The 45th Ryder Cup continues to generate its share of reflection, second-guessing, politics, ranting, and outright silliness. We wouldn’t have it any other way!
While things have been quiet on the USA side, Europe is still celebrating while pondering the future.
Will the powerful duo of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton pay fines to be eligible in 2027? Accounting for 13 points over the last two Ryder Cups, the cranky LIV defectors claim not to be thinking much about the appeals process they’re likely to lose. Or the sizable checks eventually due to the DP World Tour now that PGA Tour-LIV merger talks appear over, meaning dreams are dead for one large, fine-forgiving Kumbaya world tour (unless the DP World Tour and LIV strike a deal). Adding to the intrigue: Rahm has shut down until LIV’s restart in February after making his obligatory and final of four starts to maintain membership.
Will Luke Donald return? The back-to-back winning Captain did not rule out the possibility when asked this week (more below).
Has the quality of play in Europe’s road game triumph gotten lost in all of the fan behavior talk? Rory McIlroy thinks so. “I’ve been following the narrative coming out of the Ryder Cup just like everyone else. “The Americans would hit it close; we hit it closer,” McIlroy said this week in India. “The Americans hole a putt and we hole a putt on top it and it happened every single time. The unfortunate thing is people aren’t remembering that, and they are remembering the week for the wrong reason. I would like to shift the narrative and focus on how good The European Team were and how proud I was to be part of that team to win an away Ryder Cup.”
McIlroy made clear he wants to Captain after playing, suggesting the mid-2030s at the earliest. “I think what Luke Donald has done the last two Ryder Cups has revolutionized the captaincy within Europe. And I feel like Paul McGinley in Gleneagles in 2014, he was a wonderful captain, and I learned a lot from him. And there’s been wonderful captains between them, as well.”
More on all of that, and yes, the fan behavior debate rages on with Roy Keane and Gary Player chiming in. Plus, Walker Cup news, the Nicklaus-Milstein case, Quotables, This, That and plenty of Reads.
Captain Luke Donald on stage during the Opening Ceremony before the 2025 Ryder Cup. (Scott Taetsch/PGA of America)
Teeing up in this week’s DP World India Championship, two-time winning European Captain Luke Donald was asked about another run in 2027.
“I’m trying to still enjoy this one,” said Donald. “Whether it be a captain or whether I’m not a captain. If I’m not a captain in two years’ time and the captain wants me to be there, then I’m sure I would be happy to help him in any way he wanted.”
Donald intimated that the position can be life-consuming in the days leading up to the match.
“The captaincy really does — the lead-up to the Ryder Cup, you’re spending five or six weeks just thinking about all kinds of different things, partnerships, pairings, the golf course, the gifting. There’s just so much that goes into it that your mind is kind of clogged.”
Fun (almost) fact: Ted Ray said the gifting kept him up at night back in 1927 and discouraged the two-time major winner from ever captaining again.
Fun fact II: Ted Ray is still not in the World Golf Hall of Fame despite an incredible career.
Anyway, Donald suggested the job had even worked its way into his dreams.
“I’ve had many nights where I’ve woken up with Ryder Cup dreams and things where I had forgotten my radio one night and there’s still one game out on the course and I was panicking and I was trying to get to the game.”
As he did post-Rome, Donald credited the team effort to get Europe across the finish line.
“I’m very happy with the results that came with it, but you need those 12 players. You need the back room teams. You need the vice captains. You need so many others to make that happen. Certainly, I play a role, but I play a small role in terms of a larger picture. I certainly couldn’t do it without the amazing support we have behind me.”
Hovland tees off at the 2025 Ryder Cup. (Darren Carroll/PGA of America)
Viktor Hovland discussed the neck injury that forced him to sit out Sunday singles and his return at this week’s DP World stop in India.
“The whole situation was pretty upsetting,” Hovland said. “Just the fact that I didn’t get to play, and I felt really bad for Harris, who also didn’t get to play a match, even though there was nothing wrong with him. He just didn’t get to play, and he was upset about that, and I feel very bad for not being able to compete.”
After taking a week and a half off after the Ryder Cup, Hovland played two 18-hole rounds and decided to give it a go in India thanks to very few driver tee shots that he says are the hardest on the neck. Hovland opened with a one-under-par 71.
As for Keegan Bradley’s call to change the injury withdrawal rule that awards a half point to each team, Hovland diplomatically explained the issues involved.
“We’re so used to, in sports, that if you can’t play because you’re hurt, obviously that should be a loss of point,” he said. “But I think in the spirit of the Ryder Cup and the spirit of the game and the history of it, knowing that this Ryder Cup is just a part of many, many Ryder Cups to come, I think it’s more of a gentlemen’s agreement that okay, you were hurt this time and maybe the next time there’s a guy on the U.S.’s team and we’re all kind of sympathetic about the person being hurt and not being able to play.”
Hovland suggested that a rule change could open the door to gamesmanship that the current rule precludes.
“If you do change the rule and you give away a point, now there’s also the angle that okay, knowing that the other team is going to put out their best player most likely in the first few groups, they can just kind of put me out as a sacrificial lamb and take the L against their best player,” he said. “So there’s other ways around it, and I don’t think there’s any ideal way to do it.”
If Rory McIlroy wants to change the Ryder Cup narrative, he’d better cut out the thought-provoking wisdom.
“When people watch sport for the gambling aspect and they put money on games, that is something that, especially in America, that’s a changing landscape,” he said ahead of the DP World India Championship where he subsequently opened with a 69 at Delhi Golf Club. “But I think at its core, watching sport, whatever that is, is still very pure and it’s still pure competition, and I think that’s an amazing thing.”
McIlroy also touched on the “grow the game” mindset that the sport must be more like others to reach new audiences.
“I think it can definitely grow, but you also want to keep traditions and the values that make golf, golf,” he said. “You don’t want your sport to be unwelcoming to newcomers. I absolutely get that. But you also don’t want newcomers coming into the game and ruining centuries of traditions and values of what this game represents or what it upholds, as well. I think there has to be a balance.”
With a new CEO and for-profit shift at the PGA Tour, McIlroy’s singling out of golf’s NFL ambitions will be noticed at the Global Home.
“Golf doesn’t need to be the NFL. It doesn’t need to be these other sports. Golf is golf, and that’s fine. And I think you can see, I think the one great thing about golf, as well, is it’s more of a participation sport than other games or sports that are predominantly, like, say, American football or basketball. Those are sports that are mostly watched by people where golf and in some ways cricket in this country, they are games that are played.
“I’d love more people to watch golf. That would be amazing. But I would be more interested in getting more people to play the game, and I think when people play the game, then they learn and they can acknowledge what golf is, what it represents, and the sort of etiquette and the values that you need to adhere to when you play the game.”
Gary Player watched the Ryder Cup from afar and offered a less diplomatic take on the abuse faced by McIlroy and others.
“I look at it and I’m in a state of shock,” Player said to the Palm Beach Post’s Tom D’Angelo. “I think, what would Ben Hogan have said, you know? What would Byron Nelson have said? What would Arnold Palmer … If Arnold Palmer saw that today…I was disgusted.
“So to me, the Ryder Cup is a shambles.”
Player attended the Ryder Cup with President Donald Trump and was stopped by a man attending with his children.
“Is that what you want to go and see? I mean, can you imagine?,” said Player. “I’ve got all these children. If I had to sit there and hear that, I don’t know what I’d do.
“I love the fact that they say ‘USA, USA.’ I love (how) the British respond in their way. I think that’s exciting. But the Ryder Cup to me is the worst event in the world. And to see a (PGA of America) hire a lady to stand on the tee — if you want to call her a lady — and saying ‘F you Rory. F this European team.’ Are we crazy? And then the head of the (PGA of America) says, what was so serious about it?”
On his Stick to Football podcast where irony is apparently lost on the star of the show, Roy Keane pushed back at McIlroy, who once shared a story of being snubbed for an autograph by the notoriously cranky football great.
“I’m no expert on golf, but you are telling me these players were under pressure because a few people were shouting?” Keane said. “Come to Leeds or Anfield on a Tuesday night, let me tell you. These guys play in big tournaments every week, so all of a sudden they are going to be upset by a few Yanks? You’ve got McIlroy. He’s won all the big prizes. Do you think he’s going to be upset by a few people? It’s ridiculous.”
Keane then rambled on about the wives needing to stay home. But he point-missed on something even a few golf fans are still not grasping from the Bethpage fiasco: golfers are more vulnerable to taunts or outright interference than any athletes in the world.
Captain Dean Robertson (GB&I) hands out pin sheets 2025 Walker Cup practice at Cypress Point Club. (Logan Whitton/USGA)
Dean Robertson will return as Captain of Great Britain and Ireland for next September 5-6’s matches at Lahinch.
“Leading a talented group of players at Cypress Point this year was a huge privilege and while we produced strong foursomes performances, the singles showed us the improvement and belief needed to achieve victory,” Robertson said.
A member of the 1993 Walker Cup team who recently led Great Britain & Ireland’s team at in September’s 17-9 loss at Cypress Point, Robertson is currently head golf coach at the University of Stirling and also teaches a number of amateur players.
“I am committed to captaining the team with drive and determination over the iconic links of Lahinch. The focus will be to build on this year’s performance with the goal of winning back the Walker Cup next year.”
The change to a biennial schedule in even-numbered years starts in 2026 “to avoid conflicts with the World Amateur Team Championships, which moved to odd-numbered years in 2023.” Robertson will be attempting to end USA’s run of five straight wins and to secure GB&I’s first victory in the match since 2015.
The United States will again be led by Captain Nathan Smith.
Hannah Phillips sets up what’s at stake in Jack Nicklaus’s defamation claims against Howard Milstein in advance of the jury trial that should be wrapping up next week.
The 85-year-old winner of 18 majors is accusing two former associates of orchestrating a campaign to damage his reputation while controlling the company built on his legendary “Golden Bear” image.
Since a 2007 deal where Howard Milstein’s Emigrant Bank financed the creation of Nicklaus Cos. for $145 million, the sides have soured and Nicklaus alleges—with evidence expected to come out in the trial—that Milstein and Nicklaus Cos lieutenant Andrew O’Brien circulated rumors of dementia and also celebrated bad publicity Nicklaus received when a story broke that he was in deal discussions with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
According to Phillips, Milstein’s attorneys have attempted to have the defamation case dismissed. Milstein owns Golf Magazine, Golf.com and its umbrella company, 8 a.m. Golf.
Graeme McDowell on missing majors. “I played the Masters in 2020, that was the last time I played a major. Obviously, I love what I’m doing, I love the LIV Golf schedule, but I do miss the big tournaments. I miss the majors; I miss the access to those and obviously it’s an amazing prize.”
Luke Donald on “modern day golf” and this week’s India Championship course. “You don’t think about course management too much these days. You’re just trying to hit the ball as far as you can and hope you can get as close to the green as you can and that gives you a better statistical option to make birdies, whereas this course, the penalty for missing the fairways — I haven’t been out there, but I’ve been told it’s quite severe. It really makes you think.”
🧐 Money in Sport on Ryder Cup Europe’s “almost penniless” charitable trust.
😶 Meg Atkins on the LPGA’s parity problem.
⏺️ Kevin Van Valkenburg on TiVo’s role in golf history.
🤔 Margaret Ward considers company cultures and wonders how the Ryder Cup has changed impressions of the PGA of America.
🧢 Ken Klavon on a new “lifestyle collection” of Roger Dunn-themed attire.
🍽️ Matt Stevens on the intrigue over the best booth at Musso & Frank after mentioning the historic LA restaurant on her new album.
🪗 Reya Hart on when Mick Jagger met the king of zydeco and discovered the music of Clifton Chenier.
☹️ Dana Goodyear’s incredible account of losing her home and way of life in the Palisades fire.
⛪️ D.T. Max with a construction update on Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia.
