{"id":436816,"date":"2025-09-19T02:11:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T02:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/?p=436816"},"modified":"2025-09-19T02:11:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T02:11:50","slug":"tom-watson-shares-his-opinion-on-us-ryder-cup-team-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/tom-watson-shares-his-opinion-on-us-ryder-cup-team-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Watson Shares His Opinion On US Ryder Cup Team Pay"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to pro athletes competing in tournaments, it is expected that they will get some award for their efforts.\u00a0 Ahead of and after each tournament, there is a breakdown of the purse and how it is distributed among the players.\u00a0 The rookie players often talk about how much their financial situation improved<\/a> after going pro.\u00a0 Some players even splurge a little with their first big paydays.\u00a0 With that said, <\/span>the US Ryder Cup team<\/a> is receiving some compensation for playing in the tournament next week.\u00a0 However, Tom Watson, former Ryder Cup captain, doesn\u2019t think the players should be paid.<\/p>\n

Payment Controversies In The Past<\/span><\/h2>\n

Historically, the Ryder Cup team has gotten little to no compensation in the past.\u00a0 This is reflected by Watson\u2019s stance on the issue.\u00a0 Despite being the most profitable tournament in the sport, the players don\u2019t usually get paid for their efforts.\u00a0 They have in the past, back when the cup was still establishing itself, but that has long since changed.\u00a0 Most of the profit goes straight to charity without much input from the players.\u00a0 That last part is the real sticking point for players.\u00a0 In 1999, Tiger Woods said that he would like the teams to be compensated for their work, but he added that he would just donate his profits to his preferred charity, like the TGR Learning Labs<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in 2023, the issue of payment reared its head once more.\u00a0 There were some grumblings among the US team about this, and it led to moments where the European team would remove their caps and wave them at Patrick Cantalay.\u00a0 This time around, the PGA of America heard the players and offered the team.\u00a0 Each player will get $500K with $300K to go to a charity of their choosing.\u00a0 There is speculation that hardly any money will be kept by the players, and most will give all the money to charity.\u00a0 The initial payment is what Watson has a problem with.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tom Watson On The Payday<\/span><\/h2>\n

Seeing that the US team will be getting paid, Tom Watson spoke up on the issue.\u00a0 On Golf Central, Watson spoke<\/a> about how he doesn\u2019t think the players should get paid for playing.\u00a0 He thinks the charity is a good idea, but that playing for their country is enough of an honor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t agree with it. They gave us some money for our favoured charities,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI think that was the right thing to do for the players, but I just don\u2019t think that the players should be paid. They should be playing for their country and their teammates.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When Watson was being asked the question, the host mentioned that the European team had commented that they would pay to be on the field.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tom Watson Will See Pushback<\/span><\/h2>\n

With golf being the team\u2019s career, it is expected that they will get compensated for their work.\u00a0 This is why 2023 saw some unhappy players.\u00a0 Tom Watson\u2019s stance, although it can be seen as chivalrous, will see him get some pushback, particularly from the US team.\u00a0 Sure, they get plenty of compensation throughout the seasons, but they want some input on what happens with the money.\u00a0 Whether it be for themselves or for the community, they want a say in the matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit:\u00a0 \u00a9 Katie Goodale-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to pro athletes competing in tournaments, it is expected that they will get some award for their efforts.\u00a0 Ahead of and after each tournament, there is a breakdown of the purse and how it is distributed among the players.\u00a0 The rookie players often talk about how much their financial situation improved after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5429,"featured_media":436817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,246,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-436816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-golf-news","category-pga"],"modified_by":"Taylor Craig","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":436818,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436816\/revisions\/436818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}