There are nine months and counting until the Ryder Cup is played at Bethpage Black, which means nine months and counting for players hoping to make Keegan Bradley’s U.S. team to have to answer a seemingly simple but potentially explosive question:
What are you going to do with your $200,000 stipend?
Xander Schauffele was in the line of fire on Tuesday ahead of the PGA Tour’s season-opening event, The Sentry. Approached about the topic by the Associated Press’s Doug Ferguson, his answer summed up the situation well.
“I just see it as a whole lot of money going to charity,” Schauffele said, “and we’re going to take a lot of crap.”
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Indeed, ever since the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph reported in November that the PGA of America was considering paying American players for the first time for their participation, the break from Ryder Cup tradition has been weaponized. By the time it became official in December—$300,000 would be donated in each player’s names to charity and $200,000 would be given to them to do with at their discretion—several prominent European players, including Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, had gone on the record as saying they would gladly pay for the chance to play in the Ryder Cup, the European side having no intention to follow the American lead.
According to Schauffele, the PGA of America’s announcement came earlier than was originally planned, with the thought that it would be revealed closer to the matches when the players would collectively take the stipends and donate them as well. Schauffele believes that will continue to be the case.
“I’m looking at it as an opportunity to give away more money,” he said. “It’s never going to be perceived that way, just with how the media talks about stuff and how things shook down in Italy [when the topic of playing the players became a storyline at the 2023 Ryder Cup]. It’s going to go to charity. I spoke to Keegan and he had a plan before, and that got blown up by the leak of the whole thing.
“Keegan had a plan to get all the boys to do something really nice. And now everyone is pointing fingers on how this thing has shaken down. Learning from the PGA Tour, we’re going to give back to the community however we can help, whether it’s the Fire Department or NYPD or you name it. Keegan is from the Northeast, and we’ll take his lead.”
Bradley also told the AP that players were planning to come together and donate the stipends, too.
“Our timetable got screwed up when that report came out. Our plan wasn’t to have this happen so quick,” Bradley said. “We’re just trying to do the right thing. This is ultimately a PGA of America decision. All we want to do is give more back and make more of an impact.”
Schauffele says some good can still come out of the controversy, specifically regarding the profile of the event overall.
“The way the whole thing is shaking down, it’s good for this big rivalry. And it’s going to be better for the Ryder Cup,” he said. “Whenever there’s like a feud, what happens? It juices everything up around it. The Ryder Cup is going to do better because of this thing.”
Main image: Andreas Solaro
