The Ryder Cup captain is tasked with making countless decisions, but when hosting an event, the most important thing is to set up the golf course in a way that benefits his team. This was less important than the Bethpage Black, which is notoriously one of the toughest tests of golf. (Before players arrive at the first tee, make sure the player has a literal warning sign and ensure that the black course is only for “highly skilled golfers.”)
Most of the Black Course tests feature a layout that has become known to fans, with narrow fairways and very penalty rough, and mostly from Tee-Two Green, a layout that Bethpage State Park hosts us.
The 2025 Ryder Cup setup was shocking for anyone expecting to test the biennial event as US Captain Keegan Bradley chose to widen the fairway and reduce devastation. That made Bethpage a putting contest, and for the first two days the Europeans headed for a 15-13 victory with the Greens.
“We tried to set up a course to support our team. Obviously, that wasn’t the right decision,” Bradley said Sunday evening while simmering at a two-point loss. “Whenever you’re a team, a captain or a coach, I talked about this last night. You’re going to get praise. You have to take responsibility when things go wrong.
“I definitely made a mistake with the course setup. I should have listened a little more of my intuition. For some reason, it wasn’t the right way to set up the course. The green was as soft as I saw the green without the rain.
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Bradley took it Deserves some HR decisions At the team event, setting up the course was the basic crime of the week from the US captain. The idea was to open the course for longer batsmen, like Bryson Dedanbeau and Cameron Young, but the strategy was flawed for multiple reasons.
- For short batters, long roughs are even more punished. Because they use longer clubs that are harder to get out of the thick rough.
- Two top European stars, Rory McIlroy and John Rahm, are two of the longest hitters. They bombed freely for a week.
Even if the setup was successful for Deccanbo and Young, they also played in the hands of top European players. It is no coincidence that McIlroy and Rah thrived in the first four sessions of the course, which they were fully built to attack.
A factor that Bradley couldn’t predict was how soft the greens would be after heavy rains on Thursday.
The short rough only amplified how easily the course was played. Sometimes it was better to actually leave the fairway, as we didn’t have to worry about spinning the ball.
Being in the rough should never be an advantage on a course like Bethpage Black, but the lack of penalty from the tee undermined the advantages of the home crowd. The overall point of having a noisy atmosphere is that the fans are closest and loud tees and displeasing the opposing teams with the nerves acting more frequently.
The fans were undoubtedly violent, but the Europeans didn’t have to worry about the nervous swings making holes in them.
This was already an experienced veteran Ryder Cup team with 11 return players from Rome, with some not playing the Road Ryder Cup, while others still hadn’t had much success in the US soil. Matt Fitzpatrick, Cep Straka, Rudig Åberg and Shane Lowry all fall into their buckets as golfers who supported Star and provided big lifts to Europe.
Perhaps the performance level was the same regardless of course setup, but certainly did not hurt Beth Page Black, who welcomed with open arms and offered little discomfort.
All the Ryder Cup captains are scrutinized for his picks and pairings. Bradley certainly has some of the things he wants – especially Morikawa and Harris English pairing twice, with Russell Henry having Scotty Schaeffler and Odd Hall playing on Friday.
But the most important mistake Bradley made in turn when the Ryder Cup captain came before he stepped into the ground on Long Island, New York. Caterpills the difficulty of the infamous tough course when players are more comfortable and gaining fan support is their own goal.
Bradley quickly realized that early approval would not hinder nightmares about lawn mowers, sprinklers and rain.
