Scottie Scheffler has given his take on the Ryder Cup pay fiasco, and luckily it was a funny one.

The best player in golf right now was asked to comment on Tiger Woods after the sporting icon defended the idea of American players getting paid when they take on Europe in the biennial event.

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Woods had given his thoughts on the Ryder Cup storyCredit: Getty
Team America look set to receive payment into their bank accounts for the first time in the Ryder Cup’s 100-year history, a decision Woods has backed as long as the money is then allocated to charity.

Woods, a 15-time major winner, is famously one of just a handful of billionaire athletes in the world, something Scheffler poked fun at when asked what it’s like being on course with him.

Speaking at the Hero World Challenge in The Bahamas, a tournament which Woods hosts, fellow American Scheffler responded to a question about his interaction with the man many consider the greatest of all time.

“I think most of the time we just talk about money and how the purses need to be bigger,” the world no.1 said to much laughter from media members.

“Today we really grinded on the Ryder Cup and how it’s such BS that we’ve never been paid.

“Tiger was really frustrated, he feels like he hasn’t made enough money in his career, I feel the same, like last year I didn’t get paid enough for what I did, mostly that, just a bunch of griping.”

Despite the light-hearted nature of the exchange, Scheffler was tackling what has become a taboo subject in the world of golf.

In the previous Ryder cup in Rome 2023, Patrick Cantlay led a protest among US players over pay by refusing to wear a hat.

The sight of millionaires complaining about pay in a post-Covid cost of living crisis was seen as incredibly poor taste, and it was something that the home European crowd mocked by waving their hats at the Americans.

That triggered all sorts of drama, culminating in a heated car park exchange between Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas’ caddie Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay.

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Scheffler’s joke went down well in the press roomCredit: Sky

Team Europe won that edition comfortably and despite the bad memories for Americans, Scheffler is happy to keep going without pay.

“As far as I’m concerned, I think all of us on the American side are more than willing to play in the Ryder Cup for free,” he said. “We’ve been playing in the Ryder Cup for free for a long time.

“If they want to pay us to play in the tournament, that’s great.

“I don’t have a problem with it at all. If someone doesn’t want to take the money for themselves or if you want to give to charity, do whatever.

“But I don’t think there’s any problem with guys getting paid to play in the Ryder Cup. I don’t think it takes away from the competition at all.”

Giving his thoughts earlier on, Woods said: “Going back to my playing days, we had the same conversation back in 1999.

“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 wanted to get paid.

“The Ryder Cup itself makes so much money, why can’t we allocate it to various charities?

“What’s wrong with 12 players getting $1million and giving it out to the amazing charities that they are involved in, that they can help out?

“Their hometowns, where they’re from. All the different junior golf associations, or endeavours that members are involved in.”

The next Ryder Cup takes place in 2025 at the Bethpage Black Course in New York.