Ryder Cup defeats are hard to stomach. The event has gotten so big and means so much that a loss often leads to a two-year fact-finding mission to right wrongs and ensure the ship is sailing in the right direction.
For the Americans, think the task force after the 2014 debacle at Gleneagles, or tabbing Keegan Bradley to be captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup after he was left off the losing American team in 2023. For the Europeans, a historic loss in 2021 at Whistling Straits was supposed to be the start of a dominant run by a United States team that appeared to be set for the foreseeable future. Instead, the Europeans responded with a resounding victory in 2023 that wasn’t as close as the 16.5-11.5 tally indicated and, on Sunday, a historic 15-13 road win at Bethpage Black. Europe has won 11 of the last 15 Ryder Cups and four times on American soil since the last time the U.S. won in Europe.
This latest defeat will undoubtedly send the Americans searching for answers. There are a number of reasons why the U.S. flopped at Bethpage. They set up the course incorrectly, which Bradley took ownership of on Sunday after the defeat. Where Europe set up courses in Paris and Rome to accentuate the strengths of its roster and put the U.S. at a disadvantage, the Americans neutered a famously difficult Bethpage Black track.
The Americans also failed the data test at Bethpage. While Europe sent out the mathematically optimal foursomes pairings and papered over their weak links in four-ball with their stars, the Americans trotted out the least optimal foursomes pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English twice; Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood steamrolled them both days. On Friday, the U.S. had Russell Henley tee off on the odd holes and Scottie Scheffler on the evens, despite the data pointing to the opposite being optimal. It took Scheffler and Henley’s caddies suggesting the change for it to become the plan for Saturday.
The communication and attention to detail from everyone involved with Team Europe also clearly play a massive role in getting the most out of everyone on the team. Captain Luke Donald, his vice captains, the DP World Tour and the support staff leave no stone unturned — including the quality of the players’ hotel bedding — in preparing Europe for the Ryder Cup, which allows the best players in the world to play freely with total buy-in and belief in the process.
All of this is part of Europe’s Ryder Cup success. And yet, one quote from Sunday’s Bethpage celebration might tell a more succinct story.
After going 2-1-0 at Bethpage while finishing third in strokes gained: total and second in putting for the week, Justin Rose was asked how he explains his dominant performance on the greens in Rome in 2023 and this week in New York. Rose, who is 45, offered something that underscores the connection the European team has built between each other and across the generations.
“I wish I knew. I wish I could be a bit more selfish and know that 25 weeks of the year,” Rose said. “But do you know what I mean? I feel like the power of this, the power of the group, who knows what it is, that ability to lock in, the ability to just want it that little bit more.
“The answer to your question is I don’t know, other than the badge and the boys, honestly. That’s all that matters, honestly, the badge and the boys.”
The badge and the boys.
After the win, McIlroy noted that the entire European operation started focusing on how they would win at Bethpage the day after their victory in Rome. That’s around 700 days spent concocting a plan for three days — a plan for the course, a plan for the prep, a plan for motivation and inspiration and a plan for recovery. Europe had a plan for everything.
Part of the plan focused on the European teams that have won on the road before. Each practice day’s scripting was a call back to one of those victories, culminating with the purple the Europeans wore in 2012 in their victory at Medinah. The European social team released a video touting the 37 players who have won an away Ryder Cup. Even Sunday’s uniforms had historical significance as the four stripes symbolized the four teams that had won on American soil.
A deep desire to become the fifth team to do so flowed through every member of Team Europe.
The Europeans brought back 11 of the 12 players from that team in Rome, all of whom spent two years pushing to make the team and make history at Bethpage. For the Europeans, beating the Americans seems to hold an importance that isn’t equally matched on the other side because of the blue-and-gold’s focus on its past and the desire of its current players to write the next chapter.
On Sunday, as the Champagne was preparing to flow, Donald once again hit on the importance of history and becoming a part of something bigger than yourself.
“That’s a big part of my captaincy is to create an environment where these guys are having the best weeks of their lives, honestly,” Donald said. “We’ll always remember this. We’ll always go down in history. We talk about all the people that came before us that paved the way for us. Now, future generations will talk about this team tonight and what they did and how they were able to overcome one of the toughest environments in all of sport.”
The U.S. will continue to look for ways to “emulate” what Europe does that makes it successful. Perhaps they can find a captain like Donald who presses all the right buttons. But with five words, Rose might have shown why it will be hard for the U.S. to do so. Why the U.S. will be better served charting its own course instead of trying to copy a formula for which they lack the ingredients. Everything for Europe is about the collective and the history of “the badge.” From Seve to Nick Faldo to Sergio Garcia and McIlroy, Europe’s bond with each other and their past is something that can’t be recreated or mimicked. It’s a galvanizing force that can’t be quantified.
