Presidents Cup Pays $250,000 Stipends but No Prize Money

Presidents Cup competitors are playing for a trophy, not a paycheck. Since 2022 they have received a $250,000 discretionary stipend, but nothing about the outcome of a match changes what anyone is paid, and the event paid its players nothing at all for its first 13 editions.

How did the stipend come about?

The Presidents Cup began in 1994 with every dollar it generated going to charity; no player, captain or vice captain took home a personal cent through 2021. The PGA Tour instead allocated money in competitors' names to charities of their choosing. That changed in 2022, when the Tour introduced the $250,000 stipend for participants to spend at their own discretion, though many still choose to donate it. The Tour continues to guarantee at least $1 million in charitable impact for the host city regardless of the stipend.

How does that compare to the Ryder Cup?

The Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup's more prestigious cousin, has followed a similar arc. U.S. players there now receive $500,000 each, with $300,000 earmarked for charity and the rest treated as a personal stipend. The shift followed years of friction: at the 1999 Ryder Cup in Brookline, Mark O'Meara, David Duval and Tiger Woods were among those who suggested players deserved compensation.

"It burns the hell out of me to listen to some of their viewpoints," U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw said at the time.

Some players have pushed back the other way. Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are among those who have said they would sooner pay for the privilege of playing the Ryder Cup than be paid to play it.

Whatever the stipend, the only prize either team is chasing at Medinah is physical: 28 pounds of sterling silver, plated in 24-karat gold vermeil, that the winning team gets to take home.