Tiger Woods will not serve as the captain of the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black, but he is throwing his full support behind the players. Once at the forefront of the conversation about paying players who compete in the Ryder Cup, Woods offered his opinion on the matter ahead of the 2024 Hero World Challenge, the event he hosts annually in the Bahamas.
“I would have to say that, going back to my playing days, we had the same conversation [about players being paid] back in ’99. And it was: We didn’t want to get paid, we wanted to give more money to charity. And the media turned it around against us and said we want to get paid,” Woods recalled.
“No, the Ryder Cup itself makes so much money, why can’t we allocate it to various charities? And what’s wrong with each player, 12 players getting a million dollars and the ability to divvy out to amazing charities that they’re involved in that they can help out? It’s their hometowns, where they’re from, all the different junior golf associations or endeavors that the members are involved in.
“It’s never really been about getting paid; it’s how can we allocate funds to help our sport or help things that we believe in back home — because it’s so hard to get onto that team; there’s only 12 guys. What’s wrong with being able to allocate more funds … I hope they would get $5 million each and donate it all to charity, different charities. I think it’s great. What’s wrong with that?”
Reports surfaced last month that the PGA of America is weighing a decision to pay U.S. Ryder Cup players $400,000 for their services at Bethpage Black next fall. This would represent a notable change from the current practice where players receive $200,000 in their name, which is then donated to charities and junior golf organizations.
Members of the European Ryder Cup team, such as Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, pushed back at the notion of compensation for the biennial event. Opining that money is the furthest thing from their mind when they don the blue and gold, the two insisted they would pay for the privilege to play in the Ryder Cup, not the other way around.
“That’s fine. That’s their right to say that,” Woods said. “I just think that the event is so big that I think that we can give so much money to different charities, and I’ve said that since ’99 when we had the Brookline negotiations. If the Europeans want to pay to be in the Ryder Cup, that’s their decision to do that. That’s their team. I know, when it’s on European soil, that it subsidizes most of their Tour, so it is a big event for the European Tour. And if they want to pay to play in it, so be it.”
Talks of money reverberated through the grounds and played a role in a contentious back-and-forth between players at the 2023 Ryder Cup. McIlroy, Lowry and Joe LaCava, Patrick Cantlay’s caddie, exchanged words following a heated Saturday afternoon four-ball match — an argument that leaked into the parking lot. The two sides were separated, but they are all likely to meet again when the U.S. hosts the Europeans at Bethpage Black from Sept. 26-28, 2025.
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