The PGA of America announced it will pay American players for their participation in the 2025 Ryder Cup. In a statement released Monday morning, the association spelled out its plan for the matches next September at Bethpage Black, which includes a mix of money to be directed toward charities and, for the first time, money for players to do with what they want.

“The players and captains, past and present, are responsible for the Ryder Cup becoming the most special competition in golf and one of the most in-demand events on the international sports scene,” read a statement from the governing body. “While no players asked to be compensated, the PGA of America Board of Directors has voted to increase the allocation to the members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team from $200,000 to be directed to charities—a figure unchanged since 1999—to $500,000, with $300,000 of that to be directed to the charity or charities of the players’ choice. The balance is a stipend.”

Last fall reports surfaced that American players questioned whether they should be getting money beyond the amount allocated for their chosen charities. In the wake of Xander Schauffele reportedly being threatened with dismissal from the U.S. team over issues with the player benefit agreement, his father Stefan Schauffele said the topic of payment for players was worth having a “meaningful conversation about.”

A Statement from the PGA of America on the 2025 Ryder Cup 🏆https://t.co/osnhWC9vgH

— PGA of America (@PGA) December 16, 2024

While the debate over payment for participation in the event goes back decades, the issue gained steam recently in light of the unexpectedly high ticket prices that the PGA of America was charging for the 2025 match at Bethpage Black. Shortly after this controversy erupted, reports emerged that PGA of America, which runs the event when held in the U.S., was considering paying American players for next year’s event.

RELATED: The Ryder Cup ticket price controversy, explained

Earlier this month at the Hero World Challenge, several American players—including Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler—were asked their thoughts about Ryder Cup compensation. Woods advocated for more money to go to charity, while Scheffler was adamant he didn’t need any payment.

“Well, I would have to say that going back to my playing days, we had the same conversation 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 said, nodding to the controversy between David Duval, Mark O’Meara and others wanting payment for the match at Brookline. “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 [it] 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?”

Added Scheffler: “I think every one of our players would pay to play in the Ryder Cup if that’s what was asked of us. I think it’s a little bit silly for a tournament that makes hundreds of millions of dollars to ask for the players to pay as well, but I think we all would.”

Since rumors of the PGA of America’s plan have surfaced several players and leaders of past European Ryder Cup team asserted they would never seek pay for the event. Woods acknowledged, “That’s fine, that’s their right to say that,” although he quickly pointed out how much the DP World Tour depends on revenue generated from the event to pay its bills.

“I just think that the event is so big, I think that we can give so much money to different charities, and I’ve said that since ’99 when we had the Brookline negotiations. If the Europeans want to pay to be in the Ryder Cup, that’s their decision to do that, that’s their team,” Woods explained at the Hero. “I know when it’s on European soil that it subsidizes most of their tour, so it is a big event for the European Tour and if they want to pay to play in it, so be it.”

The 2025 Ryder Cup begins Sept. 26 at Bethpage Black. The Europeans are looking to keep the Cup after winning in 2023 at Marco Simone outside Rome.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com