It’s official: the U.S. Ryder Cup players and captain will be paid a six-figure stipend for their participation in the biennial event in 2025. But whether that money ends up in their bank accounts or going to charity remains to be seen.
Following a November report in The Telegraph that American players would be paid $400,000 to play in the Ryder Cup, the PGA of America confirmed a payment arrangement and clarified the details in a mid-December statement. “While no players asked to be compensated, the PGA of America Board of Directors has voted to increase the allocation to the members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team from $200,000 to be directed to charities – a figure unchanged since 1999 – to $500,000, with $300,000 of that to be directed to the charity or charities of the players’ choice,” the statement said. “The balance ($200,000) is a stipend.”
The news was a hot topic in advance of The Sentry, the PGA Tour’s season-opening tournament in Hawaii. Before teeing off at Kapalua, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said he would donate his stipend to charity and suggested that the players would do likewise. An announcement on the pay matter hadn’t been expected until closer to the September matches but was hastened by The Telegraph report, he added.
“Our timetable got screwed up when that report came out. Our plan wasn’t to have this happen so quick,” Bradley told the Associated Press. “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.”
Xander Schauffele, winner of two majors in 2024 and leader in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings entering The Sentry, echoed Bradley’s suggestion that the players would donate their stipends to charity. “I’m looking at it as an opportunity to give away more money,” he said. READ MORE
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The tour has launched a search for a CEO, commissioner Jay Monahan announced at a Dec. 17 town hall meeting and in a video released on social media. Monahan will remain commissioner and will be part of the search committee, along with Arthur Blank – owner of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and chair of PGA Tour Enterprises’ management, development and compensation committee – and player directors Tiger Woods and Adam Scott. READ MORE
The tour announced its schedule for the 2025 FedEx Cup Fall, a seven-event slate that helps finalize player eligibility for the 2026 season. READ MORE
Notably absent from the tour’s fall schedule is a stop in Las Vegas, which had been a mainstay for 41 years. Shriners Hospitals for Children ended its sponsorship of the Vegas stop following the 2024 tournament at TPC Summerlin. READ MORE
Nick Dunlap won the Arnold Palmer Award as the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for the 2024 season, when as a 20-year-old he became the first player in tour history to win as an amateur and a professional in the same season. READ MORE
The Skins Game will return to Thanksgiving week this year. Long a staple of golf’s so-called fall “Silly Season,” it was last contested in 2008. READ MORE
The PGA Tour announced expanded performance benefits for top graduates of PGA Tour University, the four-year-old points program designed to provide emerging talent with an accelerated path to professional golf.
“Today’s announcement builds on the success PGA Tour University has experienced over the past four years and continues to evolve the program’s offerings to properly identify and reward elite collegiate talent,” said tour commissioner Jay Monahan.
The approved changes include modifications starting this season (and applied retroactively) to the PGA Tour University Accelerated points table, expanded access to the Korn Ferry Tour for PGA Tour University top-10 finishers and a provision to recognize a No. 2 finisher in PGA Tour University who achieves a competitive record comparable to past No. 1 players. READ MORE
Lydia Ko has been made a Dame in the New Year’s honors list in New Zealand for her services to golf. A damehood is the female equivalent of a knighthood, and she became Dame Lydia Ko after receiving one of New Zealand’s highest civil honors on Dec. 31.
Ko, who won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics and qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame last year, is the youngest New Zealander (27) to receive the honor. READ MORE
Tap-Ins
LIV Golf and Fox Sports have engaged in discussions toward a television contract for the 2025 season, Sports Business Journal reported Dec. 17. READ MORE
Tyrrell Hatton’s goal remains to play for Europe in the 2025 Ryder Cup, despite jumping from the DP World Tour to LIV Golf last January, he said in an interview with the Daily Mail published last Thursday. READ MORE
Blades Brown, a top-ranked junior player from Nashville, Tennessee, will skip college and turn professional, he announced Dec. 17. The 17-year-old is expected to make his PGA Tour debut on a sponsor’s exemption at next week’s American Express tournament in La Quinta, California, which was won last year by then amateur Nick Dunlap. READ MORE
Sky Sports announced a partnership to broadcast TGL – the new indoor team golf league featuring Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and other prominent pros that debuts on Tuesday – in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. READ MORE
Jared and Katherine Solomon, co-founders of the indoor golf and entertainment company Five Iron Golf, have invested in New York Golf Club, the Big Apple-based TGL team that includes Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young, it was announced last Friday. READ MORE
The Epson Tour announced its 2025 schedule, featuring 20 tournaments offering $5 million in prize money. READ MORE
Compiled by Mike Cullity