LIV Golf star Patrick Reed claims the Ryder Cup payments are “unneccesary” and he would be happy to play for nothing
Patrick Reed has claimed that paying the US Ryder Cup team is “unnecessary” as the LIV Golf star claimed: “There are certain events that money means absolutely nothing”.
American players will be rewarded for the first time at Bethpage Black this month with a $200,000 (£170,462) “stipend” added to a £300,000 donation to charity.
European captain Luke Donald has stated he is “100%” against paying his team and said: “The Ryder Cup represents true sport.” And Rory McIlroy declared before the US announcement last year: “I personally would pay for the privilege to play in the Ryder Cup.”
Reed was dubbed Captain America after his three feisty Ryder Cup appearances, starting with his shushing the Scottish crowd in 2014.
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And the 2018 Masters champion said: “I never played the Ryder Cup and cared about playing for money. That was all about playing and representing my country, going out there and, you know, trying to win the cup. It’s just like playing in the Olympics, right? It’s one every four years and it just means something to go out there and represent your country and play for your country. And it’s, there’s no dollar amount that I’d give or be a part of to play on Ryder Cup or sway me to play on one.
“Why did it happen? That’s a great question. That’s all their decisions, like the uppers and stuff. As a player, I mean, to me, it didn’t matter.”
Asked if playing for no money will give Europe an advantage on Long Island, the world No.73 said: “No because when you’re in those team rooms, you’re playing. The guys were grinding so hard on playing. We could play for zero or play for hundreds of millions, it wouldn’t matter to the guys out there going to try to win the cup, because that means you have two years of jabbing it into the boys whenever you see them, or you’re doing it the other way.
“It’s one of those that I really think is unnecessary, to be honest with you. There are certain events that money means absolutely nothing. And that’s one of them. And same thing with same thing with the Olympics and things like that. But my biggest thing at Ryder Cup is if you’re gonna give money to players, have it all go to their charity or something like that. Do something good with it.”
Reed’s last Ryder Cup appearance in 2018 ended in acrimony when he publicly criticised captain Jim Furyk for not pairing him with Jordan Spieth.
He left for LIV Golf in 2022 and finished 46th in the Ryder Cup rankings despite his third place finish at the Masters.
The LIV Dallas winner, who shot an opening 69 at the BMW PGA at Wentworth on Thursday, revealed: “I talked to Keegan multiple times, all the way up until the Monday he was making decisions.
“After I won Dallas, and then right after the Open, even though I missed cut there, he said: ‘Hey, you gotta do something special, but show me the last couple events’. And if I went out and I won one of those events, I would probably made the team or had a shot. But you know, I just mean finishing seventh and 11th around there it just kind of allowed the decision to sway the wrong way rather than the right way.
“It always sucks not being a part of it, especially with my record and how well I played at that event and all the memories I have from playing in Ryder cups. But it wasn’t my decision. But even though I’m not there and I’m playing, I’ll definitely be pulling hard for my boys. Hopefully, we can go and get revenge on what happened last Ryder Cup and keep it at home.”
LIV Golf is again seeking world ranking points for events – and Reed wants the same for US Ryder Cup qualification.
“At the end of the day, we just have to figure out something to unify the game between all three tours,” said Reed, 35.
“It doesn’t mean that everyone needs to merge as one, but we just have to figure out how it is that we can get the top players playing at the biggest events with each other, not just Ryder Cups, but the majors and everything like that. The only way you’re gonna do that is by figuring out a system that is fair and works between all tours, not just one or two or anything like that.”