There are five hundred thousand reasons why Team USA players could come under scrutiny from the New York crowd during this year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

That is the sum each of Team USA is allocated from the PGA of America for competing in the biennial contest, with $300,000 (£222,000) donated to a charity of the golfer’s choice and the remaining $200,000 (£148,000) given to the player to use how they wish.

The PGA of America insisted ‘no players asked to be compensated’ when announcing the change last December, which marked a significant increase to the previous offering – in place since 1999 – of $200k of charitable donations per American player.

This year’s contest – live from September 26-28 on Sky Sports – will be the first Ryder Cup since the additional fee has been implemented, a stark contrast to Europe’s continued stance of not being paid to participate.

There remains uncertainty on the backlash Keegan Bradley could receive from the home crowd for the ‘stipend’, which comes the same year that ticket prices start at a record-high of around $750 for each of the competition days.

“I don’t think they [American fans] will care unless they [Team USA] start losing,” Dame Laura Davies told Sky Sports. “If they start losing, then they’ll start talking about how much you’re getting paid for this and this and the other. That could backfire.

“That would be the ultimate, wouldn’t it, if that actually backfired on them. I know not all of them [American players] want money but a few of them obviously did, otherwise it wouldn’t have happened.

“I don’t understand it [getting paid for the Ryder Cup]. It’s ludicrous, really!”

Why are Team USA players getting paid?

A pay-to-play policy for the Ryder Cup has been a regular talking point since the turn of the century, with Tiger Woods questioning how players were compensated for competing ahead of the 1999 contest.

Mark O’Meara and David Duval also publicly called out that year how profits made from the Ryder Cup were dispersed and whether a fee should be given, with the warning of a potential boycott even mentioned in the build-up to Team USA’s win.

The subsequent $200k charitable donation has remained the same figure over the last 25 years before this year’s increase, while the new $200k ‘stipend’ is less than the $250k given to players from both teams at the Presidents Cup – run by the PGA Tour – last September.

“I get the idea for charity, that’s nice, but what’s the other £200,000 for?” said former Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart, part of the European team in 1999. “These guys are multi-millionaires. I’m just surprised.

“It’s an absolute honour and a privilege to play for your continent and as a kid, that is something that you dream of doing. Because you dream of doing that, it becomes a privilege, so you shouldn’t want to be paid for it.

“The European side want to do it [play in the Ryder Cup] for the pure pride of wearing the badge. There’s nothing to gain from that [payment]. You’re creating an opportunity to be distracted, an opportunity for somebody to have a go at it.

“That potentially is a mistake. It was something that the European team will try and draw on, try and exploit and it’s something that the European press will try and exploit.”

Are Team Europe going to follow suit?

Rory McIlroy has previously stated he would ‘pay for the privilege’ to play in the Ryder Cup and Donald has spoken out against players receiving money to compete, with the European players united in their stance over appearance fees.

“Americans have been chasing this for a while and they’ve got their way eventually,” 2014 winning captain Paul McGinley, now a strategic advisor to Team Europe, told Sky Sports News. “Players have got a lot of leverage in the game at the moment and they’ve forced the issue on it.

“Our players have a different view and collectively they all said no. They would prefer to see more money invested in the team and more money going back to PGAs of Britain and Ireland as well as Europe and the DP World Tour.

“There’s enough money that they’re all making everywhere else in the game and they took the view that Ryder Cup should be sacrosanct, should be different. We want to honour also the players that came before them rather, who didn’t get paid as well.

“I think they can be admired for that and I do think we do have the moral high ground on it. We’ll just have to see how that plays out and if it develops as a story during the week.”

What have the captains said?

Bradley defended the American stance during his pre-tournament press conference at Bethpage Black, while Donald admitted he was ‘proud’ of how his European team unanimously agreed to not push for appearance payment.

Speaking in his press conference, Bradley said: “I’m not concerned about what Europe does or what they think. I’m concerned about what my team is doing. I was tasked with a job the PGA of America asked me to do, and this was 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.”

Donald, speaking to Sky Sports, added: “I wanted to get ahead of it and talk to the 12 guys in Rome when it looked like the US were going to do something different with payments. Every one of them was just like ‘we don’t want to get paid – this isn’t a week to get paid’.

“We have such a strong purpose in this team and what we play for. 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.

“For me, I was very proud of the guys. The ideals of how this Ryder Cup was set up back in the 20s by Samuel Ryder. I think he would have been proud too.”

Pay to play a tactical mistake from Team USA?

Patrick Cantlay was taunted by European fans during the 2023 contest, following reports that he did not wear a Team USA cap in protest to not getting paid – something he has denied, with the American booed and having caps waved at him over the weekend.

“It [criticism] has the potential to be an enormous albatross around the neck of the United States, if they allow it to be,” said Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner. “These things take on a life of their own and by Thursday it can become a talking point and narrative.

“Tactically it probably wasn’t the smartest move. Why battle over two hundred thousand in your pocket when you make 10, 15, 20 million and you can elevate your brand by what you do at the Ryder Cup with USA on your chest?

“Why quibble when you know it could be a talking point that could hurt the overall team effort? That is what I don’t fully understand. I’m curious to see the response from Keegan Bradley and his 12 players.”

Two-time Ryder Cup player David Howell added: “Well, I think they may well have made a mistake in terms of individualising where the money goes. A lot of the money is going to charity and I’m sure – in most cases – probably all of it will, but I think maybe that wasn’t the wisest way to go about it from them.

“Where Ryder Cup monies get divvied up and where they go in the big picture was maybe something they should have discussed behind closed doors. It adds a nice little twist again to this match – there’s always a twist somewhere!”

Can Team Europe take advantage in New York?

Europe have only won four away Ryder Cups in the event’s history and lost their last contest on away soil by a record-breaking margin, losing 19-9 at Whistling Straits in 2021.

Donald’s line-up this year contains 11 of the 12 players from their 2023 success in Rome and eight with experience of an away Ryder Cup, although Team USA head into this year’s contest as slight favourites due to their home advantage.

“It [pressure] is a potential little trap door that they [Team USA] could fall down,” Coltart added. “The American players already know what they’re going to be playing in front of and I think one or two of them will be a little bit nervous about that.

“If they underperform, they’ll be told in no uncertain terms by those New York faithful that they’re underperforming. In effect, it could give a sense of them actually playing away from home.

“If that happens, they potentially might have lost that Ryder Cup.”

When is the Ryder Cup live on Sky Sports?

There will be extended live coverage from every day of Ryder Cup week, where Team Europe look to regain the trophy with a historic away win in the United States.

Round-the-clock coverage of the opening day’s play will begin with live build-up from 9am on Friday September 26, ahead of full coverage from midday and the opening tee shot at 12.10pm. Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.