In a year where golf seems to revolve around money, the Ryder Cup is not immune.

The PGA Tour had 11 tournaments with at least $20 million in prize money — excluding the majors — as it tried to hold off the threat of Saudi-funded LIV Golf. And then it struck an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s national wealth fund to be business partners.

Pro golf is only going to get richer, however that Saudi agreement gets worked out, if it does.

“I’m tired of it. The whole world is,” Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, said in an interview leading into the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone. “We play for love and they play for money. It’s the one time of the year they should be playing for love, and we’re still talking about money.”

Waugh said he had not had any conversations with players about it this year, though he has in the past on the topic of getting a bigger share of the revenue.

“Nothing obnoxious or awful,” Waugh said. “That makes sense.”

Several players in recent years have questioned what percentage of the revenue goes to players in the form of prize money at the four majors, which are not run by the PGA Tour.

Waugh said the nonprofit PGA of America operates on a break-even basis over four years and money goes back into the game in various forms.

The idea that players should be compensated to play in the Ryder Cup is nearly as old as the Americans’ 30-year losing streak on European soil.

But it surfaced again Saturday with an unsubstantiated report from Sky Sports — the broadcast partner for the European tour at Marco Simone — that singled out Patrick Cantlay as causing a rift among the Americans because he thinks they should be paid.

The PGA of America declined immediate comment, other than to say some allegations in the report — such as Cantlay and Xander Schauffele being in a separate area of the locker room — were not true.

The report also claimed Cantlay was not wearing a hat out of protest. Cantlay also did not wear a cap at the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. Rory McIlroy rarely wears a hat in the Ryder Cup but did so this week, primarily because of the hot sun.

The PGA of America hosts the Ryder Cup every four years. The European tour has a majority stake in the Ryder Cup when it’s held in Europe.

The difference is the PGA Tour has no involvement in the Ryder Cup except that American players are PGA Tour members (along with 10 Europeans from this year’s team, who also are European tour members).

Waugh said that in order to secure the players’ releases, the PGA of America gives the PGA Tour 20% of its television contract for the Ryder Cup. That could be an indirect payment.

“We ask that that goes to the pension plan,” Waugh said in a text message Saturday. “The tour could in theory give that directly to the 12.”

He did not disclose the TV rights fee but said its payment to the PGA Tour “represents many millions of dollars.”

This first became a public talking point leading up to the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline, when David Duval referred to an estimated $63 million gross revenue for the PGA of America and questioned where it was going.

Duval hinted at the potential of a boycott someday and suggested taking “some of that big Ryder Cup pot and cut it up and give it away to charity,” similar to the Presidents Cup. That was resolved when the PGA of America agreed each player would get $200,000 to distribute to the charity of his choice, with half of it toward a college golf program.

The PGA of America made a slight change for this Ryder Cup, with all $200,000 going to whatever charity or foundation the players choose. At the last Ryder Cup, $100,000 of the contribution was directed to the Boys & Girls Club of America; the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship; and the PGA Junior League.

The Presidents Cup also made a change, and a case can be made the players are paid.

Previously each player, captain and assistant captain received $150,000 for charity, resulting in more than $54 million to 460 charities in 18 countries from 1994 through 2019.

For the 2022 matches at Quail Hollow, players and captains were given $250,000 without stipulation where it goes. The PGA Tour said the Presidents Cup contributed an additional $2 million on its own, with the majority directed toward nonprofits in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Meanwhile, the topic of money — what else? — was part of the conversation as Europe was building a big lead in its bid to keep the Ryder Cup. That’s the biggest prize of the week.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Taiwanese sisters Chan Yung-jan and Chan Hao-ching took gold Saturday in women’s doubles tennis at the Asian Games and are now looking ahead to next year’s Olympics in Paris.

Chan Yung-jan told reporters after beating Lee Ya-hsuan and Liang En-shuo, also Taiwanese, in the final that even though she’s the older one at 34, 30-year-old Chan Hao-ching is “like the big sister.”

“But I need to make her calm down a little bit,” she added.

She said their different personalities complement each each other on the court.

“We’re so different — she is very brave and goes in with her instincts a lot,” she said. “And me, I need to watch her back and make sure that she can do whatever she wants and that makes us a very good combination.”

The sisters won 6-4, 6-3.

With five Asian Games gold medals now under her belt, Chan Yung-jan said she was hopeful she would be able to add an Olympic gold to her collection next year.

“I want to enjoy this gold first,” she said. “But if I decide to play the Olympics, that will be the goal, obviously, I mean, that’s every athlete’s hope and goal.”

In other tennis action on Day 7 of the Asian Games, China’s Zhang Zhizhen took the gold in men’s singles, beating Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki in two sets.

In mixed doubles, India took the gold, beating Taiwan.

The Asian Games feature 12,500 participants from 45 nations and territories — more than the 10,500 from about 200 delegations expected at next year’s Paris Olympics.

Host China has been dominating the games, with more than 200 medals overall won by Day 7 of the two-week competition, about as many as the combined total of second and third place Japan and South Korea.

It seems likely China will easily surpass the 300 medals — 132 gold — it won five years ago at the Asian Games in Indonesia.

TRIATHLON

Japan’s Yuko Takahashi won gold in women’s triathlon, going start-to-finish in first place in the swimming, cycling and running challenge.

The 32-year-old finished in 2:01:04, 26 seconds ahead of China’s Lin Xinyu, and 1 minute 27 seconds ahead of bronze medalist, China’s Yang Yifan.

“Throughout the race, I knew I was being chased by my competitors, but I stuck to the end,” she told reporters. “The first part was tough, but in the second half I felt a positive trend in the running.”

She said her strategy had been to break away from the pack, especially during the running.

“I was reminded by my coach to keep up the advantage in the running and I did it.”

She’s now looking at keeping up the pace for next year’s Olympic Games.

“I put everything into it; I believe I can sustain this level until the Olympics,” she said.

ROLLER SKATING

Taiwan’s Shih Pei-yu took gold in 10,000-meter speed skating, edging out fellow Taiwanese skater Yang Ho-chen.

Shih finished the race in 17:23.219, just ahead of 30-year-old Yang.

“We are competitive in a friendly way, each one trying to outdo the other,” the 18-year-old told reporters after winning the gold. “It’s like catching the baton passed to me by my older classmate. I hope we can both help each other to improve.”

South Korea’s Yu Garam, 28, took the bronze.

In the men’s 10,000 meter speed skating, South Korea’s Jeong Byeonghee won the gold, China’s Zhang Zhenhai took silver, and South Korea’s Choi Inho took bronze.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

There may still be chaos as the final National League postseason spots are determined this weekend. Any craziness just won’t involve the Padres.

Their season will end Sunday, as has long been expected but did not become official until the Marlins won Friday night.

The Padres on Friday continued their September surge, earning their 12th victory in 14 games by beating the White Sox 3-2 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

But as the White Sox were batting in the fifth inning, the Marlins were coming back in Pittsburgh. And as Juan Soto was leading off the seventh inning, the Marlins concluded their 4-3 victory, effectively ending the Padres’ season.

“Yeah, there it goes,” Manny Machado said of his thoughts when he looked at the scoreboard and saw the Marlins had won. “We knew this was gonna come down to this. Fate wasn’t on us.”

The Marlins (83-76) hold the NL’s final wild-card spot and could clinch a playoff berth Saturday.

What is left now for the Padres, who on Friday got back to .500 (80-80) for the first time since May 11, is attempting to finish with a winning record by sweeping the White Sox.

That would not diminish their sense of disappointment at a season that has fallen far below the expectations of a club that went to the National League Championship Series a year ago and began this season with MLB’s third-highest payroll. But it would be a remarkable final twist for the Padres, who were a season-worst 11 games below .500 (62-73) on Aug. 31.

They are 18-7 in September, and a victory Saturday would make this the second-best calendar month in franchise history behind May 2005 (22-6).

“We’re gonna keep fighting for the last few games and finish on a strong note,” Machado said. “It’s probably a little too late. But we could always build on this as a team. Yeah, just finishing strong.”

In the last couple hours that the 2023 season mattered, the Padres built a 3-0 lead as Nick Martinez worked five scoreless innings.

“An unusual one … not knowing what was going to happen until maybe during the game,” Martinez said. “So (go) out there and compete for a playoff spot was my mentality.

The Padres took a 1-0 lead in the fifth without getting a hit.

Matthew Batten led off the inning with a strikeout, swinging at a slider from Cease that bounced so far away from catcher Korey Lee that Batten advanced to second base. He took third on a wild pitch while Trent Grisham batted, and after Grisham walked, Batten ran home on Xander Bogaerts’ sacrifice fly to right field.

In the sixth inning, Grisham followed one-out walks by Brett Sullivan and Batten with a two-run double.

Scott Barlow pitched a scoreless sixth, Luis García left runners at second and third with one out for Tom Cosgrove in the seventh before Cosgrove escaped with the 3-0 lead intact. Yoán Moncada homered off Robert Suarez in the eighth, and Carlos Perez hit his first career homer off Josh Hader in the ninth, and Hader walked a batter and hit another before closing out his 33rd save.

All it was going to take for the Padres to be eliminated was a loss by them or a victory by the Cubs or Marlins over the regular season’s final three days. Even if the Padres had won out and no other team got to 83 victories by Sunday, the Padres would need the Mets to come back and beat the Marlins on Monday in New York in the completion of a game the Marlins lead 2-1 with two outs in the top of the ninth inning.

That Monday game may still be necessary, but it won’t be consequential to the Padres.

“We knew it was long odds,” manager Bob Melvin said. “But now you get down to the last three games of the year and maybe there’s even a little more hope after the off-day with the rainout and all that yesterday. Kind of felt like maybe things were swinging our way. But unfortunately that’s not the case. Just gotta play the last couple games, try to finish on a good note and take that into the offseason.”