Tommy Fleetwood weighs in on Ryder Cup pay controversies after PGA of America announced U.S. players will receive half a MILLION dollars each in the 2025 tournament
- Tommy Fleetwood gave his verdict on pay issues at the 2025 Ryder Cup
- U.S. players will receive half a million dollars but European players get nothing
- The decision, made last year, has sparked controversy in the golfing world
Tommy Fleetwood has opened up on his views surrounding financial compensation for European players at the Ryder Cup.
Last year, the PGA of America announced that, starting from the 2025 Ryder Cup, U.S. players will receive $500,000 each (£405,000), with $300,000 (£243,000) allocated to charitable causes and $200,000 (£162,000) as a stipend.
This decision has split opinions in the golfing world, with some arguing that European players should be fairly compensated, and others insisting that the motivating factor for participation should exceed one's financial gain.
And Fleetwood is the latest figure weighing in on the controversy, having previously spoken about it at the end of last year.
'Pay me nothing or pay me £10million to play in the Ryder Cup – I'm still going to play. In fact, I would probably pay to play in it. I don't think it will make any difference to the dynamic,' he told The Telegraph in November.
Now, he has doubled down on his views, claiming that he, nor his team-mates, have discussed the topic of pay at this year's biennial event in New York.
Tommy Fleetwood has claimed that financial motives are irrelevant to him at the Ryder Cup
The Brit previously claimed last year that he would participant in the tournament for free
The 34-year-old earned a whopping $3.8m (£3m) from PGA tournaments in 2024 alone
'Since the start of my Ryder Cup journey, which would have been 2018, it's never been a conversation for us from a European perspective,' he told The Sports Agents.
'I've actually never even had a conversation about money or getting paid, and I still haven't had one on our European side.'
When asked if he believes this will change in the future, the Englishman revealed he does not see a reality where players in the European camp are paid for participation in the Ryder Cup.
'Well, I'm not in charge, that's for sure, but no. From what I know and the experiences I've had and the conversations I've had, it's not something that we have thought about or put into any kind of context.
'It's just not something that's been discussed. So yeah, that's not going to change this year, I'm pretty sure.'
The debate over pay in the U.S. camp has been an ongoing issue since the 1990s, which prompted the PGA's to compensate them.
The likes of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Cantlay have previously been vocal about wanting fair recognition for their contributions to the tournament's financial success.
The Ryder Cup raked in a staggering €262m (£221m) in economic activity in 2023's Rome tournament, for example.
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