In recent hours, the Daily Telegraph has reported that an agreement has been reached with the PGA of America, subject to Board approval, whereby each American player participating in the Ryder Cup 2025 will receive $400,000. A total expenditure of $4.8 million.
It was an open secret and, without official confirmation, everything points to the measure being approved sooner rather than later.
Reactions on both sides have been swift. The most outspoken and opposed to this initiative has been Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy: “I don’t think any of the players on either team need those $400,000. Every two years, there are 104 weeks and 103 weeks you can play golf and get paid.”
The four-time Major champion wanted to explain his view on this matter in depth: “The two purest forms of competition in our game right now are the Ryder Cup and the Olympic Games, and largely it’s because of that, the purity of having no money involved.”
He is very clear about it: “I would pay for the privilege of playing in the Ryder Cup.”
Rory acknowledges that this discussion is not new and that they already talked a lot about it in Rome, especially after Cantlay’s refusal to play with a cap as a protest: “I understand the other side of the argument, because it’s true that the Ryder Cup generates a lot of revenue. It’s one of the five most important sporting events in the world. So I understand the argument that players should or could be getting paid,” and he adds immediately: “But the Ryder Cup is much more than that, especially for the Europeans and for this tour.”
“We’ve had a conversation with Luke about it in recent weeks because obviously we’ve found out, but we agree among ourselves that $5 million would be better invested elsewhere on the DP World Tour to support other events or even to support the Challenge Tour,” Rory pointed out.
It may be a matter of mentality or team, but the Europeans are united in this stance. Shane Lowry has spoken in very similar terms: “I love the tournament, and I just want to participate. I don’t care if I get paid or not.”
In the same vein, Jon Rahm declared just over a year ago, in the lead-up to the last edition: “I don’t need to be paid to come here and perform in front of people. I would pay to play the Ryder Cup as long as it was an amount that was within reach of all players,” explained the man from Barrika.
