Pay-to-play golf for Rahm and Hatton goes to heart of Ryder

Organisers are cashing in on defectors’ desperation to turn out for Europe but the ethics of doing so are open to question

It is golf’s equivalent of blasphemy to suggest that anybody should be paid to play in a Ryder Cup. As the theory rumbled around the US camp during their defeat against Europe in Rome last year, the tutting and tittering was audible.

The biennial clash became a play thing for the corporate classes long ago. It generates tens of millions for the European Tour Group and the PGA of America. But pay participants? The mere discussion is viewed as offensive. It is about the pride, the passion, the novelty of team golf at elite level. Most of these lads wouldn’t you-know-what on each other were they on fire from week to week, but the Ryder Cup forges bonds. Or so we are told.