“I would have to say that, going back to my playing days, we had the same conversation [about players being paid] back in ’99. And it was: We didn’t want to get paid, we wanted to give more money to charity. And the media turned it around against us and said we want to get paid,” Woods recalled.
“No, the Ryder Cup itself makes so much money, why can’t we allocate it to various charities? And what’s wrong with each player, 12 players getting a million dollars and the ability to divvy out to amazing charities that they’re involved in that they can help out? It’s their hometowns, where they’re from, all the different junior golf associations or endeavors that the members are involved in.
“It’s never really been about getting paid; it’s how can we allocate funds to help our sport or help things that we believe in back home — because it’s so hard to get onto that team; there’s only 12 guys. What’s wrong with being able to allocate more funds … I hope they would get $5 million each and donate it all to charity, different charities. I think it’s great. What’s wrong with that?”