Breakfast Ball #89: 2025 Ryder Cup Preview

Well folks, we made it. The stage is set, the teams are on site, and the 2025 Ryder Cup will tee off in four days. You have all the content you need to prep right here.

Week One: The History of Bethpage Black

Week Two: Bethpage Black Course Profile

Week Three: Ryder Cup Team Profiles

Week Four: Ryder Cup Preview 👇️ 

In the Ryder Cup Preview Issue:

Home Cooking: How will the U.S. team set up Bethpage Black to their advantage?

The last visiting Ryder Cup team to win the event needed a miracle at Medinah in 2012. As the statistics and analysis behind the game of golf have developed, so has the Ryder Cup. Home teams now set up the course to fit the skill profile of the 12 players they select for the event. For example, the European team, worried about their driving accuracy at the last Ryder Cup in Rome, cut down the rough substantially from where it was in the weeks leading up to the event.

In past years, the U.S. team would probably have grown the rough high at Bethpage to favor their more powerful lineup of ball strikers. The strength of Tiger Woods, John Daly, and Dustin Johnson, which was a rarity on European teams for years, is now commonplace. Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Åberg, and the Højgaard twins have changed this narrative. Four of the seven longest hitters in this year’s edition are European.

So how can the U.S. team differentiate from one of the best European Ryder Cup teams ever? In my opinion, the greens.

Over the last 6 months, the U.S. team boasts 6 of the top 7 players in strokes gained: putting in the Ryder Cup field. The Bethpage greens are known for being quite docile, with limited slopes and contours. However, putting is the second most accurate predictor of success at Bethpage after driving distance. Why? Speed and firmness. Bethpage State Park does not take any prisoners.

Green speeds on the Black course can reach 12 on the stimpmeter (a standard method of measuring green speed) during normal civilian play, which is the average speed of greens on the PGA Tour. Yes, you read that correctly — the greens can run as fast as the PGA Tour when weekend warriors take to the Long Island links. Don’t be surprised if the U.S. team dials these greens up to 14 during Ryder Cup week to give their superior putters an advantage.

Who could be the difference? Which players will move the needle and win the Ryder Cup?

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are the leaders of their teams. It is essential that the big names play well and bring home some points to give either team a chance to win. However, at every Ryder Cup there is a surprise player that creates game changing moments that swings the momentum toward blue or red. Who could be that player this time around?

Europe: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Robert MacIntyre

Bob MacIntyre made his debut at the 2023 Ryder Cup as the 55th ranked player in the world, a relative unknown to the wider golf audience. He was paired up with the experienced Justin Rose to shepherd him through two four balls matches. While they came away with 1.5 points from their two duels, that was mainly thanks to the play of Rose.

However, MacIntyre is a different player today. He won the Canadian and Scottish Opens, came second at the U.S. Open, and is ready for battle as the 9th ranked player in the world. A few weeks ago he encountered some jeers from the U.S. crowd as he battled Scottie Scheffler at the BMW Championship. A couple of years ago that may have gotten to him. Not now.

“You give me crap, I'll give you crap back. I'm not scared of that," he said after the round. “What we say on the European team, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” No worries about the fight from this Scotsman.

USA: 🇺🇸 Ben Griffin

Rookies rarely make a big impact at the Ryder Cup, but Ben Griffin could change that narrative this time around. Just 4 years ago, Ben Griffin needed to take on a job as a mortgage loan officer to repay $17K in debt he accumulated while trying to chase the dream of pro golf. He had one sponsor that believed in him, covered his playing expenses, and two years later he was on the PGA Tour.

2025 was a genuine breakthrough year for the University of North Carolina graduate. Griffin won twice on the PGA Tour, including the Zurich Classic — the Tour’s only two-man event featuring foursomes and fourballs, the very formats used in the Ryder Cup.

Griffin will be a huge asset to this team, and while he is only likely to see action three times, you can be sure he will attack this course. He finished second to Scottie Scheffler at the Procore Championship last week, and with good form going into the event, he will be a force to be reckoned with.

My Final Predictions: Who will win the Ryder Cup?

Prediction 1: The winning margin will be 2 points or less

While the Ryder Cup is my favourite event in golf, it has suffered from a lack of competition in the last 5 editions. The last Ryder Cup to be decided by less than five points was back at Medinah in 2012.

However, this year the Ryder Cup teams seem very balanced. Europe has an experienced side with real star power at the top of the lineup. The U.S. has home advantage and exciting rookies that could be the difference.

Let’s hope we have an exciting finish down the stretch on Sunday.

Prediction 2: Europe 14.5 - 13.5 U.S.A.

At the end of the 2023 Ryder Cup, Rory McIlroy made a proclamation: “I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf is winning an away Ryder Cup. And that is what we’re going to do at Bethpage.”

I agree with him. This is a European team that has been successful together in the past, and almost every player on the team is a better golfer today than they were in Rome.

The deciding factor is likely to be the foursomes on Friday and Saturday morning. Medinah was also the last time that the victorious Ryder Cup team did not win the foursomes portion of the event. Alternate shot golf is extremely hard to plan for and strategize, and home teams can typically go deeper into the strategic element of this format with the setup of the golf course.

Rahm/Hatton, McIlroy/Fleetwood, Hovland/Åberg, and Lowry/Straka or Rose/MacIntrye are a very strong set of foursomes pairs that will be difficult to beat. That is where I see the difference between these teams, however slim it may be.

Europe by one. See you on Friday.

RYDER CUP SCHEDULE:

Friday, September 26 (All times local, ET & 5 hours behind GMT)

FOURSOMES

• Match 1 - 7:10 a.m

• Match 2 - 7:26 a.m.

• Match 3 - 7:42 a.m.

• Match 4 - 7:58 a.m.

FOUR-BALL

• Match 1 - 12:25 p.m.

• Match 2 - 12:41 p.m.

• Match 3 - 12:57 p.m.

• Match 4 - 1:13 p.m.

Saturday, September 27

FOURSOMES

• Match 1 - 7:10 a.m.

• Match 2 - 7:26 a.m.

• Match 3 - 7:42 a.m.

• Match 4 - 7:58 a.m.

FOUR-BALL

• Match 1 - 12:25 p.m.

• Match 2 - 12:41 p.m.

• Match 3 - 12:57 p.m.

• Match 4 - 1:13 p.m.

Sunday, September 28

• Singles matches (12) will begin at 12:02 p.m.

If you have any feedback for the newsletter or would like to get in touch, I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] or message us on Twitter/X at @BlueHorizonGolf. Thank you for reading!