Rory McIlroy previously said winning a Ryder Cup on foreign soil is ‘one of the biggest accomplishments in golf’, but will home course set-up be less of an advantage for Team USA in this year’s contest?
There’s six months to go until the United States host Team Europe at Bethpage Black, live on Sky Sports, where Luke Donald’s side look to follow their 2023 win in Rome with a historic first away win in the biennial contest since 2012.
Home advantage has traditionally been a key factor in determining the winner, with Europe registering just four away victories in Ryder Cup history and Team USA currently on a run of seven consecutive defeats as the visiting team.
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A look at best of the action from the final day of the 2021 Ryder Cup, where Team USA closed out a record-breaking win
A hostile New York crowd will provide an intimidating atmosphere for Team Europe this September, although Brandel Chamblee questions how Team USA are going to be able to set up Bethpage Black to favour the home side.
“I think the United States has a dilemma,” Chamblee told the Sky Sports Golf podcast. “The United States has always had the advantage of hitting it miles and all over the place, but being great iron players and scramblers, so they set up the golf course at home that way.
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Sky Sports reporter Jamie Weir heads to New York to find out what awaits Team Europe at the 2025 Ryder Cup
“Over the last few years, the US players have become more control players. They’re more like the European players, so that same course set up will not be the advantage it’s been in the past for the US, I would argue.
“How are they going to set that golf course up? Are they going to set it up, you know, long and wrong, or are they going to set it up more like Europe sets it up, because that’s more to their strength at this point?
“I’ll be very curious to see how they set up that golf course. I know the home course, home country advantage is huge in the Ryder Cup, but there are a lot of Irish people floating around New York City and it’s going to be such a spectacle.”
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Early form advantage for Team Europe?
None of Team USA’s Ryder Cup from two years ago have won on the PGA Tour this season, although Russell Henley – part of last year’s Presidents Cup team – and Harris English – who represented Team USA in the 2021 Ryder Cup – have both claimed victories.
There has already been plenty of early-season success for Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup team from 2023, headlined by Rory McIlroy topping the FedExCup standings following his AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am win with a victory at The Players.
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Highlights from the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where Rory McIlroy impressed to claim a two-shot victory in his first PGA Tour appearance of the year
Sepp Straka, Ludvig Åberg and Viktor Hovland have all won on the PGA Tour over the past three months, while Tyrrell Hatton followed his brilliant finish to 2024 by winning the DP World Tour’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January.
Robert MacIntyre – a two-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2024 – has finished no worse than 11th in four of his last five worldwide appearances, with Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood both enjoying consistent starts to their seasons.
Two-time major champion Jon Rahm has also impressed and finished no worse than sixth in his four LIV Golf League starts this season, continuing his streak of posting top-10 finishes in every event on the circuit since switching from the PGA Tour at the start of 2024.
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Jon Rahm says the last Ryder Cup was the best golf experience of his life and is hoping to be part of the team again in 2025 in New York
“Every time Paul McGinley comes up on our set, I try to goad him into getting giddy about the European success,” Chamblee added. “Paul plays his cards so close to his chest and the Ryder Cup is everything to him.
“He’s like ‘you’re getting giddy, stop it right now, long way away!’, but you can’t help but look at the trend that’s going on with Europe right now and think there’s nothing more exciting.”
Europe’s hopefuls adding to Ryder Cup depth
Thomas Detry has enhanced his hopes of a Ryder Cup debut with a record-breaking seven-shot victory at the WM Phoenix Open, as did Adrian Meronk by winning the LIV Golf season opener and Ryder Cup stalwart Sergio Garcia for his Hong Kong title on that circuit.
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Highlights from the final round of the WM Phoenix Open from TPC Scottsdale, where Thomas Detry claimed an emphatic victory
Laurie Canter is in the world’s top 50 after three top-threes in four starts on the DP World Tour, including a win in Bahrain, while compatriot Aaron Rai – who won the Wyndham Championship last August – is in the mix following four top-15 finishes on the PGA Tour this season.
Rasmus Hojgaard is currently in the automatic qualification spots after last year’s Amgen Irish Open success, with Niklas Norgaard and Matt Wallace – both winners on the DP World Tour in 2024 – just outside the top-six in the standings.
Justin Rose already has two top-10s on the PGA Tour this season, as he chases a seventh appearance for Team Europe, while Donald has plenty of other contenders looking to force their way into his Ryder Cup plans.
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Justin Rose reflects on Great Britain and Ireland’s win at the Team Cup and the importance of the event in the run up to this year’s Ryder Cup
Team USA claimed a record-breaking victory the last time the Ryder Cup was held on American soil, winning 19-9 at Whistling Straits, although Horschel is unsurprised by how Europe bounced back.
“People started writing off Europe and saying, ‘hey, look at this USA squad. They’ve got 20 guys deep that can make this team. They’re all young. They’re just going to dominate over the next decade’, and you see what Europe has done,” Billy Horschel told the Sky Sports Golf podcast.
“You can never count them out… there’s just something about Europe, when they come together as a team. The guys that may be lesser players on paper, they seem to raise their game.
“It’s the likes of Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, the leaders in that team who are able to bring those guys along and make them feel as one, as Seve did with all those guys back in the day, when they started to compete and win Ryder Cups.”
‘Electric atmosphere’ ahead in New York
There’s still plenty of time for players to secure their Ryder Cup spots, with all four majors still to come in 2025 and almost five months left of the qualification campaign, while Horschel – who hopes to feature for Team USA – expects this year’s contest to be louder than ever.
“This Ryder Cup is going to be different,” Horschel added. This is going to be unlike anything that any player has ever seen, or the Ryder Cup’s ever seen – it’s going to be very boisterous.
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Keegan Bradley says he will carry the culture captain Jim Furyk set for their Presidents Cup victory into the 2025 Ryder Cup
“It’s going to be like the 2002 US Open at Bethpage Black, when it first went there. The chants, the way they got on Sergio [Garcia] – the crowd’s going to be that way a little bit.
“I’m not saying it’s right and I hope it’s a respectful crowd – but they’re going to be on Europe early on! If the US side doesn’t play well, they’re going to be on the US team as well for playing bad golf. It’s going to go both ways.
“I think it’s going to be one of the most electric Ryder Cups that we’ve ever seen.”
Listen to the full Brandel Chamblee and Billy Horschel interviews on the latest edition of the Sky Sports Golf podcast, hosted every week by Jamie Weir. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Spreaker, while vodcast editions are on the Sky Sports Golf YouTube channel.
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