Show US the money talk and reaction

How will U.S. Ryder Cuppers getting paid and Euros not play with fan perceptions?

Keegan Bradley was tasked with selling the money payouts for Team USA (Darren Carroll/PGA of America)

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Let’s be honest: it is somewhat surprising the issue of pay for the U.S. players at the Ryder Cup has not been a bigger issue as match week has arrived.

Remember when it was a big deal? More than a year ago, word leaked that the PGA of America was considering direct pay to the 12 players who made the U.S. team as well as the captain and the assistants.

The feeling was this might have been in response to some pushback in 2023 when it was apparent that Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay had some issues with the powers that be.

Whatever the case, despite past Ryder Cup captains signing a letter saying they were against such payments — and despite optics — the PGA of America elected to go with giving each player and captain $500,000, with $300,000 designated for charities of the players’ choice and $200,000 for the 13 men themselves.

The European side is not getting paid and made it clear that they don’t want to.

Inevitably, the subject came up Monday during the captains’ press conference and promises to be broached again this week.

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, who has said he will donate his entire $500,000, fielded four questions on the topic from two Europe-based reporters.

“The PGA of America came to me, they wanted to bring the Ryder Cup into the present day,” Bradley said. “The charity dollars hadn’t changed since 1999 and they asked me to sort of shepherd their way into making it into 2025.

“I think for everyone it’s a personal decision. A lot of guys aren’t comfortable sharing what they’re going to do with their money, but we’re going to donate. For us, the PGA of America, this happens after the Ryder Cup, so this is something that we’ll worry about after. But ultimately, the PGA of America asked me to help out with this, and this is the best way we came up with to do it.”

Bradley is correct, the PGA of America began giving players $200,000 starting in 1999 that they could direct to charity. The issue was heated at that time, with players questioning where all the money was going that the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe generate from the event that has grown into one of the largest and most profitable entities in golf.

The issue was eventually resolved with the charity payments, a system that had not changed in the 25-year interim.

There are, of course, two sides to the issue.

On one side, the PGA of America, indeed, makes millions off the event. So, too, does Ryder Cup Europe. The difference is the money on the European side mostly goes toward funding the DP World Tour, for which all of the European players are members.

Not so on the American side. While a percentage of the money goes to the PGA Tour via the television rights fees, it works out to pittance overall and would barely fund one tour event.

There is no Ryder Cup without the players and the event makes massive sums on the backs of their efforts.

The other side? None of the players competing for Team USA this week needs the money. The Ryder Cup has always been played in the spirit of competition, and the lack of a prize money is what makes it unique.

It will be tough to win the public relations battle there. That was notable when Bradley was pointedly asked by a European journalist whether the European team’s insistence on playing for pride and not money meant that the Ryder Cup means more to them.

“I’m not concerned about what Europe does or what they think,” Bradley said. “I’m concerned about what my team is doing. I was tasked with a job the PGA of America asked me to do, and this was what we decided. We wanted to bring the Ryder Cup into today’s age, and we felt like this was the best way to do it. We copied a lot of what the Presidents Cup does.

“We did the best we could, and I think a lot of good is going to come from this. I think the players are going to do a lot of good with this money, and I think it’s great.”

Stay tuned on this one as the fans will now get their say at Bethpage Black this week.