Three Ryder Cup Blunders By The United States Before Play Even Began.

The 2025 Ryder Cup did not go as expected for the United States team at Bethpage Black. Heading into the event, the favored United States team looked solid, but after two days of embarrassment in the foursomes and four-ball sessions, deeper problems than just poor play reared their head in New York.

On the surface it is easy to look at the matches and chalk it up to the European team just playing better golf, or that they just made more putts as some of the United States players said during their press conference. Digging deeper, the problems for the United States were more than just bad play, there were three areas where this Ryder Cup was doomed from the start, before the first tee shots were hit.

FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 28: Captain Keegan Bradley of Team United States speaks to the media after Team Europe’s 15-13 win over Team United States during the Sunday singles matches of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Black Course at Bethpage State Park Golf Course on September 28, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

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Course Setup

One of the advantages to being the host team for the Ryder Cup is getting to set up the course prior to the event. This can go a long way to the success or failure of a team and its players.

Bethpage Black was devoid of rough this week, so much so that local golfers from Long Island barely recognized their course. Many locals were overheard during practice rounds talking openly about how the course is set up tougher for them in the summer than it is for the best players in the world for the Ryder Cup.

In the past this may have benefited the United States as they have had longer hitters that tended to be less accurate off the tee. This year however, other than possibly Bryson DeChambeau, the European team was just as long, if not longer off the tee and less accurate. When they got to Bethpage Black at the beginning of the week, they must have been beaming with joy to see two-and-a-half inch rough.

The United States on the other hand had players such as Russell Henley and Collin Morikawa on the team, two players that thrive on accuracy and not distance. Henley won earlier this season at Bay Hill, a golf course known for its difficult setup with narrow fairways and long rough. Morikawa, although not in great form coming into the 2025 Ryder Cup, is known to be one of the most accurate ball strikers in the game. Not to mention that the number one player in the world, Scottie Scheffler, just happens to be one of the most accurate drivers of the golf ball on the planet. So this course setup was baffling to see.

According to Data Golf, during the Ryder Cup, there was only a 0.12 shot penalty for missing the fairway at Bethpage Black. This is much lower than the lowest on the PGA Tour this season which was 0.24 at Riviera.

“We tried to set the course up to benefit our team. Obviously, it wasn’t the right decision,” American captain Keegan Bradley said. “I definitely made a mistake on the course setup. I should have listened a little bit more to my intuition. For whatever reason, that wasn’t the right way to set the course up.”

Team Pairings

The Sunday charge that the American team made in singles made the end result much closer than the Ryder Cup really was. The team events of foursomes and four-ball play were completely dominated again this time by the European team. Obviously, the simple answer is that they just played better. This is of course true, but there were deeper problems with some of the pairings that the United States put out, especially in foursome play.

Selecting the right partnerships is crucial in having success at the Ryder Cup in foursomes and four-ball. With foursomes being alternate shot it becomes incredibly important to get the pairing right with players whose games are compatible with each other.

The very first group that the United States sent off on Sunday morning did not make a lot of sense from a strategic standpoint. Justin Thomas was paired with Bryson DeChambeau. Thomas, although one of the best wedge players in the world, also happens to be very erratic off the tee and hot and cold with the putter. In a foursomes match, the optimal team is made up of consistent players who compliment each other and can both make putts when needed. I can see the logic in this pairing where DeChambeau gets Thomas into position off the tee to do what he does best, hit wedges close. The flaw in this logic is that Thomas also has to hit half the tee shots and on Friday morning, he did not do a great job at that.

The most obviously flawed foursomes pairing was Collin Morikawa and Harris English. Morikawa has struggled this season, and with the golf course being soft and he being a short hitter off the tee, this pairing was doomed from the start. With poor play and their opponents Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood very sharp, the American team got rolled 5&4.

The craziest pairing came in foursomes on Saturday morning. On Friday evening as the pairings came out, the golf world was shocked that Keegan Bradley was sending out Morikawa and English again in the same format.

Coming into the event, Data Golf did an analysis of all the possible U.S. team combinations, the pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English was the worst possible combination, 132/132. Bradley said he was sticking to the plan and they again got trounced in their match. This pairing should have probably never been put together to begin with, but putting them out there again on day two was madness.

Tee Selection

One vital aspect of foursomes play is what player tees off on certain holes. Players either take odd or even holes, so whoever tees off on the first hole tees off on all the odd holes and the partner on the evens.

To most fans this may not seem like a big deal, but on a golf course with multiple dog legs and teams that are evenly matched, it can make all the difference.

At Bethpage Black, a right-handed player who favors a fade (left-to-right ball flight) would optimally tee off on the odds as there are multiple dog-legs to the right. Similarly, many of the even holes you would want a player who draws (right-to-left) the ball as multiple holes are dog-legs to the left.

The United States again made mistakes with this aspect of the Ryder Cup. A perfect example is the very first group out on Friday morning, Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau.

Thomas is a natural fader of the golf ball, so it would have made perfect sense for him to hit the opening tee shot and all the odd holes. American captain Keegan Bradley undoubtedly wanted to make a splash and have the long-hitting DeChambeau possibly drive the opening green. This strategy was woefully short sided. Even if it worked out well on the opening hole, both players would then be forced into hitting uncomfortable tee shots for the majority of the round, which they subsequently lost.

Another pairing came out, and another screw up with this tee strategy. Scottie Scheffler was paired with Russell Henley. Scheffler a natural fader of the golf ball should have been hitting the opening tee shot. Instead, Bradley opted to have Henley, a natural drawer of the golf ball hit it. This set up a tough day for the American team.

Not only did both players have to hit uncomfortable tee shots all day, but Henley was now teeing off on the same holes as the long-hitting Ludvig Aberg. By doing this, Henley was often times 30-40 yards behind Aberg. This took what would normally be an American advantage as Scheffler is the best iron player in the world and made it a disadvantage, as he was often times hitting much longer clubs into greens against an opponent who was hitting shorter clubs into soft greens. This strategy was again doomed from the start.

The European team, without question was a deserved winner. They outplayed the United States badly in all four of the team sessions on Friday and Saturday. However, they were setup for success with the help from an American plan and course setup that did not make any sense.

Captain Luke Donald and the European Ryder Cup team right now are miles ahead of the United States in terms of strategy, data and details. If the United States hopes to compete in 2027 at Adare Manor, big changes are going to have to be made to the way things are done before ever stepping foot on the golf course.