The 2025 Ryder Cup didn’t end up as a lopsided defeat for the United States, thanks to a wild Sunday surge in singles. That was too little too late, considering Europe had built up a massive lead over the first two days to become the first team to win an away Ryder Cup since 2012.
There was no shortage of blame passed around after the U.S. side fell short at home, and captain Keegan Bradley bore the brunt of it, especially when it came to complaints about the course setup at Bethpage Black
Known as one of golf’s toughest tests, Bethpage Black was neutered by a decision to cut down the rough. Rain early in the week softened the greens, and the Europeans crushed the Americans across the first two days thanks to a red-hot putting display on greens that lacked the fire most expected.
That was apparently a point of contention between the U.S. team and the greens staff at Bethpage Black, and the greens were noticeably quicker on Sunday when the Americans made their charge. Bradley was largely blamed for specifying how the green should run, but Justin Thomas confirmed that the course staff and the U.S. team argued over the green speeds through the week during a recent appearance on the No Laying Up podcast.
“I don’t know why they weren’t at all what Keegan had asked for,” Thomas said. “I mean, he had been pretty clear of asking for a certain speed and wanting it fast enough. I watched them argue with us that they were 13s [on the Stimpmeter]. It’s like, ‘Guys, we play golf every week, like, look on TV at how many guys are leaving putts short. Nobody is getting … You can’t have a putt roll 3-4 feet past the hole. Like, these greens are slow. Speed them up.'”
“It was just bizarre because that’s not something you would expect at a home Ryder Cup. And again, that’s not an excuse. They had to adjust to them just as much as we did,” Thomas added. “But that’s kind of a fun advantage you generally have is being able to [set up the course] a little bit, and it was just so frustrating that we were being fought with and argued with on the speed of the greens that we asked for. So that was bizarre.”
To Thomas’ point, none of this is an excuse for the Americans’ poor performance on Friday and Saturday. Still, it is certainly not the situation a team wants to experience when choosing the course setup is supposed to be one of the main advantages for the home side.
That will be something the PGA of America will have to address ahead the next Ryder Cup staged stateside, as the course staff must be willing to adapt if the greens aren’t where the team wants them. Perhaps they were rolling 13 on the Stimpmeter, but if the team says they need to be faster, then you have to try everything you can to speed them up rather than pushing back.
At the same time, the U.S. side must be able to adjust and perform better, even if they aren’t getting the exact conditions they wanted. Softer greens are harder to speed up, and with the rain that the course took on the week of the Ryder Cup, the U.S. team had to play better in the conditions that confronted them.
While cutting down the rough was an own goal by Bradley, the way the greens played was perhaps not his fault after all.