Weekend Wrap - Oh So Close Edition

Was there a moment this week that conformed to our expectations?  For sure we expected it to be close, but that 15-13 final score masks a Jekyll and Hyde week such as we've never seen..... maybe since Medinah.

Shall we take  gander at how Shack wrapped it?  Yeah, again, that was largely rhetroical:

Europe Retains The Ryder Cup

USA stages a brilliant singles comeback before Shane Lowry's 18th hole birdie clinches a tie followed by Tyrrell Hatton's halve to win at Bethpage, 15-13.

OK, I hate the "retain" nonsense, and it's a bit weird to user it in the header when they won outright.

The Ryder Cup will remain with a European squad that captured just one of Sunday’s 12 Singles matches and did so against a USA squad that at one point earl on trailed in 9 of 11 matches.

Sam Ryder’s cup and the ingenious, never-over-until-it’s-over 28-point format remains alive, thriving, and captivating as ever after Europe edged the United States, 15-13.

The Americans commenced the day seven points back on home soil and in danger of a loss so terrible that it would have produced Task Forces for the Task Force, class-action lawsuits against Keegan Bradley from the Society For Data Golf, and maybe even a Presidential commission. (Or at least an I told you to pick yourself social tirade by Friday’s guest of honor.)

But with the Americans using Sunday Singles to show the heart, passion, and the quality of golf they’d been playing all year, the USA salvaged the 45th matches and their dignity.

Agreed, though they still have some 'splainin' to do about Saturday....

Saturday’s turd-show featuring $750-paying jackwagons, putzes of many stripes, and other assorted nimrods masquerading as fans, was rendered a largely forgotten storyline thanks to Sunday’s picturesque day at Bethpage State Park. There were still fan attempts at interfering with the matches and an exhausting number of dim attempts at humor. And we’ll never know how many European holes were lost to the antics. A double-digit number is not out of the question.

I'd love Geoff to expand on that last bit, because this seems to have been the PGA of Americas intention in going to this venue.  And as we get into Envelopegate below, I'll leave a marker here.

Sunday’s Singles gave the world the kind of tense back-and-forth duel that had been expected

going into the week, headlined by dramatic opening winds from New York’s Cameron Young and Justin Thomas. But for a while, the gargantuan scoreboards were awash in neutral “Tied” grey, with only Xander Schauffele’s 4&3 win over Jon Rahm falling into the category of statement-making, red-on-the-board.

Match four’s showdown between Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy delivered plenty of thrills even if both players appeared to be running on fumes after four sessions and high-intensity duels.

“Playing all five matches is a grind,” said Scheffler after winning 1UP. “Rory and I even chatted about that a little bit today.”

McIlroy confirmed.

“I felt like I was running on empty today. I gave so much of myself the first two days and I tried as hard as I could out there against Scottie. Scottie and I both didn’t have our best. It was a bit of a pillow fight if I’m honest.”

Courtesy of team and PGA of America “observer” guest badges, a who’s who of CEO’s, stars and real-life, unpaid influencers went all 18 inside the ropes to watch the superstars. McIlroy was once again subjected to an overload of lame gallery comments as he was close to hitting shots. Low points included at the 10th tee, where his subsequently dodgy tee shot allowed Scheffler to win the par-4 with a bogey, and again at the 18th where he had to back off his fairway bunker shot.

Isn't this what they wanted?  How else to explain picking Bethpage and then changing it to Hazeltine? 

Honestly, I would have preferred Rory to be matched against Bryson.  A little bad blood goes a long way in these things.  Although that incendiary pairing might have elicited even more boorishness from the rabble.

Somehow I expected Shane Lowry to be in the middle of it all:

“Look, we were all prepped on [a close finish] last night,” Shane Lowry said. “You don’t want to take any complacency out there to that arena against those players. The U.S. Team are 12 amazing players, and we knew it was going to be very hard.”

Coming off a match-tying birdie at the 15th against Russell Henley, Lowry would have a shot at the Cup-retaining points necessary to reach 14.

“I didn’t envision myself going up the 18th needing a birdie to retain the Ryder Cup,” Lowry said. “It was, yeah, like the worst two hours of my life. It was horrible. It was. But I said to my caddie walking down 18, ‘I’ve got an opportunity to do the greatest thing I’ve ever done today,’ and I did it. And I’m very proud of myself.”

Henley drove into the 18th’s left fairway bunker and hit an incredible recovery to 9 feet 8 inches from the deep mess of spread out of puzzle piece bunkers. Lowry countered with a shot inside Henley, who left his putt short to set up the Irishman as this year’s European hero.

Lowry sank the 6’3” putt and broke out into a raucous 18th green celebration as teammates joined him. Captain Luke Donald grinned but largely retained his stoic demeanor in hopes of capturing Europe’s fifth outright victory on American soil.

He didn't look excited at all, did he?  But how about that Ruthian called shot?

What I loved was the symmetry, though perhaps not the exact right concept.  In those earlier 18th hole denouements, Young-Rose and Thomas-Fleetwood, the Yanks had their balls inside the Euros but on the same lines, and paid them off to great effect.  Here it flipped, and Lowry would have had no doubt about his line.  Unfortunately, despite having played great on a track that was perhaps a bit long for him, Russell Henley made the unforgiveable error there in not getting a shortish putt to the hole.

Shall we segue to the Tour Confidential gang for their take?  Again, rhetorical:

The Europeans held on against the Americans in the 2025 Ryder Cup to become the first

road team to win in a decade. Europe had big leads after the first two days before the Americans dominated Sunday singles and closed the gap to two late in the day before ultimately falling 15-13. Players have said before how difficult it is to win a road Ryder Cup, yet Europe got it done this weekend. How did Europe pull it off?

Zephyr Melton: They executed their plan to perfection on Friday and then just flat-out out-played the Americans on Saturday. (It helps when you’re making seemingly every putt you look at.) The Euros regressed to the mean in the final session, but by then the cushion they’d built up was enough to hold on for victory.

Jack Hirsh: They embraced and relished playing as a team, which is not something that’s easy to do in golf. It’s very clear that Europe consistently plays greater than the sum of its parts each and every Ryder Cup. The U.S. keeps searching for answers on how to succeed in the Ryder Cup (Europe has won all but three Cups this century) and it’s literally staring them in the face.

Josh Sens: Agreed, Jack. But I also think that’s a deep-rooted cultural thing that’s hard to change. This week was like a metaphor for the character of each side: the Europeans romped when it was all about partnering up; the Americans rounded into form when they were going it alone.

Cultural or structural?  Europe most certainly rides the underdog thing especially well.  Combine that with the ability to return your entire winning team from two years ago, and that's a pretty big advantage. 

On Captains - Again we'll lede with Geoff, on the Eurodeity:

“We knew New York was not going to be easy,” Donald said. “It was rough. It was brutal at times

out there. It really was. It was nasty sometimes.

“But I think when you prep these guys enough and you communicate enough with these guys and you give them a plan and an idea and a theme and a motivation, they don’t really need motivating, but you know, the theme causes the cohesion of the team.”

Over-analysis of Donald’s captaincies will continue for months and even years. We’ll find out what thread count sheets and the brand of mattresses he had moved into the Garden City Hotel to improve rest. We’ll learn more about the stop-gap light-blocking strips brought in to ensure full darkness, and study the shampoo chosen by Luke and his longtime sidekick, confidante, and devoted wife Diane to make everyone feel better about their hair and therefore, their Ryder Cup games.

I agree with Geoff that Luke's discussion of shampoos and thread counts was quite off-putting.  yeah, it has to be done, but I'm guessing the other side was comfortable as well....

Let me vary from conventional wisdom here with a quote that might seem to you from out of the blue:

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist

I know, you didn't see that one coming.  But I think the Euros have pulled off a great scam on the U.S., convincing them that it's all about a system, or data or some elusive Vulcan Mind Meld.  

I was thinking of inserting Tom Watson's quote from the infamous 2014 post-match presser, but perhaps it's even better to excerpt this longish bit about the aftermath of that day:

The long-term consequences

 The public feud led to a major institutional overhaul of the U.S. Ryder Cup program.

• The "Task Force": The PGA of America, which manages the U.S. Ryder Cup team, convened a "Task Force" of former players and captains to revamp the entire selection and management process.
• Player empowerment: Mickelson's core complaint about a lack of player involvement was directly addressed. The new system, championed by the "Task Force," gave players a much greater voice in the team's direction and the selection of the captain.
• Improved results: The new approach was immediately successful, with the U.S. team winning the Ryder Cup in 2016 at Hazeltine, ending a three-match losing streak. The new process, ironically, failed to produce a win in Europe in 2018, leading some to question Mickelson's original logic.
• Lasting bad blood: Despite the organizational changes, the personal relationship between Watson and Mickelson was permanently damaged. Years later, Watson continued to express disappointment with Mickelson's public behavior, calling his comments "sour grapes".

That penultimate bullet is a laughfest.  The triumphalism at Hazeltine didn't survive the opening session in Paris, and player empowerment has turned out to be a mixed blessing at best.  Maybe, and I'm just spitballin' here, it matters who you're empowering.....

It probably also makes sense, before we get to the harder captain to evaluate, to note how Luke's selection evolved out of the mayhem of Henrik Stenson's betrayal.  Whatever we think of LIV at this weird juncture, Henrik proves to us that the Euros can be just as self-serving and disingenuous as the Yanks.  Maybe not quite at the level of Mickelson, but Henrik should be banished from polite Euro society for his move.  He signed a contract top captain the Euros including a clause stating that he wouldn't jump, then did so as the ink was drying....

The U.S had a very similar problem in the run-up to this cup, and it led to a cascading series of errors.  When this event was awarded to Bethpage, the captains were assumed to be Phil and Sergio.  Each of those guys deserves to spend eternity in Golf Siberia, but for the former I'd argue that it's more about 2014 than LIV.

I don't subscribe to the theory that the problem with the U.S. is that they don't care.  If you watched them out there, especially a guy like JT, you can see how badly they want it.  But we all know who should have been the U.S. captain, and it's easy to compare and contrast.  Despite his reservations at the time, when Europe told Luke Donald they needed him, he answered the call (and might even be willing to consider a third go, though he probably should give it a pass).  When the U.S. went to Tiger and told him he was needed, he responded that he needed to wash his hair that week.  See the minor difference?

If you're wondering why I end up rooting for Europe, you don't need to go any further than Tiger and Phil.  Of course, Patrick has made his won unique contributions thereto....

So, Keegs?  I'll lede with this off-the-wall take:

Keegan Bradley didn’t win Ryder Cup but gained something valuable

So who’s going to be your U.S. captain in 2027, when the Ryder Cup is played in Ireland and the team is anchored by Scottie Scheffler?

Scheffler offered the answer Sunday night, just minutes after the two-point, wildly close U.S. defeat, was signed and sealed. He was being interviewed by Damon Hack of NBC Sports. Hack

asked Scheffler about the American captain, Keegan Bradley. And then Scheffler, who was on four losing teams Friday morning and afternoon and Saturday morning and afternoon, got emotional. His voice cracked. For a second or two, he got stuck on his words.

And that’s when you knew. Keegan Bradley will be offered the job again by the PGA of America, and he will absolutely take it.

How can you be so sure? Because Scheffler and all the other 11 players were floored by the job that Bradley did, and because Ryder Cup captains are selected by a committee comprised of three players and three PGA of America officials. Bradley was chosen by a committee that included Zach Johnson, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. It’s likely that Scheffler will be on the committee to elect a captain for the next outing. Either way, he’ll have a loud and influential voice. Scheffler, a man who says exactly what he means, said this to Hack about his captain: “Keegan has been amazing.”

That would actually be a great idea, but it's not going to happen, and the reason it won't tells us everything we need to know about this clown show.  That guy who couldn't give up a week of Call of Duty to visit Long Island will get the gig.  His buddy J.P. McManus owns Adare Manor, and your humble blogger suspects that Tiger demurred this year yo help his buddy, leaving us to speculate as to what consideration might run in the opposite direction.

You can find any take you want on the Interwebs.  I'll be kinder tan this guy, for instance:

Why Keegan Bradley is Captain Calamity: Classless behaviour, disastrous pairings and gaffes show appointing him to lead US team was a HORRIBLE mistake, writes OLIVER HOLT

Look, don't blame me, but I'm not strong enough to pass on this lede.  I've always said that pairing Tiger and Phil was only the second stupidest thing Hal Sutton did that fateful Friday.  Oakland Hills had all four Par-3's on either even or odd holes and he allowed Fred Funk, a man whose most notable skill was finding fairways but was a bottom-tier iron player, to play the tee shot on those long one-shotters).  It turns out that, not only was Hal Sutton a bad captain, but he was a worse captain than any of could even imagine:

At the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills, the US skipper Hal Sutton said during his Opening Ceremony speech that he wanted to thank his three kids for their support. His wife held up four fingers to remind him he had forgotten a child.

I'll give you a moment to collect yourselves.... 

What exactly did Bradley get wrong?  I haven't bought into their Medinah-driven conclusions ever:

“I think I would have set the course up a little different,” he said on Sunday shortly after Europe withstood a ferocious rally to win the Ryder Cup 15-13.

The U.S. captain has a say in the course setup and Bradley elected to cut the rough. As a result,

there was little penalty for missing the fairway and most of the players were able to hit a high percentage of greens in regulation. It turned the Ryder Cup into a putting contest and the Euros dominated on the greens. NBC Sports analyst Brad Faxon recounted how he ran into European vice-captain Edoardo Molinari, who oversees the team’s data analytics, who was surprised that the setup favored the visitors.

“He told me, ‘This is exactly playing into our hands.’ Not the way he thought that the Americans would set it up,” Faxon said.

It took away some of what makes American players such as Scottie Scheffler and reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun special, and put shorter hitters such as Russell Henley and Collin Morikawa at a disadvantage. Harris English is another member of the USA team who does his best work on hard courses, not pushovers.

I still find it mystifying why those greens were so soft.... yes, we had some rain before the event started, but September was completely dry until then.

To me, the bad taste in the event and the lingering questions have to be about Saturday.  They got beaten pretty badly on Friday and I was expecting Saturday to be a remake of The Empire Strikes Back:

Europe needed only two points to retain the Cup to start Sunday, although the Americans didn’t give up easily, put the first three points on the board and led the majority late. How surprising was Sunday’s effort? And where was that urgency the previous two days?

Melton: You’ve got to give the Americans credit, they fought hard on Sunday to make it a heck of a lot closer than most thought it would ever get. With a more talented team (on paper, at least), the singles format was always going to play in their favor, and once they got some momentum, they really got things rolling throughout the afternoon.

Hirsh: I agree with Zephyr, the American struggle in the Ryder Cup is really confusing given that they typically have the talent advantage. It certainly helped that Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy weren’t at their Sunday best, and frankly when you win the first three matches like they did, and in dramatic fashion on 18 like they were, that can have a cascading momentum effect. There was none of that Friday and Saturday.

Sens: I don’t think the Americans lacked urgency the first two days. If anything, I suspect they wanted it so badly that they might have been pressing. It’s not a shock that they mounted a comeback, in part because the format is better suited to them but also, I would wager, but they were playing like they had nothing to lose.

But this is where those foursomes pairings open Keegan to second guessing:

After a dominating victory at Whistling Straits in 2021, the Americans were crushed two years ago in Rome. Now they’ve been on the wrong side of the scoreboard two years in a row. What didn’t change over the last two years that should have?

Melton: For all that was made about Keegan Bradley breaking the mold as a captain, he seemed to make the same tactical errors that his predecessors fell victim to. The decision to roll out the Morikawa-English foursomes team twice is one that will be scrutinized for quite some time, as will sitting Cameron Young in the first session. While the Euros dial in their plan and stick to it, the Americans always seem to make gut calls that come back to bite them. This year was no different.

Hirsh: I thought Keegan Bradley was supposed to breakup the boys club? The fact that Collin Morikawa was on the team despite having a terrible season was evidence to the contrary. It just seemed like Bradley was trying to make everyone happy instead of doing what he thought was right. The U.S. needs to blow up its entire Ryder Cup process and start over from scratch. And they should do it quietly. No task force, no pomp and circumstance captain’s selection. Just learn from what the Europeans do so well and apply it.

Sens: Whenever the Americans lose, fans and players and pundits on this side of the Atlantic spend a lot of time agonizing over what went wrong, as if there has to be some hidden explanation, or some question that a task force can resolve. In this case, I think one of the explanations is that the Europeans had the better team. I’m not talking about World Rankings or any other power metrics. I’m talking about a mix of Ryder Cup veterans and young talent, most of them in good form, all of them absolutely thirsting for this event. Several top Americans, meanwhile, came into this event out of form. I think it reflects a particular kind of American arrogance to think that there must be some other reason, as if we can’t accept that the other team was simply stronger.

To me, the bigger takeaway is what bullshit all that Task Force nonsense was.  And their triumphalism after Hazeltine and Whistling Straits was self defeating...

What was the best (and worst) captain’s decision of the week by both Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley?

Melton: The previously mentioned Morikawa-English pairing was Bradley’s biggest head-scratcher. Running it back on the second day was borderline malpractice. I think the Euros played it about as well as they could have.

Hirsh: Yeah I can’t think of a bigger blunder in recent Ryder Cup history than running Morikawa-English back against the same Euro team. It was like Bradley was conceding two wins to FleetwoodMac because they were so good. I also don’t understand why Ben Griffin played just two matches, give the guy a chance, you did pick him to play.

I can’t think of poor decision by Luke Donald this week. He’s been class for the last three years since being named captain and the Euros would be wise to keep running it back with him. Can you believe he wasn’t even supposed to be captain in 2023?

Sens: The Morikawa-English repeat was definitely a head-scratcher. But the course setup also appeared to be a factor. Conventional wisdom seems to be that the Americans are the bigger hitters who benefit from a bomb-and-gouge course. But as Edoardo Molinari of the European braintrust said before the event, he felt like the relatively easy setup played into the Europeans hands. I think it’s telling that the Europeans were so dominant in the opening six holes, which are some of the easiest on the course. The Americans fared better when the holes got tougher. In the future, maybe they’d be better off setting up a stiffer test.

You know what kind of player would have been helpful in that Saturday foursomes session?   Let's see, how about a fiery personality that's also one of the best ball-strikers on Tour?  Yeah, say a guy like Keegan Bradley might have been helpful, but Tiger couldn't be bothered.

With the U.S. seven points down heading into singles, there were no decisions that seemed to matter.  But after Sunday?  Each one could have made the difference....

My frustration is that Tiger is being allowed to skate for being a self-centered dick.  There seems little doubt who I'll be cheering on in Ireland.

Let's finish with the Tc gang, although the clock is impinging:

Bethpage Black is known for its incredible difficulty, but the U.S. squad moved up tees and mowed down the rough to make it a birdie-fest over three days. What are your thoughts on that movie both from a strategic standpoint and TV-viewing experience?

Melton: Neutering the Black made for a pretty bland viewing experience, IMO. Golf balls stuck where they landed and off line shots were seldom punished. I’ve played the course dozens of times and I’ve never seen it so benign. It took a lot of intrigue out of the event.

Hirsh: It was terrible. Why go to a notoriously tough golf course (one of the hardest in the world) only to make it easy? I would have loved to watch a Ryder Cup where par might win some holes. What does it matter? Yes fans love birdies, but they love watching players grind too. Do people not like watching the U.S. Open?

Sens: Agree. The obsession with birdies ignores the fact that par is irrelevant. It’s match-play, for cripes sake. In the heat of the Ryder Cup, the excitement doesn’t come from putting for birdie. It comes from putting for one less than your opponent. The setup was disappointing in that respect. That said, the soft conditions compounded the problem, and it wasn’t something anyone could control.

Yeah, I never loved the Bethpage choice, especially since it seemed so obviously in conflict with their preferred set-up.  The more so since to PGA of America seemed to want to encourage boorish behavior from the crowds.

Who or what was the biggest surprise of the week for each team?

Melton: Scottie going 1-4-0 is definitely up there for the Americans. For the Euros, I’ll go with Viktor Hovland’s health.

Hirsh: How about Cam Young? Maybe “surprise” is the wrong word, but this was as much his coming-out party as his win last month. Hopefully this is the start of a tear that we all saw coming from him after his rookie season. Could also put Bryson DeChambeau’s 1.5-point dud here too.

I’m with Zephyr here, tough news to learn Viktor has been dealing with a neck issue.

Sens: I can’t top those. But probably worth mentioning J.J. Spaun on the American side. Not a shock that he played so well. But for his first go around in a Ryder Cup, he looked remarkably comfortable. On the flip side, I’d say Jon Rahm coming up relatively flat in his last two matches, given how deadly he’d been leading up to them.

Yeah, I think the U.S. maybe found a couple of studs there.  They'll need them going forward.

Envelopegate - I don't think Keegan helped himself here:

Is the envelope rule one that should stay? Or does it need to be changed?

Melton: Perhaps each team should have an on-site alternate in case of injury. It seems like the most logical solution.

Hirsh: I don’t hate that idea Zeph, but I actually also don’t hate the envelope rule. I don’t think a team needs to be penalized for injury, especially for an event considered an “exhibition.” It’s a decent compromise and it worked out in the end this week. In fact, I think it probably benefited the Americans.

Sens: I could live with either of those proposals. Or, each team puts out a captain or assistant captain to fill the slots.

First, Keegs started whining abut this when he was seven down, so not a good look.

It's not that it isn't subject to discussion, but Keegan's "It has to change before the next cup" is above his pay grade.   I don't even agree with him on the merits.  he was reacting as a guy who needed a miracle but, absent that huge deficit, it's not clear who is helped, since the guy in the envelope if the worst player on his team.  I know anyone can turn it around, but if they were tied I don't think Keegs would have been upset by losing Harris English.

The only alternative is to have a reserve, but do we think Mav McNeely wanted to spend the week here as a back-up?

The Path Forward - see what you think of this:

The cascading failures of a Bethpage U.S. Ryder Cup

But hidden in Lowry’s answer is a kernel of truth that speaks to a much broader U.S. failure: The final two hours of Lowry’s singles match against Russell Henley on Sunday afternoon were the most discomfort he felt all weekend at Bethpage Black. That is reflective of this week’s uncomfortable — and unfortunate — truth: In nearly all ways, this U.S. Ryder Cup was a spectacular letdown.

It will be easy (and tempting) to focus on just one area of the U.S. debacle: the leadership, the players, the stars, the crowd, the environment. It will be harder to remember that, from up close, the reality wasn’t nearly as simple. This American team was not just beaten at Bethpage, it was beaten everywhere, and in nearly every way.

The biggest failures took place on the course. For the second straight Cup, a talented U.S. roster was roundly stomped in the team sessions, looking discombobulated and listless against a European onslaught. Depth was a problem again for the Americans, who saw a whopping one-third of the roster go winless at Bethpage, but the American star power wasn’t much better (save Xander Schauffele and brilliant rookie Cameron Young). Scottie Scheffler became the first player since Peter Alliss in 1967 to go 0-4-0 in the first four sessions of a Ryder Cup, while Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau played five sessions each and emerged with three combined points.

“It was probably one of the lowest moments of my career,” Scheffler said of the final loss of his 1-4-0 week.

Scheffler watched from up close as the U.S. lost each of the Cup’s first four sessions, outclassed and out-birdied by a European side that looked better prepared and more comfortable in the match play format. That, too, was part of the letdown: Captain Keegan Bradley and the U.S. team seemed to struggle with the minutiae of roster and pairing management, sticking to a “plan” for alternate shot that included datagolf’s last-ranked option (Harris English/Collin Morikawa, 0-2-0), and necessitated a player-driven flip of odd-even holes in the Scheffler/Russell Henley pairing. These decisions were at least defensible for Bradley, whose players might have lost no matter their order, arrangements or opponents. The same could not be said for the decision to set up Bethpage Black for a birdiefest, trimming the rough to heights lower than typical public play and leaving the greens as soft as day-old butter, which seemed to benefit the Euros significantly more than the Americans.

I'm actually more focused on the cascading mistakes of fthe course, not least this bit:

The crowd situation was more nuanced than an angry mob, but not by much. Whether a few bad apples or a few too many, the display pumped oxygen into a series of ugly stereotypes about New Yorkers, New York golf and the decision to bring the Ryder Cup to a municipal course. The Bethpage faithful should be embarrassed by the display, as should the PGA of America, which failed to adequately train its marshals and security staff to sniff out the problem. The players, as Justin Thomas pointed out, also bear some responsibility for amplifying the frustrated environment with a mostly uncompetitive showing.

“Cam and I said to Shane and Rory yesterday that we felt for them,” Thomas said Sunday. “Cam and I just wished that we gave them something to cheer for instead of people to cheer against. I think that was kind of the main consensus of the last two days, that we weren’t giving them enough to cheer for, and they were just trying to help us win.”

This, it seems, was both the first and final failure of this Ryder Cup: A failure of soul. From the first announcement of a Ryder Cup at one of America’s true golf havens of accessibility and affordability through the final day of $750 per ticket competition, the Bethpage Ryder Cup seemed to fundamentally misunderstand itself. The point of hosting a Ryder Cup at one of America’s purest venues was not to set records for ticket revenue or hospitality offerings but rather to provide one of the loudest and most passionate golf fanbases in the world the chance to raise its voice. The goal was to bring one of golf’s greatest events to the real golfers of New York. In the end, this Ryder Cup got neither.

Yeah, I'm feeling more like they got exactly what they deserved....  They wanted the benefit of the ill-mannered crowd, and now they can answer for it.  the Euros used it for motivation, so good on them.

I'll leave you with this final image:

Actually, I'll leave you with a final question for Justin Thomas, though I do want to give him props for his attempts at crowd control on Saturday.  JT was especially emotional, which received quite a bit of pushback early in the week, but would have been better received after his Sunday heroics.  How about some enterprising reporter asks JT, in view of his enthusiasm, how he feels about his a*****e buddy's decision to be unavailable?

I'm sure we'll have more so muse upon as the week unfolds, although the baseball playoffs might impinge on my availability.  Have a great week.

Midweek Musings - Two Days Out Edition

I'd like to tell you that this week's Wednesday Game™ has been moved to the afternoon solely to allow Ryder Cup blogging......  Well, it coulda happened that way.  But, as long as we're going in the p.m., let's have at it....

Venue Notes - What is it with Bethpage and rain?  2002, 2009 and now 2025 for the hat trick.

Geoff has been a blogging machine or, perhaps more accurately, a Substack machine.  Here he does his characteristic Bethpage Black By the Numbers:

• 70: Par (71 for daily play)
• 7,352: Ryder Cup yardage (7,459 for the 2019 PGA)
• 78.0/155: Course rating and Slope
• 1936: Black Course opening
• 2: Architects of record, A.W. Tillinghast and Joseph Burbeck
• 1: Renovation architect of record, Rees Jones (1997)
• 3: Previous majors, 2002 U.S. Open (Woods), 2009 U.S. Open (Glover), 2019 PGA Championship (Koepka)
• 2: Freshly awarded majors: 2028 KPMG Women’s PGA and 2033 PGA
• 161 feet: Highest elevation, 10th green
• 81 feet: Lowest elevation, 1st fairway
• 1,475: Total property acreage
• 2: Par 4s under 400 yards
• 455: Average yardage of the par 4s
• 397: Yardage of shortened first hole to accommodate grandstands
• 50: Feet of elevation change from 15th fairway to green
• 179: 17th hole official yardage (207 for the 2019 PGA)
• 210-210-161-179: Yardage of the four par 3s
• 43: Width (in yards) of the 17th green
• 1: Water Hazard (8th hole)
• $80: Resident weekend green fee
• $160: Non-resident weekend green fee

You'll note the shortened yardage from the 2019 PGA, but also that change to the first hole to allow for first tee insanity:

The first hole is resoundingly considered the weakest on the course. The most interesting attribute of the hole may be the elevated tee. It’s sitting under the massive grandstands for this week’s matches.

The boomerang-shaped first fairway bends around trees to the flattest, lowest ground on the property, then turns toward a green sloping back to front. Gargantuan and genuinely awful-looking bunkers sit next to the small green like randomly dropped puzzle pieces. But with a new tee created for the Ryder Cup, there is the possibility of players bombing away on opening tee shots, turning the first from worst to exciting. Or, at the very least, mildly interesting.

The direct line to the green is 357 yards. Normally, that number would seem out of reach. But these are different times with players who control their sugar intake to gain yardage in hopes of overcoming their feeble equipment.

Morning foursomes players seem unlikely to take a crack at the green, but in Friday and Saturday’s four-ball play when the temperature has warmed and a partner can put the ball safely in the fairway? Bomb’s away?

The potential for drama may depend on another factor: will a large videoboard situated next to the tee show the tee shot outcomes, ala the feedback loop seen at Lahinch’s blind Dell hole in the 2019 Irish Open?

The screen may be in the player's eyeline, requiring the board to be kept quiet while they are teeing off. We’ll find out Friday morning.

It seems to this observer that we always think they'll be more strategic, but it is match play and my guess is they'll be bombing it in all three formats....

This piece shows JT and BAD trying to reach the green in their practice round but, encapsulating the current state of journalism, can't be bothered telling or showing us where there shots ended.

The funniest bit?  Shack includes this under the sub-header :match Play Moment", the joke being that there's only this one match play moment.  I'm a fan of Bethpage Black, a great test of golf with a scorecard in your pocket.  But as a strategic, match-play course?  Really, what were they thinking?

This comes as news to me:

As noted in the Quad ahead of the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, the American side has stuck to a general premise of less rough, fast greens, and simple hole locations. They have quietly

backed off the micromanaging and over-thinking of course setup following 2012’s losing effort at Medinah. That’s when Captain Davis Love’s Sunday singles hole locations failed to favor the preferred shot shapes of several players and led to post-match griping after the U.S. came up short at home.

When the Ryder Cup returned to Hazeltine National in 2016, nearly all of the holes were cut dead center in another embarrassing, if effective, response that saw the Americans take 7.5 in Sunday singles.

“The home team definitely has a lot less say in the setup than it used to,” claims 2025 Captain Keegan Bradley. “I remember my first couple the home team had a pretty serious say in the course setup and where the tees were.”

And now? Bradley says any discussions with the PGA of America over setup ended months ago.

“We have no control of the pin positions or where the tees are,” he said. “We have a small little role in that. But truthfully, we're still out there going to play golf. It doesn't matter, really, how the courses are set up. We're going out there and playing against each other.”

Can you believe we're still whining about the pins at Medinah thirteen years later?  Yet, somehow the Euros were able to get at those hole locations....

Hatgate and $$$$ - Geoff has great news for us all:

Our long, national nightmare is over.

Patrick Cantlay found a hat that fits his sizable cranium. At least, for Monday’s practice.

You may recall how Cantlay’s claims in Rome of going hatless were not particularly believable after he answered NBC’s Steve Sands that he wasn’t wearing a hat by pointing at a PGA of America official who he said was getting paid to wear a cap.

Publicly, Cantlay claimed sizing issues were to blame for the lack of headwear.

If the hat does not fit, then you must acquit....

It's great that we have a Task Force and even a Team manager, but they don't seem very well prepared, do they?

The Captains convened for Monday’s traditional opening press conference with the session remaining on the light side—other than Keegan Bradley’s surprising inability to articulate why only his team will be paid or how his players will contribute their charitable gifts.

In case you haven’t heard, the PGA of America will provide players a $500,000 stipend this year, of which $300,000 must be donated to the charity of their choice. The Europeans are not receiving any form of compensation.

Bradley repeatedly mentioned the charity component as a “personal decision” and how this year’s higher amount brings the Ryder Cup’s charitable contributions up to modern standards.

“The PGA of America came to me, they wanted to bring the Ryder Cup into the present day,” he said. “The charity dollars hadn't changed since 1999 and they asked me to sort of shepherd their way into making it into 2025.”

Instead of sending a more assertive message that put the topic to bed before the matches, the normally earnest and no-BS’ing Bradley appeared uncomfortable dealing with what should be a positive topic—assuming the team is united in its passion for giving back to causes other than their personal foundations.

“I think for everyone it's a personal decision,” Bradley said again. “A lot of guys aren't comfortable sharing what they're going to do with their money, but we're going to donate.”

Asked why he was donating his entire stipend away but appeared uncomfortable promoting the gesture, Bradley reiterated the personal nature of the decision.

Geez, these guys remain completely tone deaf.  I may have to revisit the timing of when my rooting interest transfers to the Euros....

Bradley and the PGA had months to come up with a less nefarious-sounding narrative. After all,

most in the privileged position to donate charitably are looking to raise awareness for a cause nearest and dearest to their hearts.

When a reporter asked if Europe’s willingness to play for pride provided evidence that the Ryder Cup means more to them, Bradley’s tone turned chippy-adjacent.

“I'm not concerned about what Europe does or what they think,” he said. “I'm concerned about what my team is doing.I was tasked with a job the PGA of America asked me to do, and this was what we decided. We wanted to bring the Ryder Cup into today's age, and we felt like this was the best way to do it. We copied a lot of what the Presidents Cup does.

“We did the best we could, and I think a lot of good is going to come from this. I think the players are going to do a lot of good with this money, and I think it's great.”

A follow-up about “questionable” optics wondered if he had any regrets over a pay issue that his predecessor, Zach Johnson, claimed was never an issue for the 2023 team (when it so clearly was).

“I don't really get that, but I think the goal here was that the charity dollars hadn't been raised in 25, 26 years, and that's what we started out doing,” he said of the donation that started after several American stars spoke up about pay prior to the 1999 matches.

“These players are going to do the right thing and do a lot of really good with this money. You can say that, but I think that the players are really good people and are going to do a lot of good things.”

It's blindingly obvious that the money involved isn't worth the reputational hit.  That said, perhaps a reminder of the rules of the road would be helpful.  Remember, when they tell us it's about the money, it's about the money.  When they tell us it's not about the money....well, you can finish that sentence.

If you're amused by journalistic incontinence, then this piece is just for you:

In Ryder Cup pay controversy, debate misses 1 simple thing

Spoiler alert, the one simple thing is "consistency", although the application thereof will have you pulling your chin. 

That BAD Man - I'll take Silly Golf Feuds for $100, Art:

Amid the interview, Murray brought up DeChambeau’s recent comments. At the “Happy Gilmore 2” premiere in New York City this July, People asked DeChambeau about McIlroy and the Ryder

Cup.

His response could be considered one of the first shots fired of what is expected to be a tense Ryder Cup.

“I’ll be chirping in [McIlroy’s] ear this time. Now, if we go up against each other, I mean, you can be sure of it,” DeChambeau said.

When Murray asked McIlroy what he thought of DeChambeau’s plan for him at Bethpage, McIlroy dismissed it with his own jab at the two-time U.S. Open champion.

“I think the only way he gets attention is by mentioning other people. That is basically what I think of that. To get attention he will mention me or Scottie [Scheffler] or others,” McIlroy told the Guardian.

Juvenile on both sides.  But Rory's jab seems especially silly, given that Bryson is the one guy that has found the kind of non-traditional audience that Rory would have craved:

The two-time U.S. Open champion caught up with Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis on Monday and responded to McIlroy’s jab and their growing rivalry by focusing on his YouTube channel.

“All I’m trying to do is inspire kids on YouTube, and we’ve amassed quite a big audience on YouTube,” DeChambeau said. “I’m continuing to focus on that train of thought. Whatever Rory says and whatnot — granted, I didn’t mean anything by it other than I’m excited. I hope we can have some good banter back and forth, and if not, if he wants to do what he’s doing, great, no problem. Crowd is going to be on our side. We’re going to have a fun time. But ultimately, my job is to get a kid out there who is looking at me hitting a golf ball smiling.

“There’s a rivalry between every one of us golfers. Is it heightened with Rory? Sure. You can make it that way. But look, anytime we go out in the arena, we’re trying to be the best we can possibly be, and if it helps the game of golf out to then great, so be it.”

Whereas Rory went full Greta Garbo this summer.  

Then this flame-thrower dove in:

Those remarks — we’re almost done here, promise! — in turn caught the ear of Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, who took out his flamethrower and accused DeChambeau of being more interested in his YouTube channel than he is in the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Chamblee added: “He’s an odd duck when he’s trying to blend in with the team, and he has so many potential bulletin-board mistakes. I think he would be a captain’s nightmare.”

Harsh! But is it true?

I'm sorry, aren't we all supposed to be about growing the game?  I've watched Rory struggle with message control over the last few years, but how stupid to take Bryson's bait?

Scottie Scheffler called DeChambeau a “tremendous competitor” and said that “the people love him.” Patrick Cantlay said, “I’m glad he’s on our side. He’s a showman out there. I think he’s going to get the crowd fired up.” Xander Schauffele characterized DeChambeau as a “gladiator golfer,” adding, “I feel like Bryson could be like the difference for us.”

And U.S. captain Keegan Bradley, whose opinion matters most? He said DeChambeau has been “incredible in the team room,” adding, “We need the energy from Bryson, and he brings that every day.”

Bryson is an odd duck and perhaps a bit of an awkward pairing, but there may not be a more popular player to the crowd:

DeChambeau certainly did on a warm and breezy Tuesday at Bethpage Black, where he played a nine-hole practice round (10 through 18) with Cameron Young and two of DeChambeau’s likely partners this week, Ben Griffin and Justin Thomas. While his playing partners largely were focused on assessing aim lines and green slopes and club selections, DeChambeau also made time for the galleries. Fist bumps. High fives. Arms waving upward to stoke the cheers. On the 13th green, DeChambeau was greeted by a woman and two young boys perched in the grandstand behind the green. They were holding a homemade sign that read, “Bryson, we skipped school to caddy for you.”

How does poking this guy help the visitors?  It's a time to keep your head down and your mouth shut, Rory.  But our Rory is far from the sharpest knife in the drawer.

On Concessions - Have you heard about the beer prices?  Yeah, head fake, that's not where I'm headed.  

Shack has a delightful two-parter on the subject, but I'll first direct you to this USGA primer on the history of conceding putts, which is a far more recent addition to our game than most folks would suspect.  Like so much in life, it's all about the stymie....

Geoff starts here:

Concession Crankiness

Recent Ryder Cup dramatics surrounding putts not given appears to be an American phenomenon that is all quite funny--except to some of the world's best golfers who feel entitled to freebies.

This should be fun, no?

The gesture of conceding a putt started with a loose-but-sensible rule of thumb: if it’s inside the length of the grip, it’s good. Somewhere along the way—at least in the minds of entitled golfers—a “gimme” morphed into the length of a putt extending from the butt of the grip all the way down to the putter blade. That’s a twofold increase in distance. In some recent cases, it appears the golfers now think anything inside the length of the putter should be good. That’s extending an inch or two under three feet.

For any number of complex reasons, conceding a putt has morphed from the ultimate act of sportsmanship to the ultimate declaration of war on the (usually American) male ego. How did concessions go from a pragmatic, sporting gesture to a bulletin board-worthy affront on all things America? Are some of USA’s finest that soft? Or are they trying to rile up home crowds and willing to make asshats of themselves in the process?

Maybe the best part is this from the Walker Cup.  I saw the incident there, but missed what came after:

At Cypress Point’s recent Walker Cup, the reigning NCAA Champion mimicked his professional elders by signaling disgust at the lack of a gimme on a left-to-right, three-footer for bogey to halve a hole in foursomes play. After Michael LaSasso put his putter down in outrage at not being given a putt, he was boo’d and reprimanded by the walking referee. Such extreme pushback seems unlikely at Bethpage Black. Then again, with Americans being paid for the first time after protesting the horror of playing for country, pride and immortality, any silly antics may be met with apathy. Or worse, jeers from the home crowd.

This is one of many reasons my rooting interest tends to waiver, as the Yanks have the asshat thing down to a T.

Of course, Geoff can't avoid the existence of repeat offenders:

At the 2021 Ryder Cup, USA’s Justin Thomas was forced to putt out from 2’10” in a foursomes match. This was in a year he’d ranked T140 on the PGA Tour from inside five feet with a 96.35% make rate.

After making the putt at the eighth hole, Thomas floated his putter in the air for all to see and with apparent hopes of firing up the fans. They didn’t bite. Even the home crowd knew he was playing the Ryder Cup, not a Tuesday senior’s four-ball at The Villages where they ran out of paint for the usual gimme circles.

The perpetually aggrieved Thomas glared after the opponents made him repeat what he does every day playing stroke play tournaments. But it was also the same length that caused a similar reaction by Thomas at the 2019 Presidents Cup.

Part 2 is here, in which he recounts some prime examples, including a wonderful Payne Stewart moment.  Best of all, he recounts an early dick move from a specialist in the genre:

Phil Mickelson, who was once expected to Captain the matches at Bethpage and will spend the week in his new life as a social media troll, has been a part of several wild concession-related situations.

In the 1990 U.S. Amateur second round facing future Mid Am champion Jeff Thomas, Mickelson had a four-footer for birdie. Thomas took three shots to the green and was lining up a 25-footer when Mickelson conceded Thomas’s par putt. Mickelson sank his birdie try and took the match 6&5.

“Why did I do that?” Mickelson said to writer Dave Shedloski years later. “Well, he took like two minutes to hit the chip shot, and he hit it 40 feet by the hole. Then he started the process again, and I just thought, ‘just pick it up.’ So he did, and I made it, and we went on.”

According to Brian Keogh at the Irish Golf Desk, Mickelson first protested the lack of a concession by floating his putter between ball and cup at the 1991 Walker Cup. He made the putt but few friends.

“He’s an arrogant so-and-so,” opponent Andrew Coltart said. “If his club had touched the ground I would have claimed the hole.”

Mickelson took the showdown 4&3, but according to Keogh, “he endeared himself to few that week, especially when he was asked about a shot he hit into the crowd and said: ‘That’s not a place I want to be – the Irish women are not that attractive.’”

Class.

Who Ya Got? -  I have no clue how this will play out, after all, there's a reason I call myself the '62 Mets of Fantasy Golf.

There are dueling power rankings here and here, which are quite curious.  They are wacky to go through, as somehow guys like Aberg and Cameron Young seem consistently overrated.  I think we all instinctively think this European team is deeper than prior versions, the same topline strength and a weaker back end is still in play.

It's hard to know what to expect from so many of these guys, but the overarching trend line has been towards home team dominance in recent years, so do we think that trend will be broken in front of a New York crowd?  

Josh Schrock had some thoughts, so let's riff on his thoughts and see where that leaves us:

4 bold Ryder Cup predictions (including who wins at Bethpage Black)

Though this fist seems a little lacking in the promised boldness:

JT leads the Americans

Scottie Scheffler is the unquestioned best player in the world and just won the Procore Championship, which he played just to stay sharp for this event. Add in the fact that Scheffler and Brooks Koepka suffered a humiliating 9-and-7 defeat at the hands of Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland in Rome, and it would be fair to assume that the World No. 1 plans to put pelts on the wall this week in New York.

“I don’t know if motivation is really the right word,” Scheffler said Tuesday about what happened in Rome. “I think you can learn from your wins and your losses, and I’ve had some nice wins out here, and I’ve had some tough losses as well.

Thomas is 7-4-2 in his Ryder Cup career and is undefeated in Sunday singles. After finding himself in the wilderness during the 2023 season, Thomas has played like a top-10 player for the last year. He ranked sixth on the PGA Tour in Adjusted Total Strokes Gained (1.55), per Data Golf, and snapped his winless drought in April at the RBC Heritage. Thomas’ play dipped this summer, but he lives for the team events, and I expect him to be at his best at Bethpage.

He will most certainly be amongst the most vocal and fired-up Yanks.  That's carries a pretty big risk with it as well, given that his indifferent play this year.

I think you'll agree that this prediction is curious:

A goose egg for Captain America

Bryson DeChambeau is one of the five best players in the world and should be a weapon for Team USA.

DeChambeau has leaned into the team aspect of LIV Golf and has become more comfortable in his skin since making the jump to the breakaway league. Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and others have praised DeChambeau’s “all-in” approach to being a part of Team USA. When you factor in DeChambeau’s ability to feed off the crowd, there’s every reason to believe he’ll be one of captain Keegan Bradley’s best players this week.

Here’s where we zag.

DeChambeau and Cameron Young take a 1-up loss to Viktor Hovland and Aberg in Friday foursomes. Two more losses come for DeChambeau on Saturday and he falls to Tommy Fleetwood in Sunday singles.

An 0-4-0 record for the Crushers GC frontman.

This to me is weird for a few reasons, not least that Captain America bit.  Exactly no one calls him that, it being associated with a guy we'd rather forget.  But the second  curious bit is putting Cam Young out in foursomes.....  Why would Keegan do that?  The two guys are reportedly playing the same prototype ball, but Cam is one of your two last picks and should be relegated to playing his own ball.

Europe opens with haymaker, but U.S. responds with flurry

The last two times the Ryder Cup was contested on U.S. soil, the Americans opened with 4-0 and 3-1 wins in the opening foursomes matches. That set the U.S. up to lead 5-3 and 6-2, respectively, after Day 1.

Europe flips the script in front of a raucous Bethpage crowd on Friday morning, winning all four foursomes matches, including a dominant 6-and-5 win for Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood over Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.

Despite Europe’s massive opening salvo, the U.S. goes 3.5-.5 in fourballs to trim the deficit and wins Saturday’s foursomes session 3-1 to go up 6.5-5.5. Another 3-1 win in fourballs gives the U.S. a 9.5-6.5 lead heading into Sunday.

Very granular, but you'll sense the set-up.

Europe storms back to win

Entering singles with a three-point lead and the crowd behind them, the Americans appear to have

all the momentum as the final day at Bethpage begins.

But the tide soon turns as Rahm beats Scheffler, Hovland defeats Young and McIlroy beats Cantlay. Thomas’ win over Lowry stems the tide, but Aberg takes down Russell Henley, Justin Rose dominates J.J. Spaun and Robert MacIntyre defeats Harris English to make it 12.5-10.5. Tyrrell Hatton beats Ben Griffin and then Fleetwood takes down DeChambeau 2 and 1 to clinch the cup for Europe.

McIlroy plays all five sessions, going 4-0-1 to lead Europe with 4.5 points.

So, Medinah redux?  Hard to imagine the Euros winning without being closer Saturday night, but Sunday could be lit.

A Hard Pass - I don't agree with this at all:

‘For good of the game:’ Famed caddie challenges Ryder Cup captains with unique idea

After declaring his excitement for the tournament, which he called “my favorite event… in all of sports,” Mackay took advantage of his time to reveal that his dream would be for Ryder Cup

captains Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald to come together and match World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler against World No. 2 Rory McIlroy in Sunday’s singles matches.

“And all I’ll say is that I think that if it hasn’t already been said, I would love if things look really close as we head into Sunday, if the two captains, Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald, who are close friends, could find 60 seconds for themselves and for the good of the game, maybe find a way to see that Rory [McIlroy] and Scottie [Scheffler] play each other in singles on Sunday,” Mackay proffered on Wednesday.

Mackay continued by arguing that if the captains bought into his idea, it would take the excitement and interest levels to a whole other level.

“I think at a close Ryder Cup that would basically bring the house down in terms of the excitement that everyone sees around the play there on Sunday, and of course, a close competition,” Mackay said.

The formal answer to Bones is that he fails to understand that the event is an exhibition the morphed into a competition.  The problem with forcing a pairing is that it pushes the event back into the realm of a meaningless exhibition, a place they don't have any need to go.  The event is big enough that we don't need to get gimmicky.

But maybe the bigger issue is that that's not the match I want to see.  I'd much rather, given the chippiness, see Rory play Bryson than Scottie.  What turned this event into must see Tv is the bad blood, so let's go for that.  I'd also be OK with a Rory-Cantlay match on Sunday, given the fact that those two guys aren't exactly soul mates.

That is likely it for our pre-event coverage.  My calendar is mostly clear to watch an obscene amount of golf this weekend, and we'll wrap it all at length on Monday.  Have a great weekend.

Monday Musings - Go Time Edition

We've dispensed with the traditional Weekend Wrap header, as we'll be focused on that which is in front of us.... Not that there's all that much to say right now.

Define "Crazy" - Everyone agrees that a Ryder Cup at Bethpage will be.... well, anyone play Mad Libs as a kid?  How about I allow the reader to fill in their own adjective?

Here's Alan Bastable from Golf Magazine:

This New York Ryder Cup will be crazy. Question is, how crazy?

So, enlighten us, Alan:

New Yawkers will come into sharp focus when the Ryder Cup visits the Black Course at Bethpage State Park next week. (Bethpage is in Farmingdale, a Long Island town of 8,500 residents about 40 miles east of New York City.) We know the atmosphere will be loud and charged and boisterous because Ryder Cups always are. We know some fans will be especially chirpy by golf-fan standards, because, well … see: Ryder Cup. We also know all of this rowdiness and razzing and maybe even some rage has the potential to reach a new level of rowdiness and razzing and maybe even some rage because New York golf fans have some history.

Where to start? With the practice round at the 1974 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, where Jerry McGee got an earful from fans for struggling to advance a ball from a rough-choked lie? (“These are supposed to be professional golfers?” a spectator quipped.) Or with the 1986 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where Greg Norman barreled his way into the gallery to confront two foul-mouthed hecklers? (“I haven’t experienced this kind of stuff anywhere else,” Norman said. “Here they are opening their mouths too much.”)

Or with, well, pick your Bethpage Black major: the 2002 U.S. Open, where Sergio Garcia was so rattled by the smack-talking masses that he responded with a middle-fingered salute; the 2009 U.S. Open, where on Saturday Tiger Woods shushed the fans, and the USGA, in an effort to curb revelers, shut down beer sales early; or the 2019 PGA Championship, where eventual champion Brooks Koepka heard it from the galleries on Sunday when he carded four consecutive back-nine bogeys. “It’s New York,” Koepka later said of the boo birds. “What do you expect when you’re half-choking it away?”

OK, not quite the indictment  of the local we might have expected....

And next week, when the Europeans come to town, looking to become the first road team to win a Ryder Cup in 13 years, in the wake of the contentious 2023 edition in Italy that saw tensions among players and caddies (namely, Patrick Cantlay’s looper, Joe LaCava) spill from the golf course into the parking lot? Ooh, boy, hold on to your periscopes and Mich Ultras, folks, because this Bethpage Ryder Cup could devolve into flat-out anarchy!

“I think it has the potential to be the most disrespectful fanbase of all time in golf,” Gregg Giannotti told me in a phone interview earlier this week. “I really believe this. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but there’s a couple of reasons why.”

For one, Giannotti said, golf has never been more popular, and with heightened interest in the game could come an unprecedented surge of electricity across New York’s fabled “People’s Course.” “Then you put in the whole USA patriotism thing and New York and just the type of person that’s going to attend and want to get in the face and yell at Rory and others — it’s going to be insane,” Giannotti said. “On top of it everybody wants to be a superstar these days and they want to film something and then they want be the guy who [a player] flips the bird to or has [a player] turn around and scowl and yell at you. They want to antagonize these guys and get in their face and get that reaction.”

Odd to this observer that you could write on this subject and have CTRL-F: Alcohol and Betting yield zero results.

Bastable offers no opinion of his own, and his mouthpieces only speak in terms of potential, so it's quite the nothingburger.  But he does remind us of what this event was supposed to feature:

It’s hard to fully capture the excitement and anticipation around this event. Since the PGA of America announced the Bethpage Ryder Cup in 2013, the hype seemingly has grown by the year — and, now, by the day. For a long time, Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia — both of whom played starring roles in the 2002 U.S. Open on the Black Course — seemed destined to be their teams’ respective captains. Instead, Donald is back to defend the title he helped win for Europe in 2023, and a guy no one saw coming — 39-year-old Keegan Bradley — is helming the U.S. side. Bradley’s not a born-and-bred New Yorker, but he did spend his college years in Queens, at St. John’s University. He understands the ethos of New York fans.

Phil and Tiger, man.  They didn't do enough damage to the event as players, so we had to let them muck up the captaincies....

This speculation you'll see elsewhere as well:

Still, it’s hard to police heckling, which, in theory, Giannotti said, the U.S. team could hear from their own fans if things start going sideways. “The crowd could turn on the Americans,” he said. “We don’t like losing. How many times has everybody watched Jets fans boo their own team off the field at halftime? For God’s sake, they booed Aaron Judge at Yankee Stadium last year. We turn on our teams and we scream at them, and we expect more. That could end up working in the favor of the Europeans if they end up playing well.”

It could happen.  If it did, I'd think Cantlay might want to skip the baseball cap and go straight to a pith helmet.

We'll sample heavily  from this week's Tour Confidential panel, including this first Q&A that touched on this subject:

After two years of waiting, Ryder Cup week is finally here. The U.S. squad is hosting Europe at Bethpage Black on Long Island, Friday through Sunday, as the Europeans will attempt to win two in a row and be the first road team to win since it did so in 2012. Lots to unpack here, but let’s start with an easy one: What’s your top storyline for the 45th Ryder Cup?

Josh Sens: The over-the-top atmosphere of the Ryder Cup is not a new story, but as our man Alan Bastable explained in a fun piece a few days ago, this week stands to take things to an entirely

different level. The potential for boisterousness spilling over into ugliness seems ripe, which ties into what I think is another important theme: on paper, at least, the Europeans appear to be the slightly stronger team. But playing an away game makes them the underdogs, which takes some pressure off them and piles it on the Americans. In that sense, it’s fair to wonder whether having the home crowd behind them and all the expectations that come with that might work against Keegan and Co. How that dynamic does or doesn’t play out will be key to the final result.

Josh Schrock: Agree with Sens. I think the Bethpage crowd will certainly get top billing as storyline 1A entering the week. I’ll offer how Rory McIlroy finishes a storybook year. He laid out three goals to accomplish for the rest of his career in January and knocked off one with his win at the Masters. After a summer spent in malaise, McIlroy won the Irish Open and now can finish off the year by leading the Europeans to an away win. Very interested to see how McIlroy elevates his game this week.

Alan Bastable: The importance of experience in Ryder Cups is probably overstated, but it’s hard not to ponder the imbalance of rookies on the two sides: four on the U.S. team (Ben Griffin, Russell Henley, J.J. Spaun, and Cameron Young) vs. just one on the European squad (Rasmus Højgaard). For the American team to prevail, at least a couple of those newbies will need to rise to the occasion. Have a sneaking suspicion Cameron Young will embrace the moment, and not just because he’s the only New Yorker on the team. You know he can pound it, but now he’s also figured out how to putt it (he’s 5th in SG: Putting this season). Keep an eye on CY.

OK, Josh, that summer seemed less "storybook" to this observer...

Everyone Talks About The Weather.... -  I had seen some issues for Saturday earlier, but now it looks like mostly clear sailing:

Clear sailing, mostly.

Inspiration - It's actually quite amusing.  These guys have spent the last two years focused on making these teams, yet we seem to think they need to be pumped up.  To me the reality is the opposite, to wit, that the Americans have always been accused of not caring, whereas they more likely want it too much.

The Euros will of course take inspiration form their top dog:

Rory McIlroy’s Ryder Cup promise will tell the story at Bethpage Black

Two years ago, after Europe’s dominant victory over the United States at the 2023 Ryder Cup at

Marco Simone, Rory McIlroy confidently sat on the dais and offered a prediction that has echoed throughout the golf world ever since it left his lips in Italy.

“I’ve said this for the last probably six or seven years to anyone that will listen: I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup, and that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage,” McIlroy said.

The Northern Irishman laid down another marker at the start of this season when he outlined the remaining goals he wanted to accomplish in his career: win the Masters, win an Olympic medal and win an away Ryder Cup.

McIlroy checked off the first with a historic win at Augusta National in April. An expected post-Masters malaise followed as McIlroy searched for motivation to climb another mountain after finally summitting his Everest. But McIlroy found himself again at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, and his win at the Amgen Irish Open reminded us of what he has been saying for a while: When the events that matter to him arrive, he doesn’t need to find the motivation.

Amusingly, he seems to forget that he's already won an away game.... one in which he took down the American captain rather handily, despite showing up just a few minutes before his tee time.

That's actually doubly amusing, because we consider the Euros the golf standard of Ryder Cup preparation, yet they almost let Rory miss his game.

The TC gang had this:

After winning in Rome in 2023, Rory McIlroy said winning an away Ryder Cup is one of golf’s biggest accomplishments, adding, “and that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage.” He’s since added a Masters title and career Grand Slam to his resume. What would a Ryder Cup victory at Bethpage do for McIlroy’s legacy?

Sens: I consider Ryder Cup legacies a separate category. Think of Ian Poulter, whose individual Tour career does not stand out but who will go down forever as a Ryder Cup killer. Or, conversely, Tiger Woods, whose less-than-impressive Ryder Cup record does nothing to diminish his status in the game. At this point, Rory’s legacy seems pretty well established. A dominant week at Bethpage could add a nice gloss to it, especially if he pulls off something heroic like beating Scottie Scheffler in Sunday singles for the clinching point. Short of that, though, I don’t expect this week to alter how future generations think of him.

Schrock: I mostly agree with Sens, but I do think if McIlroy leads the Euros to a win by playing all five sessions while racking up 4-5 points, it will be another critical line in the resume he’s building to become the best European golfer of all-time.

Bastable: Rory’s already in rarified Ryder Cup air. But a big haul this week would elevate him into even more elite company. Three points would move him ahead of Jose Maria Olazabal on the all-time points list. Four would tie him with Nick Faldo. Four and a half would tie him with — gasp! — Seve. But beyond however this week could influence McIlroy’s individual status in the record books, he so obviously is burning for a win, period. As mentioned above, on several occasions this year he has reminded us that winning a road-game Ryder Cup is one of the most difficult tasks in all of sports. If Europe somehow pulls it off, Rory will declare 2025 the undisputed greatest season of his career.

I actually think that Rory's Ryder Cup record mostly mirrors his career, in that it was better early and then he became almost a week link (think of that singles match against Reed).  To all those who think the Euros should be favored, my first reaction is to ask them what they expect from Rory?   He might actually prove to be their weak link, so hold that thought.

And for the Yanks:

Keegan Bradley’s inspirational message to U.S. Ryder Cup team? It’s personal

As is often the case with captains, coaches and commanders, there’s a question of motivation. How do you create buy-in? In the Ryder Cup, that’s harder. Golf is an individual pursuit, and

there it’s not. Getting players to run through a clubhouse wall isn’t easy. There are means to do so, of course. Playing for country. Playing for teammates.

To Bradley, it’s partially that.

In 2012, he played in his first Ryder Cup. The Americans lost in what’s become known as the Miracle at Medinah, after a 8.5-3.5 European whalloping in Sunday singles at Medinah CC in Illinois. Things were emotional. Two years later, Bradley played again. The Americans lost again. Things were emotional again. Then, at Gleneagles in Scotland, Bradley’s Sunday singles loss to Jamie Donaldson was the deciding point in a 16.5-11.5 Euro win. But Bradley’s never played since then. Two years ago, he was close, but was bypassed for the team, with the selection news memorably shown on Netflix’s “Full Swing” show. This year, with a chance to pick himself, he chose just to captain. Eleven years ago, Bradley might have believed he’d be a Cup anchor for the next decade-plus. But golf isn’t linear.

So to his team of a dozen, Bradley’s message is personal.

Make the most of it.

The play. The team. The burgerdogs. All of it.

“I think as a kid in sports, you always are craving that team atmosphere,” Bradley said. “With golf, we don’t get that ever. When you’re playing for your country in any sport, it heightens all of that. I think for us, we really only get one time a year to do this.

All well and good, I'm just failing to discern any actual inspiration.  Then again, it's hard to imagine they need any....

Justin Rose tries to be helpful:

“To a European player, the Ryder Cup is about history,” Justin Rose said after Europe’s dominant

win over the Americans at Marco Simone two years ago. “More specifically, it’s about your chance to add to that history. It’s about playing a small role in a collective story that has been going on for decades. The entire privilege of the week is having the chance to help write the next chapter.”

Added Jon Rahm: “It’s the ability to walk through those gates and those doors and forget about who you are outside of this week. What you have done or what you may do afterwards, really truly doesn’t matter.”

“We’re caretakers of this European jersey right now,” Rory McIlroy chimed in that day. “And we’re hopefully going to pass it on in the future in a better spot than where we found it.”

“I think the U.S. team have definitely bonded a lot more in recent years, and I think that they do have pockets of good friendships,” Rose said during a Q&A session ahead of the Justin Rose Ladies Open earlier this month, via Sky Sports. “But I think the Americans have gotten a little bit … they think being a great team is about being best mates. I really don’t think that’s what being a great team is. Being a great team is having a kind of a real good theme and having an identity that has come from players before you, and you all buy into that vision.

I guess he doesn't realize that Patrick just wants to get paid....

Joel Beall also tries to be helpful:

Ryder Cup 2025: Seven mistakes the Americans need to avoid repeating

 Only seven?  I suspect you're going to need a bigger boat....

Most of this is borderline silly, though they did at least deal with the face plant in Rome of the guys showing up rusty.  This one gets a lot of attention:

Mistake: Foursomes Performance

The Americans suffered a devasting 7-1 in foursomes in Rome. For context, they won the other three combined sessions, and still suffered a lopsided loss.

In the Americans’ defense, this has been a recurring theme for the away team, as the host team's ability to set up the course to their specifications creates an overwhelming advantage:

2014: Europe won foursomes 7-1, winning the Ryder Cup by five points

2016: The U.S. won foursomes 5½-2½, winning the Ryder Cup by six points

2018: Europe won foursomes 6-2, winning the Ryder Cup by seven points

2021: The U.S. won foursomes 6-2, winning the Ryder Cup by 10 points

Expanding the data back to 2012 provides an even starker picture: across six Ryder Cups, home teams have dominated foursomes 36½-11½. Meanwhile, in singles and fourballs combined, that margin shrinks to a nearly even 57-55.

The Fix: Taking care of business. As we noted above, the Ryder Cup is essentially decided by foursomes. If the United States doesn’t take advantage of this asset, the Europeans will defend the cup.

I guess Joel Beall didn't get the "Correlation is not causation" memo.  Do you notice anything about those four citations?   The U.S. rocks in foursomes based upon Joel's data, at least in the home games.  The fix would seem to be to play at home, and I've good news there...

Eying The Exit - Shall we dive into the remainder of the TC panel's insights?  Just to be clear, that was rhetorical:

Who is the most important — if not necessarily the best — player for each team?

Sens: McIlroy for the Europeans. He’s not just the best player on the team but he’s also the obvious team-room leader. How he fares stands to be infectious for the rest of the squad. The U.S. team is a different story, I think, because the best player, Scheffler, isn’t a rah-rah guy. I don’t see him being as much of a bellwether as McIlroy. I think the key players for the U.S. are Ryder Cup rookies like Ben Griffin and J.J. Spaun — great talents who are entirely untested in a setting like this.

Bastable: No love for Bryson?! If DeChambeau can get it going, he has the potential to electrify the U.S. fans in a way that none of his teammates can match. Trouble is, he has not been in top form. I’m intrigued to see what version of BDC we’ll see. On the Euro side, Bobby Mac might end up being the MVP no one saw coming.

Those are good thoughts, though there are at least twenty-four respectable answers.

I agree with Josh Sens that it's hard to see the Euros winning without Rory playing well.   But there are so many guys from whom we just don't know what to expect, more on the American side just because they have more rookies.

If you're looking for a horse race analysis, the guys have us covered:

The Americans will win if…

Sens: …rookies like Spaun and Griffin hold up in the crucible, and Patrick Cantlay annoys the opposition enough to put them off their game.

Schrock: …Justin Thomas, after a poor start in Napa, reawakens. I expect Scheffler to play well, especially after the egg he laid in Rome. But Thomas has been the Americans’ heart and soul when they’ve dominated. They’ll need Thomas and the Cantlay-Schauffele pairing to help lead, along with Scheffler.

Bastable: …Keegan Bradley reconsiders, dumps one of his rooks and suits up in the first match Friday. I kid! But yes, as covered, some of the U.S. rookies will absolutely need to show out. Scheffler will need to win at least 3.5 points. And Sam Burns will need to bring his putter.

Which means the Europeans will win if…

Sens: …McIlroy leads them to a hot start and the momentum builds. The pressure is really on the Americans here. They’re expected to ride the homefield advantage to the win, but there’s nothing easy about having to drain a crucial putt in front of a huge crowd whose hopes are riding so vocally on you.

Schrock: …Rory does Rory things. When he is clicking, they are hard to beat.

Bastable: …Jon Rahm antagonizes the crowds and Tommy Fleetwood charms ’em. (And they each collect at least 3 points.)

There's no shortage of storylines, but we don't know how they'll be paired and therefore who will break out.  My guess is that team sessions will be exciting but inconclusive, and it'll all come down to that Sunday singles lineup.

What will be the most crucial strategic decision each captain will have to make?

Sens: Aside from selecting captain’s picks, I think the importance of a captain’s decisions is wildly overstated. They’ve already studied the personalities and the analytics. They know, in theory at least, which players should mesh. The captains’ most important roles are to select the rosters and create an atmosphere/culture that allows their players to play their best. Seems like Bradley and Donald have both already done that. As always, this will come down to which guys make the big putts.

Schrock: For the Americans, it’s who plays with Bryson DeChambeau. Given that he and Cam Young play the same prototype ball, that would seem to be the proper pairing, but I’m interested to see how Keegan Bradley deploys what should be one of his best weapons.

Luke Donald said he planned to mix things up from Rome, but I have a hard time seeing the foursomes pairings not being Rahm-Hatton, Hovland-Åberg, McIlroy-Fleetwood and a fourth. I’m interested to see if Donald changes things up on Day 1 or trots out his proven pairings that dominated in Rome to start.

Bastable: Hate to harp on the rookies, but managing them will be Keegan’s toughest task given they represent a third of his team. For Donald, it’ll be keeping his boys from getting rattled by the fire-breathing galleries. If his squad can block out the noise and get comfortable early, look out.

The ball only matters in foursomes, and I'm not sure Bryson belongs there.  But Keegan has already made his most strategic decisions, leaving himself out of the mix.

And drumroll, please… who will win the 2025 Ryder Cup and why? (And give us a score!)

Sens: This one ends up in a tie, 14-14, with the Europeans retaining the Cup.

Schrock: Europe. 15.5-12.5, thanks to a Sunday singles comeback. Fleetwood beats Bryson to clinch the away win.

Bastable: Dare I make it a clean European sweep? I do dare! Europe 14.5, USA 13.5, in a thriller for the ages.

Wow, didn't see a Euro sweep in the cards....  But how much fun would it be to see the reaction of the U.S. Ryder Cup braintrust to a home loss?  I'd pay Bethpage ticket prices to see the look on Cantlay's face....

I still think the home team dominance is the story of recent Ryder Cups, and don't see that changing this week.  At this point we'll all just hope for a Cup that comes down top those late singles matches.

I need to roll.  I will be back this week with more, though juggling a few things.  Just to be safe, check back early and often.