NASSAU, Bahamas – Tiger Woods supports the idea of American players being paid to play in the Ryder Cup – but with one stipulation. He said players should give their share to charity.
Woods’s sentiment has remained consistent over the years.
“I would have to say that going back to my playing days, we had the same conversation 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 said on Tuesday during a press conference ahead of the Hero World Challenge. “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.”
In an Aug. 11, 1999 story in the Washington Post, Woods said: “I would like to see us receive whatever the amount is, whether it’s $200,000, $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 and I think we should be able to keep the money and do whatever we see fit. I personally would donate all of it to charity. With all the money that’s being made, we should have a say in where it goes.”
The PGA Tour began giving a $250,000 stipend to competitors beginning at the 2022 Presidents Cup, which they no longer are required to give to charity. A Tour spokesman told Golfweek in October that it was considering following suit for Ryder Cup players. Sources said that it would be more than the $250,000. The Telegraph later reported the figure to be $400,000. Woods has upped the dollar amount he’d like to see.
“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?” he said.
Rory McIlroy, speaking in Dubai recently, said he’d be willing to pay to play in the Ryder Cup. He added: “I don’t think any of the 24 players on either team needs that 400 grand. Every two years, there are 104 weeks and 103 weeks you can play golf and get paid.”
“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.”
Woods added: “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?”
