Brandel Chamblee tears into Ryder Cup stars over pay row

Brandel Chamblee has ripped into the ‘misdirected’ American golfers who could soon be paid huge sums for playing in the Ryder Cup.

The Telegraph have reported that Team USA members are set to remunerated for the first time at next year’s showdown against Europe in New York.

Keegan Bradley’s players would benefit to the tune of $400,000 (£315,000) each just for teeing it up in the historic contest at Bethpage, under new rules proposed by the PGA of America.

The controversial break in a 97-year tradition comes a year on the pay storm at Marco Simone, where Patrick Cantlay vehemently denied accusations his choice not to wear a hat was in protest for not being paid.

• Report: US Ryder Cup players to be paid for 2025 match

• European stars weigh in on controversial Ryder Cup debate

There is no indication, meanwhile, that European players will claim financial rewards for representing the blue-and-gold, like their US counterparts.

Rory McIlroy even claimed he would “pay to play” in the Ryder Cup, suggesting player fees would undermine the “purity” of the rivalry.

“The common consensus is that the $5m paid to the team would be better spent on the DP World Tour to support other events and even to support the Challenge Tour,” McIlroy said.

“For us, it would give it a different feel, what we have done a very good job of is being a very cohesive group over the last decade and we wouldn’t want anything to change that.”

Chamblee wholeheartedly agrees. The former PGA Tour pro-turned Golf Channel analyst thinks this development speaks to a wider problem of an elite sport being consumed by greed.

“Once again Rory hits the nail on the head,” the NBC analyst wrote on X.

• PGA of America responds to more Ryder Cup ticket controversy

• Ryder Cup standings: Who’s heading to Bethpage in 2025?

“It’s a sad commentary on the professional game that a few players with misdirected and undo power treat every aspect of this game, including the privilege of playing for one’s country, as transactional. They are the reason the very lifeblood of this game, which is to say those that play it recreationally, are increasingly turning away from those that play it professionally.

“The increasing commoditisation of this game is a tough pill to swallow. I recently read a commentary on greed that went something like this: Think of Michelangelo, who in seeking to merely honor the glory of man, carved the statue of David, and wanting to highlight the capacity that humans have for compassionate suffering, he carved the Pieta.

“Neither of these masterpieces were motivated by money, they were motivated by wanting to draw the human spirit upward. To play at the highest level, players have to rediscover the reason to pursue the highest level. And it is not for money.

“It is merely striving to take full advantage of one’s talents and resources to simply see how good they can become. And occasionally give back to the game by playing for one’s country. And, dare I say, for the privilege of it, and not the profit of it.”

Paul McGinley, the 2014 winning Ryder Cup captain, was similarly scathing in his reaction.

The Irishman told Sky Sports: “I know they are professional sportsman but, boy oh boy, are they not getting paid enough money at the moment, with all that’s going on in the game?”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.