- Tommy Fleetwood gives his verdict on pay issues at the 2025 Ryder Cup
- American players will receive half a million dollars but European players will receive nothing
- The decision, made last year, has generated controversy in the world of golf.
Tommy Fleetwood has opened up about his views on financial compensation for European players in the Ryder Cup.
Last year, the PGA of America announced that, starting with the 2025 Ryder Cup, American players will receive $500,000 each (£405,000), with $300,000 (£243,000) going to charitable causes and $200,000 ( £162,000) as a stipend.
This decision has divided opinion in the golf world, with some arguing that European players should be fairly compensated and others insisting that the motivating factor for participating must exceed financial benefit.
And Fleetwood is the latest figure to weigh in on the controversy, having previously spoken about it late last year.
“Don't pay me anything or pay £10m to play in the Ryder Cup – I'm still going to play.” In fact, I'd probably pay to play in it. “I don't think this will make any difference to the dynamic,” he told The Telegraph in November.
Now, he has doubled down on his views, claiming that he, nor his teammates, have discussed the issue of pay at this year's biennial event in New York.
Tommy Fleetwood says financial reasons are irrelevant for him in the Ryder Cup
The Briton previously stated last year that he would participate in the tournament for free.
The 34-year-old has won a whopping $3.8 million (£3 million) in PGA tournaments in 2024 alone.
“Since the beginning of my Ryder Cup journey, which would have been in 2018, there has never been a conversation for us from a European perspective,” he told The Sports Agents.
“The truth is that I have never had a conversation about money or how to get paid, and I still have not had one from the European side.”
When asked if he thinks this will change in the future, the Englishman revealed that he does not see a reality in which players in the European camp are paid to participate in the Ryder Cup.
'Well, I'm not in charge, that's for sure, but no. From what I know and the experiences I've had and the conversations I've had, it's not something we've thought about or put into any kind of context.
'It's just not something that has been discussed. So yeah, that's not going to change this year, I'm pretty sure.”
The debate over salaries in the American course has been an ongoing topic since the 1990s, prompting the PGA to compensate them.
The likes of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Cantlay have previously expressed their desire for fair recognition for their contributions to the tournament's financial success.
The Ryder Cup raised a staggering €262m (£221m) in economic activity at the 2023 Rome tournament, for example.