19th Hole
Jon Rahm calls for Ryder Cup 2027 venue to be ‘de-Americanized’

The selection of Ryder Cup courses has always been crucial to the success and failure of the USA and European teams.
The US team was always going to be favoured at Whistling Straits at the most recent of matches, eventually winning easily by 10 points, whilst they also picked up a large margin victory at Hazeltine in 2016.
Europe, though, has beaten The States in their own backyard, with the 2012 ‘Miracle at Medinah’ going down in history as the greatest comeback in recent Ryder Cup history, winning by a point after being 10-4 down after 14 matches.
However, with the European side unbeaten at home in all six events since 1993, organizers will know how crucial the setup will be at Adare Manor in 2027.
With many of the likely stars from both sides taking part in the JP McManus Pro-Am over the last couple of days, players’ views on the course will be of tremendous interest.
The final leaderboard at the well-supported charity event shows a genuine mix of nationalities, and whilst Xander Schauffele won by a single shot from a charging Sam Burns, European players took five of the next ten places.
So, how does the course match up to others on the European rotation?
Before the second and final round today, world number 3, Jon Rahm, spoke of his admiration for the County Limerick track.
“Fazio has done an amazing redesign of the golf course,” Rahm said. “It’s beautiful, and this golf course can be made as easy as they want and as hard as they want, right? It’s the beauty of a good challenge.”
But there was a caveat when looking forward to 2027.
“For a European, possibly in that Ryder Cup, they might need to spend a lot of time and resources on de-Americanizing the golf course,” Rahm said. “Because right now, it would be pretty much what you would expect in a Ryder Cup in the U.S. Based on what I saw in Paris and what I’ve seen in other venues, Ryder Cup in Europe is a little different. They might spend some time and effort to do that, obviously, to suit our strength, right? But we’ll see.”
Commenting on the sizeable crowds and festive atmosphere at the event, Rahm acknowledged that, “We will have the Irish crowd, the core of the crowd being Irish, supporting the European team, and we all know how the Irish can create a good atmosphere and a good time, and it will be really, really fun.”
In a month of tension, back-biting and poor headlines for the sport, Adare Manor has shone a moment of light and relief.
2027 should indeed be “really, really fun.”
More from the 19th Hole
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.