Tiger Woods Makes Questionable Claim About Why American Ryder Cup Players Should Be Paid Millions

Tiger Woods expressed his desire for players on the United States Ryder Cup team to be paid for their efforts more than two decades ago. Now that there are signs pointing to that becoming a reality in 2025 when the biennial event arrives at Bethpage Black, Woods is not only still in favor of the idea, but wants to see players be paid far more than the reported figure they could see next year.

The debate about whether Ryder Cup players should be paid or not seemingly hit a boiling point during the 2023 event in Italy after rumors suggested American Patrick Cantlay was not wearing a Team USA hat during the competition as a form of protest about him and his teammates not being compensated. 

Cantlay and members of the U.S. team denied any and all claims about any protesting going on, but the change is expected to be made in 2025 with the 12 members of the U.S. team reportedly set to be paid roughly $400,000 each. 

In years past, including in 2023, players have received payments to donate to charities of their choice. Each player on the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team could still decide to donate every penny they receive to a charity of their choice, but as things stand at the moment, it is not clear whether they will be required to do so like in years past.

READ: Rory McIlroy Jumps Aboard His Incredibly High Horse To Shame U.S. Ryder Cup Players Being Paid

Tiger Woods has been pro-players being paid at the Ryder Cup for years. Gary Kellner/PGA of America via Getty Images and Jack Gruber-Imagn Images

According to Woods, the media is responsible for spinning the conversation into a controversy, because in his opinion, the entire notion around players being paid has been solely focused on giving the money to charity.

"We had the same conversation back in ’99," Woods said during his press conference ahead of this week's Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. "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. 

"No, the Ryder Cup itself makes so much money, why can’t we allocate it to various charities? What’s wrong with each of the 12 players getting a million dollars and giving it out to amazing charities that they’re involved in, that they can help out, whether it’s their hometowns where they’re from, all the different junior golf associations or endeavors that the members are involved in."

"This was never really about getting paid, it’s how can we allocate funds to be able to help our sport."

While Woods did indicate back in ‘99 that if he were paid to play in the Ryder Cup he would donate the money to charity, it’s hard to imagine that he was speaking for his 11 teammates as well.

"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," Woods said in an August 11, 1999 Washington Post story.

Obviously, there is nothing questionable about donating millions of dollars to charities; helping people is, indeed, a good thing. What is questionable is Woods' assumption that the entirety of 2025 Ryder Cup team shares his viewpoint on what they should do with the payments they receive.

Every player who makes the U.S. Ryder Cup team is beyond financially stable, but that isn't to say they would all essentially turn down a $400,000 paycheck for what is just three days of work and give that money away.