Americans won’t pocket a dime of their first-ever Ryder Cup paychecks, with players planning to give it all to charity, according to Xander Schauffele.
"I just see it as a whole lot of money going to charity and we’re going to take a lot of crap," Schauffele said Tuesday in Kapalua, Hawaii.
Name
Events
Top 10
Money
Xander Schauffele
184
65
$57,295,643
The PGA of America recently decided to pay each player and team captain $500,000 for the 2025 Ryder Cup – $300,000 for charity and $200,000 as a stipend. But team captain Keegan Bradley has already said he’s donating his entire share.
The timing wasn’t supposed to be like this. Bradley wanted to wait until closer to the September 2025 matches at Bethpage Black to announce the charity plans, once he knew who’d made the team. But a November report in The Daily Telegraph spilled the beans early, mentioning $400,000 payments without explaining the charity angle.
"Our timetable got screwed up," Bradley explained. "We’re just trying to do the right thing."
This whole money issue goes way back. In 1999, golf stars Tiger Woods, David Duval, and Mark O’Meara asked why players had no say in Ryder Cup revenues, even as the event became a goldmine for golf.
That led to the PGA of America offering $200,000 per player for charity – split between their chosen cause and PGA programs.
The topic exploded again at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, when rumors spread that Patrick Cantlay wasn’t wearing a hat to protest not getting paid. Cantlay shot that down immediately.
"When it comes to the Ryder Cup, I’m fully focused on representing my country and winning points for my teammates," Cantlay said Tuesday.
Xander Schauffele, who’s won both the PGA Championship and The Open, sees this as a chance to do more good.
"We’re going to give back to the community however we can help, whether it’s the Fire Department or NYPD or you name it," he said. "Keegan is from the Northeast, and we’ll take his lead."
The Europeans have been quick to pile on, with Rory McIlroy saying he’d actually pay to play in the Ryder Cup – that’s how much it means to him. Europe has dominated recently, winning 8 of the last 11 matches, though they haven’t won in America since 2012.
Schauffele thinks all this drama might actually help the event.
"Whenever there’s like a feud, what happens? It juices everything up around it," he said. "The Ryder Cup is going to do better because of this thing."
The matches kick off September 26 at Bethpage Black in New York, famous for its rowdy fans. Should be interesting.
