Rose: “Europe Ryder Cup Team Plays For The Badge, Not The Money!”

10 months ago by Comments Off on Rose: “Europe Ryder Cup Team Plays For The Badge, Not The Money!”

Six-time European Ryder Cup star Justin Rose has weighed-in on the controversy surrounding reports the USA team will be paid to tee-up next September at Bethpage Park Black in New York State.

The news has neither been confirmed or denied by the PGA of America but nonetheless it has generated plenty of negative comment slamming the Americans if they were paid to play.

One of the more vocal opponents was now six-time DP World Tour No. 1 Rory McIlroy who declared last fortnight in speaking to the BBC in Abu Dhabi: “The two purest forms of competition in our game right now are the Ryder Cup and the Olympics, and it’s partly because of that, the purity of no money being involved”.

Now Rose, who was a member of every European side since 2008, and including last year’s brilliant winning Rome side, has been brought into the debate ahead of this week’s Asian Tour’s Link Hong Kong Open.

“They are two of my top three moments in my career and none of them have been about the financial rewards,” Rose said in response to AFP.

“I think for us we play for the badge and we also play for the European Tour.

“The Ryder Cup probably does underpin quite a lot of things on the European Tour and it’s a great way of supporting the tour that gave us so much early in our careers.

“If you’re doing it with that lens then that’s as great motivation as anything”.

Rose said he struggled to understand the sums reportedly being offered on the US side.

“I didn’t quite get it. It’s not four million dollars each,” said the former world number one.

“It’s a lot of money, but it’s not changing any of those guys’ lives.”

Rose will this week try to regain the Hong Kong Open title he won in 2015 against a field that also includes US Ryder Cup player and former Masters champ Patrick Reed and South Korea’s rising PGA Tour star Tom Kim.

Though the affable Brit is coming off a second place finish at this year’s Open Championship at Royal Troon while he was sixth at the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Kentucky.



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