Ryder Cup for free,” he said, defending his fellow Team US pros. “We’ve been playing in the Ryder Cup for free for a long time.” Scheffler further added, “If they want to pay us to play in the tournament, that’s great… I don’t think there’s any problem with guys getting paid to play in the Ryder Cup. I don’t think it takes away from the competition at all.”

As the clash of opinions continues to rise, the anticipation of fans is also getting higher. What do you think of the matter?