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FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Most, if not all, U.S. Ryder Cup team members will be donating their controversial $200,000 stipends this week to charity, but not many are revealing specific details about where that money is going.
“We like to do a lot of stuff in our local community, and I’ve never been one to announce what we do,” Scottie Scheffler said Tuesday of him and his wife, Meredith. “I don’t like to give charitable dollars for some kind of recognition.”
Last December, the PGA of America, which runs the Ryder Cup’s U.S. operations, approved the $200,000 stipends for players and increased a mandatory charity allocation from $200,000 to $300,000. That’s led to criticism from the European Ryder Cup team, which doesn’t think anyone playing the Ryder Cup should be paid, and others in the golf world.
“We have something planned for the money that we’ll be receiving,” Scheffler said. “I think it’s a really cool thing that the PGA of America has empowered us to do. I have a deep passion for the city of Dallas, I have a deep passion for the organizations that we support at home, and I’m excited to be able to take this money and be able to do some good in our local community.”
Giving Back
Xander Schauffele was similarly coy about his plans, other than announcing his money would go to charity, too.
“Being a product of the PGA Tour, if there’s one thing besides competing at a high level that’s taught me, it’s to sort of have a positive impact on the areas that you’re in, and I don’t see why this would be any different,” Schauffele said. “There’s a lot of pride that comes into playing in one of these, and yes, we’re happy to get paid for this, and yes, I plan on donating it. It’s something that selfishly will make me feel good about what I do.”
Patrick Cantlay is donating his entire $500,000 allocation to charitable causes with an emphasis on educational development for children of military veterans and first responders, including the First Responders Children’s Foundation and Folds of Honor. “One of the great things about these team events for me is there’s always such a big charitable component to it,” he said.
Captain Speak
U.S. captain Keegan Bradley admitted he’s not keen on revealing where he’s donating his money, either. “I think that’s a personal decision,” Bradley said 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.”
Bradley did detail how the stipend structure came together last year, though. “The PGA of America came to me; they wanted to bring the Ryder Cup into the present day,” he said. “The charity dollars hadn’t changed since 1999, and they asked me to sort of shepherd their way into making it into 2025.”
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