U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley on playing at Bethpage, new unis
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley explains the emotions that go along with playing at Bethpage.
- The U.S. Ryder Cup team is seeking redemption on home soil after a decisive loss to Europe in Rome in 2023.
- Despite Europe’s recent dominance, the U.S. team is favored, largely due to the home-course advantage at Bethpage Black in New York.
FARMINGDALE, NY — Tommy Fleetwood remembers the pain of watching the U.S. Ryder Cup team celebrate its beatdown of the Europeans in 2021 at Whistling Straights in Wisconsin.
The 19-9 margin was the largest in the Ryder Cup in 54 years.
Fast forward to Rome in 2023, and the roles were reversed. After Europe’s decisive win over the U.S., a video of the team singing and dancing on the team bus, mocking the Americans by changing the words of a song by Italian singer Gala to “Europe’s on fire, USA’s terrified,” went viral.
Two years later, and the cycle continues. It’s the Americans’ turn to remember.
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“When you’ve lost one, yeah, of course you have a chip on your shoulder,” Fleetwood, from England, said. “You have that feeling of hurt. One of the most motivating things you can have is watching the other team celebrate when you’ve lost.”
All the pressure is on the U.S. and captain Keegan Bradley when the Ryder Cup starts early morning Sept. 26 with fourballs (alternate shot). The U.S. team was embarrassed in Rome, losing all four matches in the first session and everything was questioned from Zach Johnson’s captain’s picks, to the team’s preparation, to the pairings.
“There was a sour taste leaving Rome,” Collin Morikawa said. “Like, it wasn’t an OK feeling. We had a job and a goal to accomplish that week, and we just didn’t pull through. We weren’t hitting the shots. We weren’t making the putts and when you’re on an away stage like that, you have to step up a little bit more.
“I wouldn’t say it’s haunted me, but it definitely woke me up when I was on the verge of making this team to make sure I would give everything I could. I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I need to do.”
All the pressure on the US Ryder Cup team to not lose on home soil
Now, the Americans are on home soil, where losing a Ryder Cup could cause a national crisis among the golf community. The visitors have hoisted the Ryder Cup trophy eight of the last nine competitions, all but one decided by at least five points.
And that one win by the road team in 2012 became known as the “Miracle at Medinah” after Europe rallied to a one-point win outside of Chicago.
The Europeans have won in the U.S. four times in the last 40 years. The U.S. won in Europe once during that span, 1993 in Belfry, UK.
A big reason is Ryder Cup crowds are like nothing golfers have ever seen. Forget the polite, quiet, respectful atmosphere of a regular PGA Tour event. This is more like a European soccer match with singing, dancing, cheering and jeering.
And plenty of trash talk.
Couple that with passionate, flag-waving New Yorkers dishing out the diss and this is expected to be a weekend for the ages.
“I hope Friday is just absolute chaos,” Morikawa said. “I’m all for it. I think it feeds into who we are. We want it. We want to use that to our advantage.”
That home-course advantage is powerful. The U.S., with a far less experienced team, is favored with odds ranging from -145 to -155, even with the Europeans having 11 of the 12 players returning from that victorious Rome team.
Meanwhile, Bradley has four Ryder Cup rookies. Europe has 32 years of Ryder Cup experience compared to 15 for the Americans.
“Anytime you lose you want to come back and win,” Bradley said. “But you’re at a home Ryder Cup, there’s not much more motivation you need. The fans are going to give us all that.”
That leaves Europe looking for motivation of its own. And any edge it can muster.
During practice, European captain Luke Donald had the team wear shirts from the 1987 team that defeated the U.S. at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, and from that 2012 team.
And the players have been equipped with virtual reality headsets that simulate the noise and heckling they’ll encounter on the course. Players can plug in anything they want, including the worst possible insult.
“That’s the stuff we are going to have to deal with,” Rory McIlroy said at the BMW PGA Championship in England. “So it’s better to try to desensitize yourself as much as possible before you get in there. You can get them to say whatever you want them to say.
“So you can go as close to the bone as you like.”
Crowd already building, chanting ‘USA … USA’ and cheering on Americans
Cameron Young, one of those rookies on the U.S. team, knows all about the New York fans. The Jupiter resident was born about 60 miles north of Bethpage Black and is a fan of the Giants, Yankees and Rangers.
Young was asked about the Europeans attempting to duplicate the crowd noise.
“I don’t know about the whole virtual reality thing,” he said. “I think there’s probably no substitute for being out there.”
The crowd has been building all week. The players arrived last weekend, starting the week with a quiet day of practice with no fans. By midweek, Bethpage was packed and fans were chanting “USA … USA” around the practice green and on the course, and cheering on the boys in red, white and blue.
“It was about the most people I’ve ever seen out on a golf course,” Young said about the midweek rounds. “So there’s already a lot of energy, a lot of noise out there. A lot of support for us.
“I think they will bring a lot come Friday. (But) hoping they are staying on our side. I know they will let us have it, too, if we’re not performing the way they want.”
That is the great unknown and why the U.S. cannot stumble out of the gate like it did in Rome. Donald started the mind games by saying the crowd could turn on the Americans in a New York minute if they are not playing well, especially now that they know they are getting paid.
Clearly, he is hoping to plant the seed in the minds of the U.S. fans.
“Every sport uses their home crowd to their advantage,” Morikawa said. “And just because we don’t (usually) play in a setting like this it doesn’t mean that we can’t use that to our advantage.
“I think we really have to tap into that. I hope they come strong.”
Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
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