This was never going to go well. No chance. Zero. Especially not in this climate, not with the men’s professional game caught up in an unending, exhausting dialogue that seems to be an unsustainable situation given there is more and more money offered to players with a questionable return.
The Telegraph report last week that said the PGA of America was considering payouts of $400,000 per U.S. Ryder Cup player at next year’s competition to be played at Bethpage Black has been received as expected.
It has led to charges about players being greedy, with the Americans especially looking bad because such payments would not go to their European counterparts.
Never mind that there is an argument to be made for such payments. The Ryder Cup brings in millions. It is a huge cash cow for both the PGA of America and the DP World Tour. And everyone associated with the event gets paid—except for the players.
So, sure, that reality exists.
It simply was never going to come off properly, especially not now.
“I personally would pay for the privilege to play in the Ryder Cup,” Rory McIlroy said last week in Dubai, ahead of his victory at the DP World Tour Championship. “I have come a long way in this, especially with the Olympics but the two purest forms of competition in our game right now are the Ryder Cup and Olympics partly because of the purity of no money being involved.
“It was a discussion that was happening at the last Ryder Cup in Rome. I can see the other side of the argument because the Ryder Cup does create a lot of revenue. It’s one of the top five biggest sporting events in the world so I get the argument that the talent could be getting paid.
“The Ryder Cup is so much more than that, especially to the Europeans and this tour. We’ve all had a conversation about it with (European captain) Luke (Donald) because we obviously heard (about the possible U.S. plans) and the common consensus is that the $5 million paid to the team would be better spent on the DP World Tour to support other events and even to support the Challenge Tour.
“For us, it would give it a different feel, what we have done a very good job of is being a very cohesive group over the last decade and we wouldn’t want anything to change that.”
The unpopular view is that the players deserve to be paid, especially when you consider the enormous amount of money the event generates, made especially more clear when it was learned that spectators would be paying $750 a day for regular admission in 2025, a number that would bring in more than $22 million per day. That doesn’t include corporate hospitality, alcohol sales, parking, merchandise and the tickets sold for the practice rounds.
That is on top of the $440 million the organization is receiving over 15 years from NBC.
McIlroy’s comments point out a difference in the setup. The DP World Tour is the main beneficiary of the proceeds from a Ryder Cup, which helps the tour operate over a four-year period.
On the American side, the PGA Tour only reaps 20% of the television revenue, or roughly $88 million. That works out to be about $6 million per year or $12 million over two Ryder Cups.
Xander Schauffele’s father, Stefan, was quoted often last year in Rome and it led to some of the conjecture that the U.S. players were subtly protesting a lack of compensation. The elder Schauffele seemed to suggest more transparency is in order and that the money that goes to the PGA Tour does not directly come back to the players.
“They are using players’ intellectual properties to make money, and the American players don’t get paid,” Stefan Schauffele told the Times of London last year. “More importantly, this would become a non-issue if all proceeds, net proceeds, from the Ryder Cup were to be donated to common charitable causes. Right now, the American players are asked to donate their time pro bono in the name of patriotism so these organizations can benefit from the profits.
“The PGA (of America) uses this money, and the PGA Tour gets 20% that goes into the retirement of every member. The 12 players supposedly need to eat it and their intellectual property gets abused for the benefit of 200 other people. That’s not right.”
The PGA of America has been earmarking $200,000 per player to donate to a charity of their choice. Doubling that is still a tiny sum in relation to the entire windfall but perhaps a better, more public plan of distribution would help.
“I don’t think any of the 24 players on either team needs the $400,000,” McIlroy said. “Every two years we play there’s 104 weeks and for 103 you can play golf and can get paid so that’s reasonable enough.
“Going back to the purity aspect it would make the competition seem a little less pure but it wouldn’t change anything from a European perspective. We would all welcome the money if it didn’t change the dynamic of what we had but I think it would change the dynamic.”
McIlroy makes fair points. So, too, is the notion that they keep score at the Ryder Cup, that the result matters, that it is hardly the exhibition that he as a young man suggested in 2010 before competing in his first Ryder Cup.
Careers are enhanced or derided based on Ryder Cups and nobody in sport plays for free. So there are some very conflicting narratives here.
Still, given where the game is right now, with the PGA Tour seeking billions in private equity to further enrich its star players while LIV Golf has offered huge signing bonuses and big purses every week, the rare event where money is not the issue is welcome.
The PGA of America is said to be considering the proposal, with a board vote to decide after a new CEO is hired. The negative fallout will surely continue.
If this was simply a trial balloon on the PGA of America’s part, might be best to pop it right now and figure out some other way to handle the situation.
Assessing Rory’s Year
Another Race to Dubai title leaves Rory McIlroy tied with one of Europe’s all-time best players in Seve Ballesteros and within two of the all-time leader, Colin Montgomerie. McIlroy wrapped up his Race to Dubai title before winning the tournament as well, capping a four-victory season that will likely be most remembered for his close call at the U.S. Open.
McIlroy seemed poised to win his fifth major title at Pinehurst in June when he built a two-shot lead on the back nine, only to bogey three of the last four holes and watch in despair as Bryson DeChambeau miraculously got up and down from a bunker to make par and win by shot.
McIlroy exited Pinehurst that afternoon hastily and in obvious pain, and that loss was hard to shake. He failed to win again until Sunday, after more painful close calls at the Irish Open and BMW Championship along the way.
It makes for a bittersweet year that probably would be lauded to a much higher degree if it were anyone else.
“Unfortunately for Rory, I think everybody looks at the glass half-empty,” said Shane Lowry, who teamed with McIlroy to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April. “I look at it glass half-full. He’s had an amazingly consistent year. I've had a consistent year, but he's had consistent top three finishes. Mine are Top 15s.
“After (Sunday), it will be four wins around the world. Obviously, he gives himself chances and he probably should have won the U.S. Open, let's be honest, and he'd say that himself, but he didn't.
“I think he is more determined than ever to come out firing next year, and obviously the Masters will be on the forefront as my mind and same as myself, he'll be looking towards the other big tournaments and the Ryder Cup.
“The career he's had so far is incredible. He has not dropped outside of the Top 50 in the World Rankings in the last 15 years or something. It's an absolute joke. He's putting himself up there with the greats of European golf, not that he already wasn't and I'm sure he's got Monty's records in his sights as well.”
In addition to the four worldwide victories which included bookend wins in Dubai, McIlroy had nine other top-5 finishes across a total of 27 events, including the Olympics. In all, he had 15 top-15 finishes and missed a single cut at the British Open.
As Lowry pointed out, McIlroy will undoubtedly get plenty of attention heading to the Masters, the major he needs to complete a career Grand Slam. It’s been a frustrating journey, made more difficult by the fact he’s gone 10 years without any major victories.
But at age 35, McIlroy is some 17 years into a career that is seemingly just as good as ever. He’s ranked third in the Official World Golf Ranking. Aside from the one-day exhibition next month with Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka and DeChambeau, he’s unlikely to play again until late January at the Dubai event where he will be defending.
McIlroy has vowed to cut back on the 27-event schedule he played this year. And it will be interesting to see where he goes in 2025.
The End of a Long PGA Tour Season
The regular season ended nearly three months ago but the PGA Tour has soldiered on with its FedEx Fall that comes to a conclusion this week with the RSM Classic.
Like Rafael Campos, who stunningly won the Bermuda Championship on Sunday, several of the fall winners have come out of nowhere to grab two-year exemptions along with Masters spots and several other perks in 2025.
For those outside of the top 125 or just around it, this is an especially big week. It means an opportunity for full exempt status in 2025 but also with the knowledge that things could get even more competitive next year.
On Monday, the PGA Tour Policy Board was expected to vote on a proposal that would see the all-exempt Tour go from 125 to 100 spots in 2026, with the Korn Ferry exemptions shrinking from 30 to 20. In addition, field sizes during the regular season would be cut, with many going to 120 players.
That means less spots to compete but a far more competitive landscape. Just getting a crack at it next year will be important.
Currently, Wesley Bryan is in the 125th position after moving up three spots following the Bermuda Championship. Joel Dahmen is 124th. Four-time Tour winner Daniel Berger is one of the players who fell out of the top 125 in Bermuda.
This is also an opportunity for players outside of the top 50 in FedEx points to move into the top 60 or retain their position there. The players who finish 51st to 60th will get spots in the first two signature events in 2025, Pebble Beach and the Genesis.
Among those who earned Masters invites this fall among other things with victories were Patton Kizzire (Procore Championship), Kevin Yu (Sanderson Farms), Matt McCarty (Black Desert Championship), Nico Echavarria (Zozo Championship), Austin Eckroat (World Wide Technology) and Campos.
The Masters field is now up to 76 players with a few more who are going to get in via the year-end top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Winners in 2025 as well as another top 50 deadline prior to the tournament will likely bring the field up to the low 90s.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Paying U.S. Ryder Cup Players Was Never Going to Be Popular.