CLEARWATER, Fla. — Steve Stricker didn’t miss a minute of the Ryder Cup.
Watching from his home in Wisconsin, the former player, assistant and U.S. Ryder Cup captain was riveted by what took place in September at Bethpage Black, and he was shocked as were others by the beating the American side had taken through the event’s first two days.
For the first time in some 20 years, Stricker, 58, was not part of the proceedings.
He played on three U.S. Ryder Cup teams starting in 2008. He was an assistant captain four times. And he was the winning captain in 2021, when the U.S. side posted one of its most lopsided victories, 19-9, at Whistling Straits. It was a triumph that suggested the Americans were ready to put a winning streak together.
It never happened.
Sign Up Now. SI Golf Newsletters. Sports Illustrated’s Free Golf Newsletters. dark
Stricker was in Rome as an assistant for the U.S. 16 ½ to 11 ½ defeat and witnessed on TV the recent 15-13 loss that saw the Americans trail by seven points going into Sunday at Bethpage.
Like many in and around the U.S. program, the situation remains perplexing, especially to someone who presided over such a dominant team four years ago.
“I watched every putt, every round at home, and again, it came down to putting,” said Stricker at Feather Sound Golf Club, where he is competing this week in the Sketchers Champions Cup. “The Europeans find a way to make those putts and we seem to get in our own way and don’t make them when we have to. I don’t know what the answer is.
“This is the first time I’ve seen Jim (Furyk) and I haven’t been able to pick his brain yet. But the teams I’ve been part of, there is togetherness, camaraderie, good times. Got along well.
“I just don’t know if there is a bigger underlying thing that they’re playing for and we aren’t? There’s Seve (Ballesteros), his history and how he mentored young guys, every player he played with. We’ve had guys like that, too, but they’re grasping onto something and hanging onto something else, it seems like.”
Matt Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy celebrated Europe’s stunning win at Bethpage. / Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images
The Champions Cup event is a three-team tournament for senior players that begins Thursday and has American, International and European squads.
If Stricker wants to relive some Ryder Cup nightmares, there’s Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer, Thomas Bjorn and Darren Clarke as part of the European team this week. They all tasted their share of Ryder Cup success at U.S. expense. Montgomerie, Langer and Bjorn were all winning captains as well.
“I’m not saying that our guys are not passionate about it,” Stricker said. “I mean, we want to win just as much as they do. Maybe more. And maybe that’s what’s getting in our way. They play that underdog role. They come in with a chip on their shoulder and I think we need to embrace that chippiness. I’m just wondering if something got lost in all that.”
Stewart Cink sees some of that as well. He was an assistant along with Stricker at Marco Simone in Italy two years ago and also played on five U.S. Ryder Cup teams.
Four of those were defeats, two by large margins. His only winning experience was in 2008.
And he believes that Keegan Bradley, the U.S. captain who continues to blame himself for the defeat, has been too hard on himself.
Stewart Cink, here at the 2010 Ryder Cup, played on a winning team in 2008. / Allan Henry-Imagn Images
“I think Keegan did a great job and the scoreboard is just not a good way to determine how he did,” said Cink, who is also playing in the Champions Cup. “The players have to decide it on the scoreboard.”
For the U.S., Scottie Scheffler went 1-4. Bryson DeChambeau went 1-3-1. Patrick Cantlay went 1-3-1. Those three players went all five matches and if they even slightly improved their records, the U.S. would have made the Sunday singles comeback far more compelling.
“Hard to explain it, really,” Cink said. “I saw where our guys had two of the top 11 putters in the Ryder Cup through two days. You cannot win doing that. And we did not have a bad putting team.
“But putting comes down to something in your heart and belief and there’s a fear factor, I think. The European guys … they don’t play like they’re afraid to lose.
“And I think we kinda play like we’re afraid to lose and I can say that because I’ve been there and I know what it feels like. I kind of felt like that in some of those Ryder Cups. And it seems almost embarrassing to say that but there’s something about the way they are bred to play in the Ryder Cup from a young age and the Ryder Cup means the most. Winning against the United States means a lot to them.”
It is unclear where the PGA of America will go from here. Bradley was a surprise choice to be the captain and he said Tuesday he’d love to have another shot at it but doesn’t expect it. He said Tiger Woods should get the role whenever he wants it; Woods said he’s yet to be contacted.
It’s unclear who, if anyone, will replace Keegan Bradley as the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain. / Paul Childs-Reuters via Imagn Images
Whether there needs to be some change in the system is also up for debate.
Stricker, who is returning from a disk replacement surgery in his neck that limited him to just four events this year, was part of the original Ryder Cup Task Force after the 2014 defeat at Gleneagles.
From that point on, he was part of every Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup until last year, a winning captain for both. While he was not expecting to be part of this year’s squad as an assistant—Furyk filled that role as a past captain—Stricker believes a similar system needs to be embraced. Bradley had two assistants—Gary Woodland and Kevin Kisner—who never played in a Ryder Cup.
“I was part of that that task force and that plan was developed and it make a lot of sense,” Stricker said. “And that’s what Europe kind of does. And they’re not afraid to put anybody in that captaincy role, either. They weren’t afraid to put me in there and I hadn’t won a major (Stricker is the only U.S. captain in Ryder Cup history to have not won a major before taking the job.) This year, some of the player records … it was unforeseen. It’s kind of a perfect storm that happened.”
And perhaps that is the perfect storm in reverse of what occurred for Stricker. Dustin Johson went 5-0 in Whistling Straits and hasn’t played in a Ryder Cup since. Cantlay was 3-0-1, DeChambeau was 2-0-1, Colin Morikawa was 3-0-1 and Thomas was 2-1-1.
Scheffler, who had yet to win a PGA Tour event at that point, went 2-1 and defeated Jon Rahm in singles. In two Ryder Cups since, Scheffler is 3-6-1.
Seven of the 12 players on that team were on the 2025 team that struggled. Stricker has a hard time believing that a team of that strength could struggle as it has for the past two Ryder Cups.
No easy answers are forthcoming.
