With a tongue-in-cheek joke, Scottie Scheffler comments on money and Ryder Cup pay-for-play

NASSAU, Bahamas – Any fans tired of hearing about purse sizes, player equity and potential deals with foreign investment funds should know that Scottie Scheffler shares your fatigue.

“I think most of the time we just talk about money and how the wallets need to be bigger,” Scheffler said, tongue firmly in cheek, when asked what he and Tiger Woods talked about at the Hero World Challenge on Wednesday had. “Today we really talked about the Ryder Cup and how it’s just such nonsense that we never got paid. Tiger was really frustrated, he felt like he hadn’t made enough money in his career.”

Woods said Tuesday that he hopes players receive a larger sum of money to compete in the Ryder Cup, but that the money should go to charity.

Following a report in The Telegraph last month, the fixation on player compensation turned to the Ryder Cup and a possible plan to pay US players to take part in the games.

According to the report, U.S. players would receive $400,000 next year at Bethpage Black in New York, although it remains unclear whether that money will be donated to charities or whether it is strictly player compensation (players currently receive $200,000). dollars for charity). ).

As expected, the report sparked a strong reaction from the European side, with Rory McIlroy telling BBC Sports: “I personally would pay for the privilege of playing in the Ryder Cup.” Scheffler agreed.

“Any of our players would pay to play in the Ryder Cup if we were asked to do so,” said the world No. 1. “I think it’s a bit silly to ask players to pay money in a tournament that brings in hundreds of millions of dollars, but I think we would all do that. I would definitely do that.”

Justin Thomas sided with Scheffler but appeared to keep the door open to possible payments to US players.

“It’s a weird, touchy subject and you’re kind of damned if you do it and damned if you don’t,” Thomas said. “I’m not on the business side of things, but I see both sides. At the end of the day, I think we, like the rest of the United States and Europe, still love the Ryder Cup and will clearly play anyway. I think it might just be something that some people just feel like that’s it and, you know, that’s how it’s supposed to be. I definitely hope to be there.”