If American Ryder Cup fans were already concerned after Luke Donald ominously agreed to be European captain again next year, they were given even more reason to shiver with fear 24 hours later.
At last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage on Long Island, the popular Kevin Kisner was one of Keegan Bradley’s US vice captains, overseeing a second straight defeat in the event and a third home defeat this century.
While the questionable record of away teams in the Ryder Cup should’ve played in the US’s favour, they threw away that edge in the first two days of the event, as Donald’s Europe played with dominance, before eventually scraping victory in the Sunday singles.
Part of the reason why this happened was due to the flabbergasting state of the golf course, a previous US Open venue, which was stripped of its teeth and given a soft belly instead.
“We got hosed by the weather. I think the course set-up is the easiest one (factor) to go back to. We had the stats to back up why we did it, but hindsight is 20/20,” Kisner said on the Foreplay Podcast, the day after Donald was named as European captain for the 2027 Ryder Cup.
“I’d rather have lost going down with typical Bethpage, but if it doesn’t rain two inches on Thursday, where the greens are so soft that we’re actually playing from the rough to take the spin off the ball…”
Home teams are allowed to manipulate the Ryder Cup venue in their favour. In 2016, America cut down the rough and had accessible pins. Europe brought the rough in and let it grow in 2018 and 2023.
Captain Bradley elected to cut the rough down again last year, but rain on the day before the event started softened the course. Nonetheless, this wasn’t the only reason why the golf course was damp for three days, figuratively turning Bethpage into a pitch-and-putt, alien to the brutality it is known for.
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Europe weren’t faced with a visible disadvantage, and players like Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm could spray the ball where their hearts desired. To his credit, Bradley faced up and blamed himself.
“It’s a hilarious story. I’m out with the first or second group on Friday morning. We get to hole 6 at Bethpage. We’re playing Tommy (Fleetwood) and Rory (McIlroy). 6 is the little short hole down the hill – you can see your drive,” Kisner continued.
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“You’ve got to hit it pretty far left off the tee, and Tommy stands up there and laces this ball, obviously going in the rough, as soon as he hits it. As soon as he touches it, Rory goes, ‘Great shot,’ and Tommy picks his tee up.
“I was like, ‘Isn’t that in the right rough?’ We go down the hill, and I’m standing up on top of the hill watching it, and Rory has got 80 yards in the right rough to the front pin, and he lands it a foot (from the pin), and it doesn’t move and we lose the hole.
“I go on radio: ‘Boys, I think we’re f***ed – these guys are purposely hitting it in the rough on the short holes to take the spin off.”
‘Hilarious’ is a rather interesting word used to describe a moment during an event that we are led to believe is an intense, heated battle where every inch matters and every player wants to win. In an instance that foreshadowed what was to come, and not least yet another slack turn in Team USA’s approach to the event itself, Kisner chose to chuckle instead of fret.
“It was Harris (English) and Collin (Morikawa). Collin hit it perfect down the middle. Harris hits his wedge, tries to land it 20 feet by the hole to spin it back. It spins back half that far, misses the putt. We lose the hole. I’m like, ‘Oh no, this is bad’.”
A quote from a podcast isn’t the reason why America lost the Ryder Cup for the ninth time in the last 12 renewals, but it can help to explain the gap in mentality between Team Europe and USA in an event where the former lives and dies by the golden trophy, whereas Team USA can take it or leave it.
A quote from a podcast also might not matter because, as is abundantly clear every two years, the Ryder Cup is grossly overanalysed for what is an exhibition event between two teams that face each other through no historical precedent.
But the passion that oozes from Europe’s dressing room each time is striking, and this quote wouldn’t be worth picking up if members of Team USA didn’t purport to share the same passion. For instance, Bradley refuses to open a suitcase he has in his home from the 2012 Ryder Cup until he wins one. He is still waiting.
What Kisner’s quote does tell us, and Keegan Bradley’s own admission about the golf course conditions too, is that the outcome of the event isn’t just decided by the team that plays better.
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The team that plays better has been allowed to do so in the most optimal conditions possible, which is why Donald will lead Europe for the third time in a row. He is the master of detail, and inexplicably, Team USA still shirk this element of the equation. Instead, they find it ‘hilarious’.
Kisner’s words undermine what motivation America has to win the Ryder Cup again. If they lose at Adare Manor in 2027, it should pile immense pressure on whoever is the next captain of America’s next home Ryder Cup.
Will they be laughing then?
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