Europe, US trade barbs on ‘pay for play’ issue as Ryder Cup practice begins

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Transcript

00:00You guys keep talking about it and trying to make it this negative thing.

00:05It's whatever everyone views it as.

00:06Xander Schauffele and his U.S. teammates knew they would be getting the questions this week

00:11as practice kicked off for the Ryder Cup.

00:14The American team will be paid for the first time in the event's 98-year history.

00:18Is it a media-driven story?

00:20Is it just a new piece of the rivalry with Europe?

00:23And why won't it go away?

00:25The PGA of America approached U.S. Captain Keegan Bradley last year

00:32with the idea of compensating players.

00:34In November, they voted to give the 12 players and Bradley $300,000

00:39to donate to a charity of their choice and a $200,000 stipend.

00:44World No. 1 Scotty Scheffler and most of his teammates

00:47plan to donate the entire amount to charity.

00:50I've never been one to announce what we do.

00:52I don't like to give charitable dollars for some sort of recognition.

00:56And we have something planned for the money that we'll be receiving.

00:59And I think it's a really cool thing that the PGA of America has empowered us to do.

01:04There's a lot of pride that comes into playing in one of these.

01:07And yes, we're happy to get paid for this.

01:12And yes, I plan on donating it.

01:14It's something that selfishly will make me feel good about what I do.

01:18Now to the rivalry part.

01:19Team Europe has won eight of the last 11 Ryder Cup competitions since 2002,

01:26including the last match in Rome in 2023.

01:30Captain Luke Donald told Sky Sports that he polled his players

01:33and their stance is playing for pride and for country is enough.

01:38This isn't a week to get paid.

01:39You know, we have such a strong purpose in this team, what we play for.

01:45If that sounds like a bit of a shot at the Americans, as if it doesn't mean as much to

01:50them, Bradley and his players aren't taking the bait, at least publicly.

01:54I'm not concerned about what Europe does or what they think.

01:58I'm more concerned about what my team's doing.

02:01This event is very good at generating lots of noise.

02:03And that's not going to help any of us put points on the board.

02:08I think we need to put 100 percent of our focus on playing the best golf we can

02:11and let the noise be exactly what it is.

02:15It's just noise.

02:16That noise will get a boost Friday when President Donald Trump visits the event in Bethpage,

02:21New York.

02:21Scotty Scheffler said it's extremely important for the U.S. team to have the president at the tournament.

02:27For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis.