At the recent PGA Championship, there was a constant rumble of conversation about the Ryder Cup. It kept popping up when it was least expected. You would be watching Scottie Scheffler playing a hole and wondering how he swivels his right foot at the end of his swing and, suddenly, you heard a spectator say something about the biennial competition.
Or you would be listening to Xander Schauffele talking quietly after a round and there it was again, another reference to the forthcoming match. It was like a throbbing drumbeat in a jazz tune.
While mention of the forthcoming match at Bethpage Black on Long Island was not surprising, what the American-sounding voices were saying certainly was. They were suggesting that the U.S. might not win the event that starts in a little over 100 days. “Europe are favourites,” said one American. “We are the underdogs,” echoed another. “Have you seen who’s been winning the thing lately?” asked a third.
The U.S. underdogs? The continent that has won 27 of the 44 Ryder Cups, though admittedly only four of the past 14? The team with the considerable advantage of playing at home in front of tens of thousands of noisy fans? The home team not being favourites to continue the run of home successes by both teams, one that dates back to 2014?
Yes to all the above. The truth is, there are good reasons for this uncertainty by those of an American persuasion because Europeans are currently achieving unprecedented success on the PGA Tour. Five men from different European countries have won eight events on the PGA Tour so far this year: Austrian Sepp Straka (the American Express and Truist Championship), Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Players Championship and Masters), Belgian Thomas Detry (Phoenix Open), Swede Ludvig Åberg (Genesis Invitational) and Norwegian Viktor Hovland (Valspar Championship). In late January and early February, McIlroy, Detry and Åberg won three successive events.
After two of the game’s annual four major championships, the tally is Europe one (McIlroy at the Masters), the U.S. one (Scheffler at the PGA). Let’s not forget that the Players is often said to be the game’s fifth major championship and McIlroy won that, too. The playoff in April’s Masters between McIlroy and Justin Rose was the second involving two Europeans after Sergio García and Rose in 2017. But coming amidst such a run of success on the PGA Tour by Europeans, it underscored their current form.
Another reason: there is more balance between U.S. and European players in the world ranking than ever before. Eight of the top 20 are Europe eligible (and this does not include Jon Rahm, who is practically certain to be in Europe’s Ryder Cup team, nor Tyrrell Hatton, who will probably be there, too, nor Rose who might be.) In May 2005 there were only four in the world’s top 30.
“More of them are playing the PGA Tour schedules and that is a consequence of the top 10 Europeans not otherwise qualified going over from the Order of Merit at the end of each season.”
Ken Schofield
Here is a question that is grist to the mill of this discussion. Which player has had the most top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour without a victory since 1983? Those who suggest an American would be making a sensible suggestion – but a wrong one. The correct answer is Tommy Fleetwood with 41.
“Gee,” Ken Schofield, former executive director of the DP World Tour, said on hearing of these successes by members of the tour he ran when it was known as the European Tour. “Certainly a record. That’s remarkable.”
Why?
“More of them are playing the PGA Tour schedules and that is a consequence of the top 10 Europeans not otherwise qualified going over from the Order of Merit at the end of each season,” Schofield replied, adding: “And the excellence of McIlroy, without question.
“I started life as the underdog in terms of Europeans and Americans,” Schofield continued. “I grew up suffering an American whitewash in my first five Ryder Cups, 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1981 and then 1983, albeit by the narrowest margin. It is wonderful now to see at least the scales being, if not tilted in our favour, at least being more than equalised.”
You hoped you would see days like this but did you actually believe you would, Schofield was asked.
“Yes of course. It is really about the opportunity to play in the majors. That is what has made the difference. As recently as 1987 and less than four months before he won the Open, Nick Faldo was not deemed worthy to start at the Masters.”
When questioned about this (and the fact that the European Tour did not receive invitations to the Masters until 1986, 14 years after its founding), Hord Hardin, then chairman of Augusta National, told an interviewer: “The first thing you have to understand is that we are a golf tournament in America firstly for Americans.”
Would you like further evidence that Luke Donald’s team could be considered favourites for the forthcoming Ryder Cup? Then consider the uncertainty of Keegan Bradley, the U.S. captain, as to whether or not he will play in the event.
That same year Hardin was asked whether many of the Europe Ryder Cup team that had recently won the 1985 event at The Belfry would be invited to the Masters. His reply was firm and clear: “Let me tell you once and for all that we will not invite the whole team. Scotch foursomes don’t mean a helluva lot to me. Four-balls don’t mean a helluva lot to me either. That’s a different kind of contest. I hope that we can include some players from the team whose records are great aside from Scotch foursomes.”
Now European golf is in full flower. Note the win by Maja Stark, a Swede, in the recent U.S. Women’s Open, the sixth from that country to win a women’s major championship, and note the presence of Nataliya Guseva, a Russian professional on the LPGA Tour, in a tie for 36th.
Note that Denmark had five competitors at the recent PGA Championship, more than every country except the U.S., Australia, England and South Africa. Note that Adrian Meronk, a Pole, was on the verge of selection for Europe’s last Ryder Cup team. Twenty years ago who would have thought that representatives from such non-traditional golf-playing countries as Russia and Poland would be performing at the highest levels in professional golf?
Would you like further evidence that Luke Donald’s team could be considered favourites for the forthcoming Ryder Cup? Then consider the uncertainty of Keegan Bradley, the U.S. captain, as to whether or not he will play in the event. His current form suggests he might be able to, yet he has not said he would not. This is a conundrum that has yet to be solved. Contrast this with the relative stability of Donald and his team of vice captains who are quietly preparing themselves for the selection of their team.
All this tends to confirm the school of thought that declares Donald’s team to be favourites for the Ryder Cup. But remember, in the Ryder Cup, a 12-man team event spread over three days after a two-year buildup, there is nothing so certain as there will be uncertainties. Europe may indeed have an edge in June 2025 but that does not guarantee success in September 2025.
E-MAIL JOHN
Top: European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, with Tommy Fleetwood
RICHARD HEATHCOTE, GETTY IMAGES