Luke Donald has revealed that Team Europe’s players rejected any possibility of getting paid to feature at the Ryder Cup, despite Team USA receiving a fee to feature at Bethpage Black.
The PGA of America announced last year that American players would receive $500,000 to represent Team USA at the Ryder Cup, with $300,000 (£222,000) donated to a charity of their choice and a $200,000 (£144,000) ‘stipend’ to spend how they wish.
This week’s event in New York marks the first time in Ryder Cup history that the additional payment will be offered to American players, with the pay-to-play debate dominating early build-up to the biennial contest.
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Keegan Bradley defended the payments Team USA will receive for playing in the Ryder Cup, adding that some of the money will go to charity, including his full fee as captain
Rory McIlroy has previously stated he would “pay for the privilege to play” in the Ryder Cup, with Donald ‘proud’ of his European players for their approach on whether they should be financially rewarded for playing.
“This [payment] came up and I wanted to get ahead of it and talk to the 12 guys in Rome when it looked like the US were going to do something different with payments,” Donald told Sky Sports.
“Every one of them was just like ‘we don’t want to get paid – this isn’t a week to get paid’. We have such a strong purpose in this team and what we play for.
“To be honest, we reinvest some of that money back into the experience of these guys. I feel like if you have those experiences that you remember for the rest of your life, that’s worth more than a couple hundred thousand dollars in the back of your pocket.
“For me, I was very proud of the guys. The ideals of how this Ryder Cup was set up back in the 1920s by Samuel Ryder and I think he would have been proud too.”
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Andrew Coltart, Dame Laura Davies and David Howell discuss Team USA’s decision to pay its Ryder Cup players for participation in this year’s tournament
Bradley: ‘A lot of good is going to come from this’
A $200k charitable donation has been allocated to each American Ryder Cup player since 1999, when Tiger Woods, Mark O’Meara and David Duval were among those to question how profits made from the Ryder Cup were dispersed and whether a fee should be given.
That figure has remained the same ever since and is less than the $250k given to players from both teams at the Presidents Cup – run by the PGA Tour – last September, with Bradley supporting the change and backing his players to use the increased money for good.
Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley addressed the media on Monday ahead of the Ryder Cup in New York
“I’m not concerned about what Europe does or what they think,” Bradley insisted. “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.”
The change, which has divided opinion, comes when players are playing for huge prize purses and in a year where tickets are at a record high, with prices starting at $750 – including food and soft drinks – for each of the competition days.
“I don’t really get that [bad optics],” Bradley added. “I think the goal here was that the charity dollars hadn’t been raised in 25, 26 years and that’s what we started out doing.
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Will Luke Donald lead Team Europe to a historic Ryder Cup victory over Team USA at Bethpage Black? Watch this year’s contest live from September 26-28 on Sky Sports Golf
“We did a lot of what the Presidents Cup did and these players are going to do the right thing and do a lot of really good with this money. I think that the players are really good people and are going to do a lot of good things.”
When is the Ryder Cup live on Sky Sports?
There will be extended live coverage from every day of Ryder Cup week, where Team Europe look to regain the trophy with a historic away win in the United States.
Round-the-clock coverage of the opening day’s play will begin with live build-up from 9am on Friday September 26, ahead of full coverage from midday and the opening tee shot at 12.10pm. Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.