While Paul McGinley is not an official vice-captain for Luke Donald’s European side at this year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, the 2014 European captain is in the background as a strategic advisor and he admits that the team were not surprised by what they saw on a scouting trip to the New York venue early in the week.
“The rough is not as penal as it would be in a US PGA or US Open that have been played there before,” McGinley said in a conference call promoting U.S. broadcaster NBC’s coverage of the event.
“The fairways are pretty generous at the moment, because they’re soft and, you know, they may firm up next week. We don’t know yet.
“Greens as well are pretty soft. They may firm up next week. We don’t know yet. Green speeds at the moment are probably running around 12; they’re probably moving up to about 13, and a couple of the tee boxes are moved up.
“The 17th is about 30 yards shorter than it was certainly for the US Open, when I played in 2002, and the first tee box has obviously been moved up about 35 or 40 yards in order to get the stand in behind the tee.
“So all in all, it’s what we expected. It’s right out of the American playbook of what they do when they play at home, and they’ve been very successful doing it.
“So why change, which is generally having rough that’s not too thick, trying to encourage a fast pace of low scoring. It’s been very successful in the past when they’ve played at home.”
With 11 of the 12 players who represented Europe in Rome doing likewise in the Big Apple – and the one new face not actually a new face at all as Rasmus Højgaard was present in Rome for the week along with twin brother Nicolai with whom he’s swapping roles this year – there is unprecedented continuity in the European ranks.
And McGinley feels that that, along with the fact that the dozen players will all have adequate time to readjust their body clocks to the time zone, has them in a unique position compared to previous attempts to win the Ryder Cup on enemy soil.
“It was a very small, tight-knit group,” he said.
“We had meetings. We played one and a half rounds, and we got a real good look at the golf course and shared more extensive and elaborate ideas with each player about what their potential role is for the week and their potential partners as well.
“They’ve all got five days off. They’ve all gone to different places, but we have asked them to stay on East Coast time, or as close to it as they can, which they’ve all done.
“Nobody’s returning to Europe for these five days, so we’re not having to deal with jet lag next week. We’ve never done that before for any away match we’ve had.”
Ever since Bethpage was announced at the 2025 site almost a decade ago, the New York crowd, famed for their boisterous and hostile nature, has been one of the main talking points.
And McGinley says that Europe will be well prepared for what’s to come, though feels that it’s more of a reflection on society at large and the ‘social media’ age that the atmosphere will be supercharged.
“I think this is a society issue, whether it’s the advent of social media or whatever, but there certainly seems to be a change in human behaviour, and people’s behaviour, certainly at sporting events, where people are a little bit more front-footed, a little bit more aggressive in their tone than they might have been in the past,” he explained.
“We are aware that New York fans are very passionate about their sport and that it’s going to be the noisiest atmosphere that a Ryder Cup has ever had, and that includes some of the European venues.
“So we’re expecting that. We’re anticipating a lot of work behind the scenes in preparing the players for that atmosphere and trying to perform in that atmosphere.
“We’ve had some expert speakers in — I am not going to say who they are, but Luke will tell you that next week.
“We’ve taken a lot of advice from a lot of people who have performed in these arenas, and we feel we’re a very well-prepared team for what this huge challenge is going to be away from home.”
