Back
We're exhausted.
Imagine how the Ryder Cup players feel.
The 2025 golf season finished how it began - with a stunning, emotional, memorable and somewhat controversial spectacle of golf punctuated by smiling, crying Irish eyes. No matter who you were rooting for, the Masters in April and the Ryder Cup this past weekend brought golf fans to the edge of their seats in the most epic of ways.
The Europeans won the 2025 Ryder Cup, 15 to 13, but not before a near-magical Sunday Singles rally where the Americans lost only one match and tied four others to nearly erase the massive hole they dug during Friday and Saturday's team sessions. There's a lot to unpack around how it all unfolded. There were moments of embarrassing player and fan behavior, brutal collapses and incredible pressure-packed putts. If there's one takeaway from it all, it's this: no lead is safe in the Ryder Cup. That's what makes this competition so compelling. Golf is the world's most unpredictable team sport, and that's why we love it.
Let's play alternate-thoughts (get it?) on a few other key takeaways from the weekend:
Shred the envelope rule?
Jason Scott Deegan: If there's a second legacy left by this Ryder Cup, it's this - change that injury rule NOW. That the Americans had to give Europe a half-point for Viktor Hovland's injury scratch is a travesty. That half-point would have been huge, even given the two-point margin. It would have ratcheted up the pressure even further on the Euros and could have impacted the final three matches that all ended up in ties. There are a lot of ways to solve it:
* Chose your best assistant captain to play.
* Bring an alternate player.
* Forfeit the point.
Anything but the current setup makes sense.
Tim Gavrich: I know Viktor Hovland's injury cast something of a shadow over Sunday's matches, but to me, any alternative to the current rule - which every captain on both sides has agreed to since the 1970s - would be worse than the current rule. Adding an alternate player would essentially just increase the team sizes to 13, because a captain could simply command one of his players to feign injury if he stinks up the golf course on Friday and Saturday. Forfeiting the point is not in the spirit of the competition, and it could lead to an injured player risking potentially catastrophic further injury by playing in order to avoid letting his teammates down. The system is not broken...unless you think the U.S. did not deserve to win the 1991 Ryder Cup, when Steve Pate's injury kept him from playing in what ended up a 14 1/2 - 13 1/2 scoreline.
Grading Bethpage
Gavrich: I have never played Bethpage Black before; it's long been one of the top American publicly accessible courses on my wishlist. While I still hope to play it someday, it dropped half a notch in my estimation this week after seeing it play shockingly little defense with soft greens and meager rough. Seeing a course whose main identity is wrapped up in difficulty yield up dozens of birdies all weekend takes a little bit of the shine off of it. However, I have to admit that the simplicity of the setup made Sunday exciting. Even though Team USA won 8 1/2 of the 12 available points, the fact that pars and birdies were so commonplace kept nearly all of the matches close. That made things exciting for several hours longer than most anyone assumed. Another point in favor of match play.
Deegan: I thought Bethpage's simple setup actually made life easier on the Europeans, inadvertently. Every player could swing away without consequences. To me, that's not top-level golf.
Did fans cross the line?
Deegan: We wrote this exact column - Did fans cross the line at Bethpage Black? - after the 2019 PGA Championship. New York fans tend to be loud, rowdy and probably a little too obnoxious at times. But nobody could have predicted that a police presence would be needed during the weekend to bring back some sensibility. Many American fans were obsessed with abusing Rory McIlroy, although I'm not sure why. Rory helped save the PGA TOUR during the dark early days of LIV Golf and just completed the career grand slam at The Masters. I'd argue he's one of the five most popular players in golf history, but he's apparently taken over the Ryder Cup villain role previously held by Colin Montgomerie and Ian Poulter. It's too bad that bad fan behavior had a direct impact on his singles loss to World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. The only hole he lost was the hole he had to get a fan or two removed by security. Golf used to be the most honorable sport, but I'm not so sure anymore.
Gavrich: I felt confident in saying that New York fans don't have a monopoly on obnoxious behavior, especially in a world where SEC football exists. I genuinely think Team Europe's players - including McIlroy - would have heard shameful things in Minnesota or Wisconsin. I recently saw a replay of the 2019 Presidents Cup final day, which included some fan abuse of Patrick Reed in Melbourne, Australia. I still don't think New Yorkers are the problem. Any organization that will sell hard alcohol before noon at an already boisterous sporting event is more to blame than geography.
The new underdogs
Gavrich: For decades, the ethos Team Europe has built itself around has included a scrappy underdog self-image. It is long past time to dispense with that canard. World rankings of each team's players be damned, the Europeans are the dominant Ryder Cup team now. That means part of Team USA's soul-searching should include adopting and leaning hard into an underdog mentality of their own, along with figuring out a more holistic team-culture-building system that is an effective American answer to what the Euros have almost perfected. But the attitude is crucial: no matter what, the US are the underdogs now, and should spend the next two years campaigning on that message and believing it.
Deegan: The truth is the American team might not win again for the immediate future. They have a top dog problem. Tiger Woods never played like the world's best player in the Ryder Cup, and so far, Scheffler hasn't, either. Until their best player starts dominating like they should, it will be an uphill climb to defeat the fully engaged Euros.
Early thoughts on the 2027 Ryder Cup
Gavrich: I assume Tiger Woods will captain Team USA at Adare Manor, whose proprietor, J.P. McManus, is a close personal friend of Tiger's. That should bring an air of seriousness and rigor to Team USA. There is no better pure golf mind, and if the dozen players who make the team can put aside their egos and buy in completely, I think there is a chance of Team USA doing in Ireland what Team Europe did in Long Island.
Deegan: I think Ireland is the best host country for a Ryder Cup anywhere in the world. The locals embrace golf like no other fans. Coupled with McIlroy and Lowry playing on home soil, 2027 has every opportunity to be as special as ever.
Comments (4)
I don't want to see one of the teams get penalized (forfeiting the point) if one of their players gets hurts on Friday or Saturday, but I do think the issue of the half-point envelop needs to be addressed. How much bigger of an issue would this year's injury have been if that half-point made a deciding difference in the outcome of the match (either way). It makes sense to name one or two alternates to each squad for injury situations. In addition, that alternate or those alternates get to experience the Ryder Cup experience, at least to a certain degree, which, for younger or less experienced players could pay dividends if they get named to the active squad at some point in the future. I am not in favor of a playing vice captain.
The "envelope" has been out there for a long time and seldom used, so I don't think it should be changed! USA lost Cup on Friday and Saturday and as much as they talk about it, the further they get away from fixing it. I personally think the Euros care more for each other more than the USA guys. Announcers and media exalting claims like, we have the "best player on the planet," is the root cause of the perception gap. World Rankings are very misleading, and the USA will continue losing until they shed the arrogance!
It’s crazy the US team or anyone trying to blame the loss on the envelope rule, 1/2 point wouldnt have made any difference and who’s to say Victor wouldn’t have won a full point, they lost from poor play, period….
They should have had the course setup like a US Open. It was way too easy and made it boring to watch. Birdie fests are boring to me. It's way more interesting watching the players struggle to save par. Regarding the crowds, people seem to have a short memory. This happens every Ryder Cup. I guarantee you the Euro fans will do the same thing to the Americans in two years, and I have no problem with that. There's always going to be a few people in the crowd who take it too far. Just eject them and move on. It's not a big deal.