By Ross Kelly
The four golf majors in 2025 had a combined prize pool of $78.5 million, which makes quite the incentive for golfers to enter their names into the respective tournament fields. The Ryder Cup, however, has no prize pool, but it still is one of the most sought-after golf competitions for players, as it gives them the opportunity to represent their country in a team format.
The 2025 Ryder Cup has arrived, with the biennial competition of Team USA vs. Team Europe teeing off on Friday from Bethpage Black on Long Island, N.Y.
The event consists of 28 total matches over three days, with eight alternate shot matches split over Friday and Saturday, as well as eight better ball matches split over those two days. Then there are 12 singles matches on Sunday, and all 28 matches are worth one point each. As the defending champions, Europe needs 14 points to retain the Ryder Cup Title, while the Americans need 14.5 points to win.
While Europe is the reigning cup holder, the Ryder Cup alternates locations between the United States and Europe every year. Thus, when the 2023 Ryder Cup took place, it was on European soil in Rome, Italy, as Team Europe prevailed 16.5-11.5. One shouldn’t underestimate the event being back on U.S. soil in New York as the home team has won each of the last five Ryder Cups, with the Americans winning the last two U.S.-based tournaments in Wisconsin (2021) and in Minnesota (2016).
While the pairings for the first session on Friday won’t be announced until Thursday afternoon, the United States, as the host, did get to choose which playing format would begin Friday morning’s session. Team captain, Keegan Bradley, shrewdly picked the alternate shot, or foursomes, format for the morning, leaving four-ball for the afternoon. That is noteworthy as you, obviously, want to get out to a strong start, and this strategy has paid off for the Americans before.
The United States has chosen to start off with alternate shot in five straight Ryder Cups and holds a 12-4 record over these sessions. That includes going 6-2 when the United States last hosted in 2021, and even Europe knows how much of an advantage this format is as it went 7-1 across the alternate shot format when it began the 2023 Ryder Cup. With this competition being just a three-day event, instead of the standard four-day tournaments, each day means that much more, and being the host certainly gives the Red, White, and Blue a leg up.
As for the players that will comprise the two 12-man teams, they are overwhelmingly in favor of the United States, per the Official World Golf Ranking. Seven of the top 10 players in the world are on Team USA, including the unparalleled top-ranked player, Scottie Scheffler. He’s joined by the likes of Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, and Bryson DeChambeau, who are each two-time major champions.
Team Europe has just three of the top 10 players, highlighted by Rory McIlroy. The Irishman is joined by Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, Swede Ludvig Aberg, and Spaniard Jon Rahm, with Rahm being the lowest-ranked golfer (No. 73) in the competition. All 12 Americans are ranked inside the top 23 in the world, while Rahm is one of five Europeans ranked 24th or worse.
The Europeans, however, do have a big advantage in terms of prior Ryder Cup experience as the team has just one rookie, while Team USA has four rookies. Team Europe members have accumulated 50 career Ryder Cup points from past events, as McIlroy and Justin Rose have combined for more Ryder Cup points (33.5) than all of Team USA combined (30).
Lots of eyes will be on Scheffler after his dominant PGA Tour season, and he’s looking to translate that success into a team competition, which, for the most part, he’s been unable to do. At the 2023 Ryder Cup, Scheffler went 0-2-2 overall with the one point he attained being the second-fewest on Team USA. A year earlier at the 2022 Presidents Cup—which is Team USA vs. a non-European international team—Scheffler went 0-3-1 overall as his 0.5 points were the fewest for the Americans. Scheffler did win the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics but that was as an individual and not representing the United States as a team member.
This will be his first time competing at Bethpage Black, and the course has been a mixed bag for members on both teams. The last notable tournament the course hosted was the 2019 PGA Championship, won by American Brooks Koepka, but he’s not part of Team USA for the 2025 Ryder Cup. Patrick Cantlay, though, is, and he placed third back in 2019, while Schauffele finished 16th. Of the three other Team USA members who took part in that major, none finished in the top 25.
Europe had seven members who played the 2019 PGA Championship, with the best finishes being McIlroy and Shane Lowry, who both tied for eighth. None of the other five finished in the top 25.
Bethpage Black is on the long side when it comes to distance, and it favors big hitters. That would give the Europeans the advantage, but the local crowd will, clearly, be in favor of the Americans. The United States does have the all-time lead in Ryder Cup history, with 27 wins over the prior 44 editions, but Europe has been the better team as of late. It has won eight of the last 11 Ryder Cup competitions, including two of those victories coming on U.S. soil.
We’ll find out Sunday evening if Europe can continue its recent success or if the United States can take back the cup and enter the next edition in 2027 as reigning Ryder Cup champions. The 2027 Ryder Cup will head back overseas and take place in Limerick, Ireland, while the next one on American soil, in 2029, will be at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota.
