This is big, the Ryder Cup 2025 matches are finally upon us! Perched at the pinnacle of match play golf, 12 of the best players from the United States face off against 12 of Europe’s best in this biennial competition. We’ll take you through the basics and sprinkle in some interesting facts about the 2025 Ryder Cup.
When and Where is the Ryder Cup in 2025?
The matches take place on US soil Friday September 26 thru Sunday September 28, 2025 at the illustrious Bethpage State Park Black Course, a public venue on Long Island in New York that is considered one of the finest in the world.
What Makes the Ryder Cup Special?
Beyond golf’s four major tournaments, which are played every year, the Ryder Cup is contested once every two years as a match play event, with the team-based format and national pride making it even more intense than individual stroke play majors.
The honor of playing for your country (or continent in Team Europe’s case) and for glory instead of tournament prize money makes for an electric, pressure-packed atmosphere with large crowds rabidly cheering and chanting for their respective sides. It’s simply like no other golf tournament.
This year’s Ryder Cup is also special because it happens to be held on a public course, one that every individual has an opportunity to play, as opposed to a private club reserved for members and guests only.
Format & Scoring Explained
As a team-based event the Ryder Cup utilizes match play, where players or pairs compete head-to-head on individual holes in three specific formats – Foursomes, Four-balls and Singles. In match play it’s the amount of holes won that determines a winner, with the fewest strokes winning a hole. Win more holes than your opponent and score a point for the team, earning a critical point or ½ point in the event of a tie.
There are 28 points up for grabs across the 3-day competition and the side holding the cup (currently Europe) needs 14 points to retain it whereas the US needs 14½ to take it back.
Day 1 and 2 are pairs (2v2) competitions in Foursomes and Four-balls with 8 matches each day (16 points up for grabs) and Day 3 is 12 Singles (1v1) matches for the final 12 points to decide the winner. While the event could theoretically be won on Day 2 this has never happened as the competition tends to be spirited and tight.
- Foursomes – Two players from each team alternate hitting the ball, requiring exceptional teamwork
- Four-balls – Two players from each team play their own ball, with the better score counting vs the other side. Four-balls is the most common format in team match play across all of golf. Also known as Four-Ball, Better Ball, and Best Ball
- Singles – Head-to-head competition between players from opposing teams, offering the highest level of individual pressure within the team format
Team USA: Automatic Qualifiers and Captain’s Picks
Six players automatically qualify for the team based on points earned in various stroke play events on the PGA and DP World tours over a period that begins late the year prior to the Ryder cup event and ends roughly a month before. The captain is then granted six picks of his own to round out the 12-man team.
The US team comes in with 4 rookies (⅓ of the roster) as they look to reverse the recent trend of only winning 2 of the last 7 events.
Below each name, note their Ryder Cup record, the number of teams they’ve played on and the number of times their team won (Win-Loss-Tie, #Teams, #Wins):
Team Europe: Automatic Qualifiers and Captain’s Picks
Team Europe returns with the same captain and nearly identical roster of players that decisively won (16½ – 11½) in 2023 at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy. And if experience is any indicator, their squad clearly has more previous success but the task of winning an away match in front of a tough New York crowd remains rather daunting.
Below each name, note their Ryder Cup record, the number of teams they’ve played on and the number of times their team won (Win-Loss-Tie, #Teams, #Wins):
The Captains
On the US side, Keegan Bradley was selected as captain in July 2024. At 39 years old Keegan is the youngest US captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963. Known as a tremendous player and Ryder Cupper in his own right, plenty of drama surrounded whether Keegan would automatically qualify or otherwise select himself as a player with a captain’s pick. In the end, he decided to pass up playing and focus on the strong leadership role required for a successful showing.
As noted earlier, Luke Donald returns as European captain in an attempt to pull off the rare instance of winning a Ryder Cup on foreign turf. Given the stellar leadership dynamic he presented two years ago in Italy and the experience gained in marshaling his troops, Luke is ideally positioned to guide team Europe forward in this formidable task.
Between the captains and their vice-captains, who’ll be in constant communication by walkie-talkie and monitoring one match or another via golf carts, multiple decisions are required on top of motivating their charges. Most important among these is determining the lineup of players – who plays and who rests on Days 1 & 2, who’s paired with who in the team matches and who goes out in what order.
The Course
Bethpage Black, a truly fearsome test of golf, complete with its own warning sign right on the 1st tee.
The difficulty is evidenced by a Course Rating of 77.5 and Slope Rating of 155 from the Back tees, among the highest anywhere. At around 7,500 yards with a par of 70 (usually 71 for regular golfers), the course requires prodigious length off the tee. Narrow fairways, fescue and elevated, multi-tier greens surrounded by enormous bunkers add to the peril.
All factors considered, the Black is a personal favorite. I’ve played it several times and it feels like you’re in a cathedral of golf from the 1st hole to the very last. One of the best tracks anywhere and available for public play to boot.
Key Rivalries and Storylines to Watch
The Ryder Cup presents a huge rivalry, the biggest in all of golf but it wasn’t always that way. The first Ryder Cup took place in 1927 at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts, featuring a team from the US versus a team from Great Britain with 12 points up for grabs across the 8-man roster. The US won handily 9½ to 2½ and thru 1959 won 8 more times out of 10 (no event was played in 1939,1941,1943 and 1945 due to World War II). In 1961 the competition was expanded to 24 points and then again to 32 points in 1963 before going back down to 20 points in 1977, settling on the current 28 point system in 1979. More importantly, players from Ireland were added to the mix in 1973 and continental European players in 1979 when the side was officially renamed “Europe”.
Before the inclusion of Europe in 1979 the US record stood at an impressive 19 wins against just 3 losses including a 16-16 tie for victory in 1969 where the Cup was retained since the US was in possession. Since then, however Europe has played much better, winning 13 times versus 9 losses and dominating more recently, winning 5 out of the past 7 events.
European superiority in this century, 8 wins versus just 3 losses, makes it all the more imperative for the US side to rally and defend their home turf.
Over the life of the event, the US holds a 27 to 15 advantage along with 2 ties, one in 1969 when the US retained the Cup and the other in 2014 when Europe did.
And if this all sounds kind of like a friendly war, it most certainly is!
How Fans Can Watch and Attend
Attending at this point is a stretch as the event sold out in November 2024 within 48 hours of tickets going on sale in spite of the hefty $750 asking price. It speaks to the strong market demand from a passionate fan base. Around 50,000 fans will be attending each day along with many millions more watching online or on TV. If you’re dead set on being there in person, check outlets like SeatGeek.
Streaming is available on a variety of platforms including Peacock, the NBC Sports app, and the Ryder Cup app.
The primary broadcaster is NBC and their sports affiliates, with coverage on Saturday and Sunday, complemented by USA Network on Friday Day 1.
Why the 2025 Ryder Cup Matters in Golf History
The Ryder Cup is a celebrated event that has evolved to captivate the golf universe, peaking during Ryder Cup week every other September, and climaxing on a Sunday when the winner is decided. Ryder Cup fever remains at the forefront of golf in the year leading up to the event as players vie for automatic qualifying points or jockey for position late in order to be selected as a captain’s pick.
If you make a Ryder Cup team as a player, your name will go down in golf history, and if you perform well on this pressure-packed stage you can become a legend. Several players, yes great golfers but not necessarily major winners are considered legendary based solely on their prowess in the Ryder Cup, gutting out matches with brilliant play to earn key points and propel their side to victory.
The greatest of all Ryder Cuppers may very well be the late Seve Ballesteros, a notoriously tough match play opponent. He was perhaps Europe’s most exciting player, a king of gamesmanship that loved sticking it to the Americans every two years.
Notable US Ryder Cup players from the last 25 years and not participating as a player in 2025 include Phil Mickelson (12 teams, 47 matches), Tiger Woods (37 matches), Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson.
Notable European Ryder Cup Players from the last 25 years (also not participating this year) include Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Colin Montgomerie and Paul Casey.
Conclusion
So who will win? Probably the team that putts the best as they are all incredible players. Having home advantage coupled with boisterous New York crowds yelling in their favor and heckling the Europeans should also provide a boost for the US side. Let’s see if they’re up to the task and either way there should be a lot to appreciate.
I hope this article helps underscore the importance and excitement surrounding the Ryder Cup. And please don’t disturb me the weekend of September 26th, 2025, as I stay glued to the action, cheering on my side in the 2025 Ryder Cup at one of my all-time favorite courses, Bethpage Black – enjoying match play, my favorite format, mano a mano action at the highest level for the biggest stakes, national pride of the US of A vs Europe!
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