Rory McIlroy said he would pay to enter the Ryder Cup after it emerged members of the US team could raise $400,000 (£315,000) each to take on Europe in New York next year next. McIlroy believes such a move would undermine the “purity” of the biennial competition.
Under pressure from high-profile players, the PGA of America board is seriously considering breaking with Ryder Cup tradition and paying the 12-player U.S. team from a fund of 5 million dollars. No project of this type will be considered in Europe; a situation that McIlroy, the main player on the continent, fully supports.
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“Personally, I would pay for the privilege of playing in the Ryder Cup,” McIlroy said. “I’ve come a long way in this area, particularly with the Olympics, but the two purest forms of competition in our game at the moment are the Ryder Cup and the Olympics, in part because of the purity of the absence of silver.
“It was a discussion that took place during the last Ryder Cup in Rome. I can see the other side of the argument because the Ryder Cup generates a lot of revenue. It’s one of the five biggest sporting events in the world, so I understand the argument that talent could be paid.]
“The Ryder Cup is much more than that, especially for the Europeans and this tour. We all had a conversation about it with Luke [Donald, the European captain] because we obviously heard [about the Americans] and the common consensus is that the $5 million paid to the team would be better spent on the DP World Tour to support other events and even to support the Challenge Tour. For us it would give a different impression, which we’ve done a really good job of being a very close-knit group over the last decade and we wouldn’t want anything to change that.
While understanding the concept, McIlroy questioned whether paying the U.S. team members was particularly necessary. He added: “I don’t think any of the 24 players on either team need the $400,000. Every two years we play for 104 weeks and for 103 weeks you can play golf and get paid, so it’s pretty reasonable.
“Returning to the purity aspect would make competition a little less pure but that would change nothing from a European point of view. We would all be happy to receive this money if it didn’t change the dynamic of what we had, but I think it would change the dynamic.
The Ryder Cup, which will take place in Bethpage next September, has already drawn heavy criticism for $750 per day tickets during the competition itself. McIlroy admits the conversation will take another dimension, with players partly benefiting from high prices.
“It makes us look very unlike the average person on the street because of the amount of money being pumped into the game,” the four-time major winner said. “But at the same time, it’s not our fault, in a way. There are people willing to pay what they are willing to pay and we are fortunate to be in this position, we were in the right place at the right time.
“There are two sides to the coin. I’m not criticizing at all, because if the Ryder Cup generates $100-200 million in revenue, you’d think the talent should get a cut of that. This is not how things have been and as Europeans we do not want to change due to the quality of things in recent years, but it is more than reasonable that if you organize an event and ‘It generates so much revenue that some of it should go to talent, but that hasn’t been the case at the Ryder Cup and that’s a huge change.
McIlroy was speaking in Dubai, where he posted a 67 to tie the lead with Tyrrell Hatton after the first round of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.