Ryder Cup Swings Back

Eli Kim, design editor

SWING - The 2025 Ryder Cup starts the 26 Sep. and ends the 28 Sep. at Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, NY. Right now, the U.S. team is honing in on their pairings strategy while tensions in Europe surface with team drafts upsetting many long-time fans and golfers. 

The Ryder Cup is an International Golf Competition that is played by the U.S. and Europe, and it is a team-based event, with two teams consisting of 12 American golfers versus 12 European golfers. Unlike traditional golf, every match is worth one point (with 28 points in total), and the winning team is the one with the most points by the end of the three days. The different types of matches are foursomes, two players per team alternating shots in an otherwise regular format; fourball, all four players play their balls individually and singles matches, one player per team competing against each other.  

The Ryder Cup itself started in 1927, when Samuel Ryder donated a trophy for a biennial competition between the U.S. and the U.K., with the U.S. winning the first ever game. However, from there on, the European teams have won 12 matches while the U.S. has won nine, with two ties across the course of its history. “The last Ryder Cup to take place in America in 2021 saw [...] a 19-9 win” (BBC). 

The U.S. team captain Keegan Bradley has confessed that this year’s European opponents will be the “the best [...] Ryder Cup team ever”. Although, this has not put a damper on the team’s confidence, as he then goes on to say that the European pairings are unimportant to him and he says he’s “pretty confident” in the U.S. team pairings; every competition has an underdog and Bradley asserts that this time it will definitely be the European team.  

Bradley, however, hasn’t played a single game since getting his position as team captain, worrying fansabout his practical expertise when it comes to the RyderCup. “But he’s still just kind of like a coach, right? [...] I think as long as he’s done what he’s doing it will go okay” Regular Golf Enthusiast Brian Kim notes.

The European Team, on the other hand, has their own set of ideas on how they want the game to play out. Luke Donald, European team captain, has finalized his

pairings for the Ryder Cup, which quickly became contentious between fans and players alike. Jordan Smith, Aaron Rai, Marco Penge, Thomas Dentry and Matt Wallace are some names that fans were sad to see unincluded. However, the current team has been incredibly

stable, even winning last year’s Ryder Cup. Donald has described his experience after picking his team as “very aggressive”, but he has much trust in his decisions, and the Ryder Cup will be held either way. Mixed feelings on this matter are inevitable, and everyone has their own preferences on how the players should compete.

Fans arrived at Bethpage Black before sunrise to cheer on their team from the first tee box. Unfortunately, despite the enthusiastic support from American fans, the European golfers took a commanding lead after match play on Friday and Saturday. The Americans nearly swept the Sunday singles’ matches to mark an inspired attempt at a comeback. Though, Shane Lowry eventually tied his match to retain the Ryder Cup for Europe. Fans are already looking forward to 2027 where these teams will square off again at Andare Manor in Ireland.