Paying Ryder Cup Golfers Appearance Money is a Disgrace

It had to happen. After reports that the US team were paid to play in the Presidents Cup, it has now emerged that they are each likely to receive $400,000 for representing their country at the Ryder Cup in 2025. Like they need the money!

Frankly, I am appalled. Nothing should surprise us any more but really? Is it not enough to be out there representing your country simply for the huge honour of doing so?

I would like to think they will all donate their appearance fees to charity but that is wishful thinking. The 12 men who will form Keegan Bradley’s team are multi-millionaires. They need another $400k like a hole in the head.

But when ticket prices were announced for next year’s event it was inevitable that the subject of appearance money would raise its head again.

This is nothing new. Way back in 1999, David Duval expressed the view that players should be financially rewarded. And it was front and centre again at Marco Simone last year when Patrick Cantlay refused to wear the team cap, reportedly because he was unhappy at not being paid.

Until now, the US players have each received $200,000 to donate to charity. Nobody has a problem with that.

This is something entirely different. Is it really too much to ask that once every two years these golfers step out to represent their country without financial reward? And let’s not kid ourselves here - any golfer who makes either Ryder Cup team is going to be hugely rewarded by their sponsors.

Golf fans already believe that there is too much money in the game. The huge sums paid to LIV golfers has also led to massive increases in prize money on the PGA Tour, and there is a growing feeling that players are losing touch with reality - and the fans who pay to watch them play.

The 12 men who make the American team will all have amassed at least $8m in prize money to make the team in the first place. Do they really need another $400K? No, no and NO!

Thankfully, it would appear that Europe’s players are taking an entirely different stance.

Rory McIlroy, who once described the Ryder Cup as a glorified exhibition match, says that he would "pay to play" for Europe. He is one of several leading Europeans who have expressed the same view. It is worth noting that Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm have appealed against their DP World Tour fines and suspensions entirely because they both want to be considered for Ryder Cup selection.

McIlroy told BBC Sport: "I personally would pay for the privilege to play on the Ryder Cup. The two purest forms of competition in our game are the Ryder Cup and the Olympics, and it's partly because of that, the purity of no money being involved."

Many purists actually believe that only amateurs should be allowed to compete at the Olympics, but that is an entirely different debate. I can tell you that McIlroy was gutted to miss out on an Olympic medal and that Justin Rose ranks his gold medal-winning performance from 2016 alongside his US Open victory.

McIlroy continued: "I don't think any of the 24 players on either team needs that 400 grand. It was a discussion that was happening in Rome and I can see the other side of the argument because the Ryder Cup does create a lot of revenue. It is one of the probably top five biggest sporting events in the world. So I get the argument that the talent should be or could be getting paid.

"But the Ryder Cup is so much more than that, especially to the Europeans and to this tour."

The Ryder Cup will generate tens of millions of dollars in 2025. Surely the profits raised should be ploughed back into the sport at grass-roots level.

McIlroy said that he and his team-mates in captain Luke Donald’s side have no interest in being paid and that is the way it should be. 

"We have all had a conversation with Luke about it over the past few weeks because we obviously heard," McIlroy said. "The common consensus among us is that $5m would be better off spent elsewhere on the DP World Tour to support other events or even to support The Challenge Tour."

The 2023 event in Rome generated £9.3m profit - that is certain to be easily surpassed at Bethpage next year, Despite the $750 ticket prices, it is already sold out.

McIlroy said: "Money really would change the dynamic. That's why I think everyone is like, let's not do that."

Robert MacIntyre, who worked his socks off to make the European team in Italy, said that his primary focus is to be be on next year’s team. He said: "I just want to be on the Ryder Cup team. Last year we didn't get paid, and getting paid would not change the way I feel about the Ryder Cup. I wore my heart on my sleeve last year, and like everyone else on the European team, it's not about the money."

Shane Lowry perhaps summed it up best when he said: said: "You're not even giving back because it's a privilege to be there. I'd give anything to know that I'm on the team next year. I'm going to spend the next 10 months stressing my head off trying to make the team."

And that captures it in nutshell. Most of us who watch the Ryder Cup would give our right arms to be able to take part. Paying the players in an utter nonsense.