Former Masters champion speaks out on US players being paid to tee up in Ryder Cup

Danny Willett believes European players will never push to join their American counterparts in being paid to tee up in the Ryder Cup, claiming the development for next year’s contest would be viewed as the “most f***ing ridiculous thing I’ve heard from your man on the street!”

After recent speculation, it was confirmed earlier this week by the PGA of America that the US players will receive $500,000 for next September’s match at Bethpage Black in New York, with $300,000 being donated to a charity of their choice and the remaining $200,000 serving as a stipend.

The payment is an increase from the $200,000 that was designated only for charity and had been in place for the Americans in the biennial contest since the 1999 match at Brookline.

Speaking in Glasgow, where he was the guest of honour at the PGA in Scotland annual luncheon, Willett, who played in the 2016 match at Hazeltine, offered his views on the controversial subject

Danny Willett pictured during his appearance in the 2016 Ryder Cuo at Hazeltine | Andrew Redington/Getty Images

“Your man on the street would look at it and think, ‘that’s the most f***ing ridiculous thing I’ve heard’,” said the blunt Yorkshireman, with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Bob MacIntyre having all said they don’t think players should be paid to play in the event and McIlroy even admitting he’d pay to represent Europe in the transatlantic tussle.

“I don’t think it will change the dynamic of the event,” added Willett of golf’s biggest team contest, which is run by the PGA of America on the other side of the Atlantic and Ryder Cup Europe on this side. “I think they (the Americans) have obviously pushed for it because they feel it is a week or two out of their schedules and they feel they should get rewarded.

“By the same token, if you are in the Ryder Cup team, you have done pretty well for yourself. Either way, being part of it is amazing, but the reward is being able to put that crest on your chest and play for Europe or America. For us, it’s the want to play and want to put the shirt on that says Europe and play for the lads next to you.”

Speaking at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas a fortnight ago, MacIntyre, who was part of a winning team in Rome last year, talked about the contest being about “blood, sweat and tears” and likened his first taste of it being in a “battle” in his beloved shinty.

“I haven’t heard anything,” replied Willett to being asked if he imagined there might be a push one day for the Europeans to go down the same route in terms of money. “From what I have read, I would have thought that the top three European lads would probably push back heavily against it. The Ryder Cup creates a hell of a lot of money. I think Tiger [Woods] said it. Get paid, yeah, but donate it to a charity of your choice.”

Due to concerns about behaviour at next year’s event, crowd monitors will be walking inside the ropes in a bid to ensure that notoriously-loud New York fans don’t cross the line. Willett knows what it feels like to get heat from US fans in the event after his brother, Peter, referred to Americans as “cretins” and “fat, stupid, greedy, classless, b******” in the build up to his appearance at the time he was The Masters champion eight years ago in Minnesota.

“It will be an incredibly different beast for a lot of young European lads who get in that team,” predicted Willett, with Luke Donald having acknowledged that himself following his reappointment after being appointed as captain on the back of a brilliant performance at Marco Simone Golf Club last September.

“The Ryder Cup has grown more and more hostile over the last decade or so for away players. The New York fans will want to win it. It will be an interesting collaboration of events. Hazeltine was a little bit (tasty). It was on the edge, but it was fine. You are going to get it, aren’t you? The home fans want their guys to win. Hazeltine was nowhere near anything that guys will experience at Bethpage. New York fans are sports fans, they’ll want their team to win.”

Former Masters champion was guest of honour at the PGA in Scotland annual luncheon in Glasgow | Kenny Smith

Willett, who won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Scottish soil in 2021, entertained a large audience in the Glasgow Hilton Hotel with stories from his Green Jacket success at Augusta National, revealing the first person he met after an obligatory celebration with members of the Georgia club had been Sir Alex Ferguson. “And he wasn’t happy as he had a bet on Jordan Spieth,” said a laughing Willett, referring to the American having been on course to make it back-to-back success in the season’s opening major before suffering a back-nine collapse.

It is widely felt that changes to the European points system for next year’s match could mean that all 12 players on Donald’s team will be PGA Tour card holders, with Willett being in that category thanks to a medical exemption and licking his lips about the 2025 campaign after feeling that he has fully recovered from a serious shoulder issue that required surgery last September.

“It’s been a roller-coaster five years,” admitted the 37-year-old, who has landed some big wins in his eight DP World Tour title triumphs. “Every year, I’ve been alright by August, September time because I’ve had so much time off as I couldn’t do anything over the winter.

“But, with he shoulder is stronger than it was before and probably stronger than the right one now, I’m swinging it and hitting as many balls as I want without any pain. In fact, I was saying to my wife the other day that it is the first time in five years that I have actually been able to practice in December.

“Hopefully this year I can get the consistency levels up a bit earlier in the season. I’ll be trying my bollocks off to play as well as I can. With a few of the older Ryder Cup guys now gone or not able to play, it would be great to play well enough to have a sniff again.”