Getty Image / Patrick Smith
Team Europe rebounded from their historic 19-9 loss at Whistling Straits in the 2021 Ryder Cup with an absolutely dominating 16.5-11.5 win over Team USA in Rome that sparked rumors of a fractured US locker room.
Xander Schauffele had a tough Ryder Cup. He lost his opening match with Patrick Cantlay 2&1. He then lost to Rory and Matt Fitzpatrick that afternoon 5&3 while playing with Collin Morikawa. Xander and a hat-less Cantlay then lost 2&1 to Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton. Schauffele got his only win of the 2023 Ryder Cup in the singles matches, beating Nicolai Højgaard 3&1. Prior to all of that, Xander almost got kicked off the Ryder Cup team over a disagreement about Netflix involvement.
Xander Schauffele’s Father Speaks Out About Netflix Disagreement
Just a few weeks before the US Ryder Cup Team met in Rome, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay were at risk of getting kicked off the team. Xander’s father, Stefan Schauffele, spoke with The Times about how his son’s decision to not grant Netflix access during the Ryder Cup nearly led to him getting kicked off the team due to a lack of communication between the parties.
Rumors of a fractured US locker room in Rome stemmed from Patrick Cantlay not wearing a hat as an act of protest against the PGA of America for not compensating the US players. Cantlay denied that and said there wasn’t a “shred of truth” to those claims. Stefan Schauffele believes those rumors were tied to Patrick and Xander’s negotiations over the Netflix documentary.
Stefan told The Times he wasn’t speaking on behalf of Xander but called the rumors an “ink smear” against Cantlay and Schauffele. HHe went on to say he believes it stemmed from the two golfers wanting three amendments made to the player participation and benefit agreement which was sent in July. The two didn’t want to appear in the Netflix documentary. Eventually, participation in the Netflix doc was put to a vote by Zach Johnson and the US players voted unanimously to deny Netflix access to their team during the Ryder Cup.
Stefan Schauffele told The Times the PGA of America “were not willing to even talk to us about [the three amendments]” and added “It was very late in the schedule right before the team came here [to Rome] to practice because they had moved the deadline and they said, ‘If you don’t sign it by then, you’re off the team’, but they never gave us the contact information of their legal counsel.”
Xander and Patrick were at risk of getting kicked off the team
Xander’s father, Stefan, went on to tell The Times “Saturday morning of Labour Day weekend [September 2], finally, the head of the PGA of America got wind of this, because it was not him that was blocking it, and put our lawyers in contact with the PGA of America’s general counsel, and then it took a few hours to hash it out and it was fine. Then I received a message that Xander was back on the team. That you can quote. That’s the extent of this and I think it’s shameful.”
Stefan Schauffele also discussed payment to the US players. Currently, the PGA of America gives each player $200K to donate to a charity of their choice for their participation in the Ryder Cup. He did say there was no discussion of remuneration in Rome.
For what it’s worth, Xander Schauffele has earned $68,883,280 playing golf. He made over $15 million in the 2023 PGA Tour season alone. And none of those comments above came from him, they came from his father. Furthermore, if the US players weren’t being compensated by Netflix for participation at the Ryder Cup it is very difficult to wrap one’s mind around why they would participate. I certainly wouldn’t if I was in their shoes.