PGA of America to increase charitable money, add in a stipend to U.S. Ryder Cup players

The PGA of America’s board of directors approved a plan that will increase the amount of money given to U.S. Ryder Cup players for both charities and what the association called a stipend.

The new plan would increase the amount given to players for charities from $200,000 to $300,000 with another $200,000 given to players as a stipend that doesn’t have to be directed toward a charity, although U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley told GolfChannel.com he planned to donate his full allotment.

“Sometimes, people look at the PGA as this big organization, but it’s really 41 sections. All we’re trying to do is grow the game,” PGA president Don Rea told GolfChannel.com. “The Ryder Cup is an amazing international competition, but at the end of the day, it’s just one of the ways the PGA helps to grow the game. We’re just trying to do good with the money we have.

“The message was to grow the game and help charities. The players are our members as well and we treat them just like we do all of our members.”

According to a statement from the PGA, “no players asked to be compensated” to participate in the matches and Rea added that no players were consulted about the change.

Earlier this month at the Hero World Challenge, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler acknowledged it was a complicated situation.

“As far as I’m concerned, I think all of us on the American side are more than willing to play in the Ryder Cup for free. We’ve been playing in the Ryder Cup for free for a long time,” Scheffler said. “If they want to pay us to play in the tournament, that’s great. I mean, as far as how much or what it should be, the tournament seems to make a good amount of money… I don’t think there’s any problem with guys getting paid to play in the Ryder Cup. I don’t think it takes away from the competition at all.”

The PGA’s board finalized the new plan Thursday and the new payment structure will begin at next year’s matches at Bethpage Black in New York.

The push to pay U.S. Ryder Cup players began in the late 1990s and led to the original plan to give each player $100,000 for charity with another $100,000 for a golf development program. Kerry Haigh, the PGA’s interim CEO and chief championships officer, said the association had been discussing player compensation since last year’s Ryder Cup in Rome.

The PGA of America’s plan dovetails with the PGA Tour’s policy of giving players on both the U.S. and International Presidents Cup teams a $250,000 stipend. Haigh said the PGA did not consult with the Tour about the new policy.

It appears to be an elegant solution to a polarizing topic, but there will be at least one awkward issue with the new plan: European players are not compensated to play the Ryder Cup.

“That’s always been the case (European players not being compensated), we’re aware what they make goes back into the tour to help the DP World Tour, but we think this is the best thing and the right thing to do for our players,” Haigh said.

While that has been the case since ’99, Rory McIlroy was quick to seize the high ground when reports of a possible increase to the PGA’s Ryder Cup compensation plan surfaced last month.

“I personally would pay for the privilege to play on the Ryder Cup,” McIlroy told BBC Sport. “The two purest forms of competition in our game right now are the Ryder Cup and the Olympics, and it’s partly because of that – the purity of no money being involved.”