FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Two pointed and theme-establishing comments over the last 24 months sum up what the Ryder Cup means to each side.
First, the closing quote from American captain Keegan Bradley in the latest season of the Netflix docuseries Full Swing.
Bradley was famously left off the 2023 team in Rome, with all the heartbreak captured by cameras. He was instead picked by the PGA of America to lead Team USA in 2025, and at the Presidents Cup last year in Montreal — where, in a delicious piece of irony, Bradley won the cup-clinching point — he said to the assembled group that the Americans would go into Bethpage and “kick their (expletive)(butts).”
Rewind a year before that, and Rory McIlroy — the spirited veteran of eight European Ryder Cup teams — said after his squad defeated the Americans in Rome 16.5-11.5 that one of the “biggest accomplishments” in the sport is to win a Ryder Cup on the road.
“And that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage,” McIlroy stated.
Now Bethpage is upon us, with many calling for it to potentially become the biggest Ryder Cup of all time. American patriotism is at a fever pitch right now, and the team is led by the game’s best player in Scottie Scheffler and the game’s ultimate showman in Bryson DeChambeau — with the American President set to attend the opening day — while Europe, led by the now-Grand Slam winner McIlroy, has trotted back 11 of 12 from the winning team in Rome, only swapping one Hojgaard twin for another (Nicolai is out, Rasmus is in).
Combine the past with the present venue — Bethpage State Park’s Black Course, a brawny ballpark less than an hour from Manhattan — and the tens of thousands of New York sports fans who are set to attend, and it’s no wonder this is the most anticipated golfing event of the year.
To McIlroy’s point, winning a Ryder Cup away from the comforts of home has been incredibly difficult.
It’s happened just three times in the last 30 years, all by Europe. The last time it was contested in the United States (a COVID-delayed edition in 2021 at Whistling Straits), the American side trounced a European team chock full of aging veterans like Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood, all of whom jumped to LIV Golf less than a year later. The last time an away team won the Ryder Cup was in 2012, when Europe stormed back in the Sunday singles session after being down 10-6 to win 14.5-13.5 in what became known as the “Miracle at Medinah.”
Not only will Europe bring back nearly the same team as two years ago, but it’s also captained by the same man: Luke Donald. Donald was a last-minute choice for Rome after Stenson left for the rival Saudi-backed circuit, but he handled the gig in Rome with aplomb. The pieces, and the process, are essentially the same again. Even Hojgaard, the lone fresh face, isn’t really that new. He was with the team in Rome, involving himself in various capacities and driving a cart alongside brother Nicolai.
Since 1979, teams that have competed in the Ryder Cup with one or zero rookies have all had plenty of success. Europe won in 1985 and 2012, and in 1989 they tied to retain the cup. The 1999 American squad full of veterans also won that year.
The European mantra for this week as they try to achieve a tough task is “our time, our place,” and there’s no man more suited for a big-time moment in a big place than McIlroy. After winning the green jacket in April, each accomplishment we get to witness from McIlroy is something that changes his legacy for the better — a unique, and incredible, thing to get to see in real time.
“We’ve won before,” McIlroy said of his team. “I feel like it’s been a really cohesive group for the last three years. We all know what to expect. We all know what our roles are within the team. I think that that has us prepared to give it a really good go this week.”
The American squad, captained by Bradley, will be taking four rookies to Bethpage, though all bring some big-stage experience with them. Cameron Young and Russell Henley have both played in the Presidents Cup before (with Young a native New Yorker who has played Bethpage dozens of times in competition); J.J. Spaun won the U.S. Open this summer and automatically qualified; and Ben Griffin had his best year as a pro by leaps and bounds, including two major championship top-10 finishes and two wins.
As they have all season, the rest of the team will be looking up to Scheffler (and don’t be surprised if Henley plays alongside the world No. 1, as they went 2-0 together at last year’s Presidents Cup in Montreal), but the precedent has been set that the game’s top dog doesn’t always perform at his best at the Ryder Cup. Tiger Woods, for example holds just a 13-21-3 all-time record.
Still, Scheffler has both the intimidation factor and (obviously) the game to be a huge difference-maker for the United States.
“I think on our team, I think we have 12 guys that are all equal. I don’t think one player is more important than another. I think that is something that is through our team room,” Scheffler said.
“I think some of the difficulty you had with playing with Tiger — I mean, I don’t even know what it could be. It could just be the aura that was Tiger Woods. There was some times when he was doing nothing but winning golf tournaments and just beating the absolute crap out of people time and time again,” he added with a smile.
Even with most of the pomp and circumstance now in the rearview, the Ryder Cup hype machine remains in overdrive ahead of the first tee shots Friday morning.
Weeks ago, the biggest question mark was whether Bradley would pick himself to be a playing captain. He won on the PGA Tour this summer and is still ranked inside the top 15 in the world — higher than one-third of his team.
He was on record saying that if he automatically qualified, then, well, of course. And if anyone else was the captain, he would have almost been guaranteed to play. It didn’t work out that way, however, and Bradley decided to stay 100 per cent committed to leading the team instead. Winning will answer any and all questions, but if the American side goes on to lose — on home soil at that — the first question to Bradley should be whether or not he felt like, if he had played, he’d have made a difference.
“I catch myself every now and then looking down the fairway, seeing the guys walk down the fairway and think how badly I’d like to do that, and how badly I’d want to be in the group with Scottie Scheffler and seeing him play and being his teammate,” Bradley admitted. “But I feel like I’ve been called for a bigger cause here.”
Whether it’s Bradley, Scheffler, McIlroy, DeChambeau, the rookies, the fans or the course, there are so many potential x-factors this week — which is what makes the Ryder Cup so special. Team competitions just hit different in golf, the most individual of games.
This week, for Europe, is a shot at history.
And for the Americans, it’s a shot at redemption.
