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It’s been close to a century since the Ryder Cup was held for the first time, and one of the defining aspects of the international showdown is the fact that the golfers taking part are almost exclusively playing for pride. That could change now that members of Team USA will be paid to play for the first time, but all signs point to the status quo remaining the same.
In 1927, two teams of nine golfers representing the United States and Great Britain assembled at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts for the inaugural Ryder Cup.
The Americans initially posted an 18-3-1 record in the biannual event that got a pretty major overhaul in 1979 when the British squad rebranded as “Team Europe,” which ushered in a decidedly more competitive era that’s seen the latter go 12-9-1 since opening its doors to golfers hailing from the rest of the continent.
Being named to the Ryder Cup roster is considered a huge honor, and things have a tendency to be pretty heated on the course even though the golfers taking part haven’t taken home a single penny for participating in the 44 iterations of the event that have preceded the showdown that will unfold at Bethpage Black next September.
As of 1999, members of Team USA have been able to give $100,000 to a college golf program in addition to another $100K they can donate to a charity of their choice, but there hasn’t been any personal financial incentive for the golfers who are primarily playing for bragging rights.
However, there were some rumors that would end up changing ahead of the Ryder Cup in 2025, and according to ESPN, that will indeed be the case now that the PGA of America has announced the 12 players who are tapped for Team USA will receive a $200K stipend with no strings attached on top of the $300K reserved for charitable causes of their choice.
However, it seems pretty unlikely any of the guys who end up making the cut will end up keeping the cash for themselves. As the outlet notes, Team USA captain Keegan Bradley has already pledged to give the entire $500K away, and Tiger Woods put plenty of pressure on the rest of the crew to follow in his footsteps while discussing the topic earlier this month.
Team Europe captain Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy are just a couple of notable names on the rival squad who’ve made it clear they have no plans to follow suit (the money they generate is primarily used to support the DP World Tour).
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if any Team USA golfers decide to get greedy, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to end up being the case.