Key events
… but while there’s a long way to go, these foursomes will nevertheless be crucial. The last five Ryder Cups have seen the eventual winners come out on top in the opening foursomes. Europe trail 11½-4½ in foursomes on their last two visits Stateside. Anyway, here comes match number two, and while Ludvig Åberg finds the fairway, Russell Henley sends his tee shot into rough down the left. But it’s not particularly thick, and there shouldn’t be too much for Scottie Scheffler to worry about there.
Jon Rahm’s left-to-right slider is dead on line … but the early-morning green is slower than he thinks, and the ball stops one turn short. That’s par, but he’s given DeChambeau a good read, and the Americans are ten feet closer. Bryson walks in the birdie putt, and the gallery goes bananas. First blood to the hosts! A long way to go in this Ryder Cup, to be fair.
1UP DeChambeau/Thomas v Rahm/Hatton (1)
Tyrrell Hatton cops some jeering as he takes his time to clean his wedge with a towel. And then underhits his chip out of the rough. His ball only just gets over the bunker guarding the front-right of the green. But it squirts onto the putting surface and that leaves Jon Rahm with a 25-foot look at birdie. Justin Thomas then nervously bumps up to 15 feet, a poor effort. Big putting contest coming up!
Europe captain Luke Donald speaks to USA Network … “It’s not quite the same welcome we had in Rome! … our boys are ready for it … we have a strong four pairings.”
… as does his American counterpart Keegan Bradley. “I’m extremely grateful … I’ve done a lot of amazing things but this is one of the coolest moments of my life … go USA!”
The opening shot of the 2025 Ryder Cup is taken by Jon Rahm. He’s already got four foursomes wins on his resumé. But opening nerves do a number on the big man, who carves his drive into thick stuff down the right. Bryson however absolutely clubs his opening drive, over the trees by the left-to-right dogleg and nearly onto the green! That’s a 344-yarder to begin with, and it’s advantage USA.
Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas emerge from the tunnel together, with the Stars and Stripes draped behind them. USA! USA! USA! Wild scenes! Then Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton arrive, and they’re bombarded by ear-splitting boos. Rahm wears a wry smile. Hatton initially looks stunned, but quickly breaks into a huge smile. A pose for photos. Rahm and Hatton are announced. Boos. Arms around each other. Bryson and JT get their flowers. Arms around each other too. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Ryder Cup, and it is ON!
The air literally bangs and crackles with excitement as three US Air Force fighter jets whizz overhead in formation! The hosts putting on a show. No further encouragement needed for the crowd to turn the volume up another couple of notches. Nigel Tufnel has nothing on this. These go to 12.
BREAKING NEWS … brought to you by legendary US newspaperman Arnold Ziffel …
… is that the atmosphere on the first tee at Bethpage is electric. There are plenty of Europe fans trying their best to make themselves heard … but many more home supporters giving it plenty. Good luck to Europe’s opening partnership of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, because you can bet your last bronze cent that Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas, showmen both, will whip ‘em up even further. Not long now!
Now then, New York plus golf equals … yes, we know exactly what springs to mind first …
… or perhaps …
… but Bethpage Black also sits in the overlap between NY and the greatest game on the big Venn diagram of life. It’s hosted two US Opens, a Tiger Woods stroll in 2002 …
… then David Duval’s near miss in 2009 …
… plus there’s also Brooks Koepka going out of his way to make the final day of the 2019 PGA Championship more exciting than it promised to be at the start of it.
Plenty of history there to relive, courtesy of David Davies, Lawrence Donegan and Ewan Murray. Goodness me, the Guardian has been blessed with some wonderful golf writers down the years. Enjoy, enjoy.
The format for golf newbies
For the benefit of folk who fancy getting up on the downswing this weekend but don’t always follow the greatest sport in the world, we usually cut and paste the following explainer. Hey, if it’s worth reading once, it’s worth reading a dozen times. Here we go …
The Ryder Cup is a matchplay event. Each match is worth a point. There are 28 points available over the three days, so the first team to get to 14.5 points will win the Cup. Should the scores be tied at 14 points apiece, Europe will retain the trophy as current holders.
Match-play explained for those dipping their toe into the murky world of golf for the first time: In common-or-garden championship golf, such as the Masters or the Open, tournaments are scored using the stroke-play system. Whoever takes the fewest shots over all four rounds in a championship wins. All shots count and are added up for a cumulative total. So if, say, in next year’s Masters, Jon Rahm shoots 63-63-63-63 and Scottie Scheffler shoots 87-87-87-87, Rahmbo will have taken 252 strokes, and beaten the best player in the world by 96 shots. (Good luck if you bet large on this exact outcome.)
Anyway, in match play, each player or team wins a hole for every hole they better their opponents. So if Scottie takes five shots at the 1st, but Rahm needs only three, Rahm goes 1up. If Rahm wins the next hole too, he’s 2up. If the pair share the same number of shots on the 3rd, the hole is halved, and Rahm remains 2up. It doesn’t matter if Scheffler took 13 shots on her way to losing the 2nd, by the way; a bit like the unwritten rule of visits to wallet-sewer-interface-venue Las Vegas, what happens on each hole stays on each hole. There is no knock-on effect.
So let’s say Rahm wins the first nine holes of our make-believe match. With nine played, and nine remaining, he is 9up. Scottie can only tie at best; Rahm can’t lose. This is known as dormie. (And more specifically, in this slightly ludicrous example, as dormie nine.) If Scheffler wins the next nine, the game will end all square, and each team will get half a point to their overall total. But if Rahm wins the 10th, he’s 10up with eight holes to play. He has won 10&8. If the 10th hole is halved, Rahm would be 9up with eight to play. He’s won 9&8. Similarly Scheffler can be said to have lost 9&8. Europe would add a point to their overall total. I’ve probably made this sound way more complicated than it needs to be, but there it is anyway.
There will be three types of match: foursomes (teams of two players use one ball, taking alternate shots); fourballs (teams of two players play a ball each and take the best score, known as the better ball); and singles (this is when it gets quite wild and everyone across two continents starts with the shallow breathing and chest clutching). And these matches are arranged in a schedule like this:
Today: four matches of morning foursomes; four matches of afternoon fourballs.
Tomorrow: four matches of morning foursomes; four matches of afternoon fourballs.
Sunday: 12 singles matches.
Preamble
U! S!! A!!! U! S!! A!!! It’s not going to get any quieter, is it. And that’s absolutely fair enough. The prerogative of the hosts. So earplug up, baby, buckle in, and enjoy!
Here are the tee times for the first session, the first foursomes, of the 45th Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, New York. All times BST, the prerogative of the host of this website. Good luck America, all the best Europe, may the best team win. It’s on!
12.10pm: Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas v Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton
12.26pm: Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley v Ludvig Åberg and Matt Fitzpatrick
12.42pm: Collin Morikawa and Harris English v Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood
12.58pm: Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay v Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland
