USA players are set to be paid at the 2025 Ryder Cup, ending a 97-year tradition. However, the saga has rumbled since the 1999 event at The Country Club.
After Patrick Cantlay’s reported 2023 protest in Rome, USA Ryder Cup stars will receive $400,000 each for competing in the three-day event at Bethpage Black.
The outcome, however, has potentially been 25 years in the making.
The ‘Battle of Brookline’ at the Country Club was one of the most iconic Ryder Cups of all time. The event was clouded by bad blood between both teams, with US players and fans receiving criticism from American and European media. The USA would eventually win by a solitary point.
However, a story which unfolded before the Boston event is perhaps what the 1999 Ryder Cup should be best known for.
And, considering recent events concerning the USA side, it’s a relevant tale which should be revisited.
The 1999 Ryder Cup ‘boycott’ that never happened
The story started before the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama when USA captaincy hopeful Mark O’Meara initially claimed that adding financial reward would make the event more exciting.
“I don’t know the numbers, but I think the European PGA and the U.S. PGA should look at this aspect, even if some seem afraid the Cup will lose its special feeling if players are paid,” the American said at the 1997 Lancome Trophy tournament.
O’Meara, who won the Masters in 1998, also raised the issue in the lead-up to Brookline.
“As long as the PGA of America and the European PGA Tour feel like the money is going back to further the game of golf or is going back to good charities, I have no problem not being paid,” O’Meara said.
“But all of you, as media people, you should come and donate your money to a charity that week, too. You guys don’t mind doing that, do you? Give your salary that week. Either that or they shouldn’t charge the spectators to come and watch.”
The 1998 Masters champion’s comments would ultimately cost him any chance of captaining the side. O’Meara’s remarks appeared to kickstart his fellow American players into somewhat of a frenzy.
David Duval was quoted saying there could be a “boycott” unless the PGA of America starts paying its players.
“It could happen this September,” Duval said, according to an article in the September issue of Golf Digest. “More than likely, though, next time in 2001. Certainly within two more. It’s imminent. This is just from talking to the guys. Some of them are fed up.”
Ben Crenshaw, who was the US captain at Brookline, was quick to usher Duval back into line. “It was time for the captain to act,” Crenshaw said in 1999. “I think they all know where I stand now.
“I told him he shouldn’t be saying those things since he’s never played in the Ryder Cup. “I think we’ve cleared the matter up.”
A fresh-faced Tiger Woods, who was part of Crenshaw’s team, also had his say on the issue.
What Tiger Woods said before 1999 Ryder Cup
Woods’ views on Ryder Cup payments have changed over the years. After the 2023 edition in Rome, the 15-time major winner was non-committal about Cantlay’s public ridicule.
But, during his early career, Woods was seemingly intent on adding as much as he possibly could to his fortune. Tiger famously claimed he would rather earn $1m on the PGA Tour than play in the Ryder Cup.
Furthermore, before the Brookline event, Woods was quoted in a Golf Digest article suggesting the current situation was unfair.
“It’s completely unfair, the way it is now,” Woods said before the 1999 event [via Los Angeles Times]. “I played in one and didn’t enjoy it at all. It’s like ‘pros on parade.’ They take us to a bunch of functions that raise money, yet everybody is compensated except us. Let’s take some of that money and spread it around.”
Clearly, the payment issue has been rumbling on for many years, and 2025 will be a landmark moment for USA players, both past and present.
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