Team USA try to grab Ryder Cup in front of home crowd

FARMINGDALE – The Ryder Cup never lacks sporting drama of the highest degree. As a biennial event, players’ national pride is sky-high and tempers are spilling over by the time it rolls around.

In 2025, the subplots include a captain who could have called his number but chose not to; and a course known for its brutal difficulty, flooded with New York sports fans ready to make some noise.

The US side will try to seize the Ryder Cup back from Team Europe when the competition’s 45th edition begins on Sept 26 at Bethpage Black.

Europe has captured eight of the past 11 Cups, most recently in 2023 in Rome. That marked the fifth straight Ryder Cup won by the home team, which tilts in the Americans’ favour this time.

“I think any time you lose, you want to come back and win. But when you’re at home and you’re at a home Ryder Cup, there’s not much more motivation that you need,” United States captain Keegan Bradley said.

“This is a totally different team than it was in Rome. This team is 0-0 and we want to go out this week and represent the country and Bethpage and the fans in the best way we can.”

Snubbed by Zach Johnson in 2023, Bradley was named Johnson’s successor in 2024 but also performed well enough to earn consideration as a player. A captain has not played since Arnold Palmer in 1963, but it was still an excruciating decision for Bradley.

“I feel like I’ve been called for a bigger cause here, to help our guys get ready to play and play at the highest level,” said Bradley, 39. “But in the back of my mind, I’m always thinking, ‘I could have been out there’.”

The US roster is still stacked. Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau qualified for the team on points. Bradley rounded out the group with Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns. Henley, English, Griffin and Young are Ryder Cup rookies.

Most of them played the Procore Championship, a PGA Tour fall event, as a tune-up after the Americans felt too out-of-practice in Rome. Naturally, Scheffler won his sixth event of 2025.

“I don’t think it can be understated how difficult of a week Rome was for us. I think we could have done better for sure,” said world No. 1 Scheffler, who failed to win any of his four matches that week.

“I think we learnt from it and we’re as prepared as ever this time.”

They are up against a European team who returned captain Luke Donald and 11 of their 12 players from Rome. The only newcomer, Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard, is the twin brother of 2023 team member Nicolai Hojgaard.

“It’s a very similar team, which is unusual, never happened in the history of our Ryder Cup teams in Europe, to have 11 come back,” Donald said. “So we have a lot of cohesion.”

The rest of that roster: Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Jon Rahm.

They were adored in Rome but will be jeered relentlessly on Long Island. Team Europe have practised with virtual reality headsets that pipe in not just crowd noise, but specific verbal abuse.

“I think the scale of the Ryder Cup seems to have really kind of kicked on massively in the last decade, so I feel like each occasion is getting more intense,” said Rose, Europe’s elder statesman at 45.

As for the course itself, Bethpage Black (par 70, 7,352 yards) is among the most prestigious and most difficult public courses in the country. The fourth hole, a risk-reward par five, is considered the easiest relative to par, yet approach shots will be severely uphill towards a protected green. It is a similar story at the par-four 15th, where just landing it on the green is a tough task.

And matches could be won or lost at the devilish par-three 17th, where the diagonally angled green is surrounded by five monstrous bunkers.

On the mornings of Sept 26 and 27, the teams will send out four duos for foursomes (alternate shot), and the afternoon sessions will be four-ball (best ball). Sept 28 will see all 12 players from each side face off in singles matches.

Each match is worth one point, with 28 points up for grabs. The first team to 14½ win the Ryder Cup. If they were to tie 14-14, Europe would retain possession of the title. REUTERS