There are many differences between US and European teams in this Ryder Cup, but none is as harsh as their bank accounts.
In short, Americans – as individuals – benefit financially from their incorporation from the cup. The European side does not. At least not directly. The context is, of course, much more nuanced.
For the last 12 Ryder cups, dating back to 1999, American players and captains have received $ 200,000 donations for a charity of their choice. It started in a slightly controversial way, with Captain Ben Crenshaw “crying” American players a month before the 1999 PGA Championship in Medinah. But Crenshaw was against a scary opponent: the main players Tiger Woods and David Duval were not interested in how many corporations had become the cup.
“It’s not greed,” Woods said then. “Well the fact that we want to help. We want to donate money to our charities in our local areas. There is so much money generated in Ryder Cup, has become a corporate event.”
That year was the first year of charity payments $ 200,000, which have often ended up taking advantage of player foundations. This amount has never changed in the years since … until now.
Not only will the American side of this year receive $ 300,000 donations for a charity of their choice, they will also receive a $ 200,000 stipend to do with whatever they want. Reports of this change were broken in November and were Completed by PGA in December.
“Well, America’s PGA came to me, they wanted to bring the Ryder Cup to the present day,” the American captain Keegan Bradley explained Monday at Bethpage Black. “Charity dollars had not changed since 1999 and they asked me to be a shepherd on their way to do it in 2025.”
In an era of playing empowerment and major TV rights assessments, this kind of regulation will not cause much concern if it did not dramatically rival the situation of their opponents.
European players do NO Get payments of any kind, and when asked by Captain Luke Donald for a possible change in that tradition, the team apparently decided that such income would continue to benefit directly on the DP World Tournament, which is where many played their first professional events.
“That came out and I wanted to go ahead,” European captain Luke Donald told Sky Sports on Monday. “I talked to the 12 boys in Rome when it looked like SH.BA would do something different with payments and, you know, each of them was like,” We don’t want – it’s not a week to pay. “”
All this follows a controversial cup 2023 when compensation became a hot topic once again. Different reports during (and following) week called The less uniform of Patrick Cantlay’s hat a silent protest of types against the compensation agreement. While Cantlay denied the idea, Xander Schauffe’s father, Stefan, went to the record with reporters demanding greater transparency about how Ryder Cup’s profits are used. The event is a massive money manufacturer for both sides of ownership – the PGA of America and DPWT – especially for the host side. Financial documents have shown how massively important is a Ryder Cup at home for DPWT’s sustainability, which is undoubtedly part of what makes the decision a clear decision for the team.
But playing inside Public Opinion Court Last fall was the immediate response from European players such as Rory Mcilroy and Shane Lowry, who both said they would pay pleasure to play the Ryder Cup because of how much the event means. Keegan Bradley later pledged all $ 500,000 of what he receives will go to charity. Tiger Woods, speaking at his Bahamas event a few weeks later, took them as much as possible.
“If Europeans want to pay to be on Ryder Cup, this is their decision to do it, this is their team,” Woods said. “I know when it is on European soil that subsidizes most of their tour, so it’s a big event for the European tour and if they want to pay to play in it, so it will be.”
While this result is very impossible, it is clear that this topic is not going at any time soon, and can share these teams forever.
