Ryder Cup 2025: Why I believe Europeans can produce golfing equivalent of a Broadway performance

In Rome two years ago, Luke Donald’s players rose to the challenge as golfing gladiators, using a first-ever 4-0 clean sweep in an opening session of the transatlantic tussle to record a 16.5-11.5 win at Marco Simone Golf Club.

Remarkably, 11 of the 12 players from that triumphant team are in action again this week on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park in Long Island and all 12 names are the same. “They only had to change one initial,” observed a smiling Rasmus Hojgaard of replacing his twin brother, Nicolai.

Donald’s dozen will need to show their fighting qualities again, joining forces as a Gang of New York on this occasion, with Rory McIlroy, for example, being required to take on a ‘Bill the Butcher’ role at a venue that sits just 40 miles to the east of Manhattan.

Donald’s motto this week has been simple and to the point. ‘This is Your Time. And This is Your Place’. The Englishman has also spoken a lot about his team aiming to create “history”. By that, he obviously means recent history on US soil, where the most recent of four European wins came at Medinah in 2012.

The world No 1 at the time, Donald led the way in the last-day singles on that occasion as Jose Maria Olazabal’s team came from four points behind overnight to pull off a memorable victory, with Donald having also been on another triumphant team on this side of the Atlantic at Oakland Hills in Detroit eight years earlier.

Add in another victory as a player at The K Club in 2006 then his winning captaincy on the outskirts of Rome two years ago and, make no mistake, Donald is a man with the midas touch when it comes to the Ryder Cup.

The man the Americans wanted

Ideally, the Americans would have wanted Tiger Woods to be his opposite number on this occasion, but that exciting prospect will have to wait, probably until the 2027 clash at Adare Manor in Ireland. Instead, the PGA of America have turned to Keegan Bradley in their bid to reclaim the trophy after a disappointing performance with Zach Johnson at the helm in Italy.

In truth, Bradley should probably be playing over the next three days instead of being driven around in a golf cart because, quite frankly, he’s currently one of the 12 best US golfers at the moment, but has opted to focus on the captaincy and rightly so as there’s a good reason why the event hasn’t had a playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963.

Whereas the aforementioned Rasmus Hojgaard is the sole rookie in the European ranks, Bradley has four playing for him - J.J. Spaun, Russell Henley, Ben Griffin and Cameron Young, the latter, incidentally, being a New York native.

On all four occasions that a team has had none or one rookie since 1979, it has either won outright or tied to retain the trophy and that is a good omen for the ‘Boys in European Blue’.

The score in this contest has been 14.5-13.5 seven times in the last 22 editions and what about this one? If you add up all the results since 1979, when it became Europe instead of Great Britain & Ireland facing the Americans, the overall score is 312-304 in favour of the Europeans. That’s a measure of how close this contest is and what makes it one of the greatest events on the sporting calendar.

There’s a worry that on this occasion that something ugly might happen due to where it is being played, with New Yorkers being famed for being sports lovers but more used to watching either baseball, basketball, ice hockey or grid iron. Behaviour at places like the MetLife Stadium, Yankee Stadium or Madison Square Garden isn’t welcome at an event like the Ryder Cup and here’s hoping that crowd monitors being deployed for the first time can keep boozed-up fans in order.

Bradley’s unfortunate clanger when mentioning Justin Rose instead of Justin Leonard in his speech at the Opening Ceremony apart, the big talking point of the week has been the US players each receiving $500,000 for competing here, with $300,000 having to be donated to charity.

Will US fans turn on their players?

Unsurprisingly, Donald made reference to money not being a factor for the Europeans when it comes to this event in his speech on Wednesday and, on top of fans having had to fork out $750 for tickets, it is feasible that the US supporters could turn on their team should they underperform, especially on what is often a crucial opening day.

A course that has been described as being “straight out of the Team USA playbook for a Ryder Cup” with the majority of fairways being wide and rough that is negligible has been well and truly softened by torrential downpours that started in the early hours of Thursday, meaning a birdie-fest is likely to be on the cards.

The fact that we’ve only seen one away win being recorded by either team in the past 21 years is the main reason why the Americans are odds-on favourites with the bookmakers, as well as the fact Europe have suffered heavy defeats, including a record 19-9 hammering at Whistling Straits, in the last two stagings in the US.

That continuity from Rome, though, and the fact that Donald, aided by 2014-winning captain Paul McGinley in a new role as strategic advisor, has come here with a plan aimed specifically at winning away is why I am quietly confident that the visitors can produce the golfing equivalent of a Broadway performance.