Ryder Cup: Luke Donald said this ‘isn’t a week to get paid’ as U.S team receives stipend at Bethpage Black

Luke Donald and the European team won’t be leaving Bethpage Black any richer this weekend, even if they do bring the iconic gold Ryder Cup trophy back with them across the Atlantic.

While their American counterparts are getting paid this year for the first time, Donald is very content with the Europeans playing for pride.

“This isn’t a week to get paid,” Donald said Monday, via SkySports. “We have such strong purpose in this team, in what we play for, and to be honest we reinvest some of that money back into the experience of these guys.

“I feel like, if you have those experiences that you remember for the rest of your life, that’s worth more than a couple hundred thousand dollars in the back of your pocket.”

U.S. Team getting stipend for Ryder Cup

The PGA of America announced in December that it would be providing U.S. captain Keegan Bradley and his players $500,000 each for the Ryder Cup, which starts Friday. Players will have to donate $300,000 of that to charity, but the remaining $200,000 is considered a stipend. They can do with that what they wish.

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The pay-for-play issue dates back to 1999, when players first started receiving money for charity. There were some reported rifts on the team two years ago in Rome, specifically centered around Patrick Cantlay’s hat and Xander Schauffele’s dad, but the PGA of America insisted that no players asked for this change.

Bradley, who said the PGA of America approached him about this last year to find a solution, has said that he’s going to donate his full $500,000 to charity. Some players are going to follow suit, but it’s unclear who.

“I think that’s a personal decision,” Bradley said on Monday. “I don’t donate to charities to publicize what we’re doing. These guys on our team are incredible people, and they do a lot of incredible things with charity dollars and with their foundations. A lot of them aren’t comfortable sharing that sort of information, and I feel the same way.”

The Europeans have been clear about how they feel about the payment issue. Rory McIlroy even said last year that he would “pay for the privilege to play” in the Ryder Cup.

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Xander Schauffele saw that criticism coming months ago, and it’s not likely to go away before the first session on Friday morning.

“I just see it as a whole lot of money going to charity, and we’re going to take a lot of crap,” he told The Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson in December.

While some players may choose to keep the stipend for themselves, Bradley knows a lot of good will end up coming from what’s being handed down from the PGA of America this week.

For now, while Bradley is trying to win what would be a third straight Ryder Cup on home soil, that’s what he’s focusing on. Anything coming from the European side is just noise.

“I’m not concerned about what Europe does or what they think. I’m concerned about what my team is doing,” he said plainly.

“I was tasked with a job the PGA of America asked me to do, and this is what we decided. We wanted to bring the Ryder Cup into today’s age, and we felt like this was the best way to do it. We copied a lot of what the Presidents Cup does. We did the best we could, and I think a lot of good is going to come from this. I think the players are going to do a lot of good with this money, and I think it’s great.”