The 2025 Ryder Cup is almost upon us, with what is likely to be one of the most exciting weeks of the year. In a contest that is almost too close to call, Bethpage Black will host the event that has been predicted to generate one of, if not the most, passionate and loudest crowds in Ryder Cup history.

Ahead of the event, former World Number Four and 3-time Ryder Cupper Hunter Mahan sat down with me, Gianni Magliocco, to break down some of the big talking points and storylines heading into the biennial event.

Within the discussion, Mahan reveals his insights into the key to successfully pairing Bryson DeChambeau in foursomes, his advice for Ryder Cup rookies, and why he believes the U.S. will ultimately triumph in New York.

Check out the full Q&A below.

Rookie Advice, Team Chemistry & Leadership

Gianni: With several rookies set to tee it up at Bethpage this year, four for the U.S. and one for Europe, what advice would you give them as they make their Ryder Cup debut?

Hunter: For the European side, I would just say you don’t need to prove anything. You don’t need to do anything special. Lean on your teammates, talk to your teammates. They’re going to do a great job of taking care of Nicolai Højgaard. I’m sure his brother has given him a bunch of good advice.

But I honestly believe that going into a crowd like this is actually better for the European side than the other side. Basically, because for the U.S. players, what you have to do is control yourself and live in between just playing golf and trying to win your match, and not trying too hard to pump up the crowd and play for the crowd.

All you’re trying to do is win points. That’s your job on the U.S. side. And it’s not to play to the crowd, because it’s really easy to get a little bit too amped up and to be in an environment that you’ve actually never experienced before and to play too hard. You just let the situation…let the environment…sort of take care of itself, and you worry about playing great golf.

Gianni: How would you compare the team chemistry on the U.S. squads you were part of to what you see with this generation?

Hunter: The teams I played on, Phil Mickelson was a massive part of our teams. He was an incredible team leader. He talked to everybody. He had a great pulse of our team and knew what each identity was to every player and who could best fulfill those partnership roles for them.

Justin Leonard was someone I looked up to, and to play with him at Valhalla was really incredible. He was just a great partner because there’s a captain, but then the guys who are really with you are obviously the players, but who are going to be those one or two guys that you’re going to see all week? You’re not going to bond with 10 guys, but you’re going to have one or two, maybe three guys that you have a very similar style of play. You have sort of that same sort of demeanor as how you play. And you have to find those guys that you can talk to, that you can relate to, that you can be vulnerable with, and ask really deep questions and understand what is expected of you that week.

We had great chemistry with those guys for a long time. All these guys on the team now, it’s a little bit of a younger team and a different dynamic. You’ve got some rookies that are older, and you’ve got some studs that are younger that have a lot of experience.

This is a team that likes each other 100%. This idea that the European side are closer than the U.S. side, that’s not really what it is, but the European side that they are bringing this year, they are bringing guys who completely know each other. They are going to be locked in on this golf course. They’re not going to be worried about the teams and who’s going to be their partner. They are set with that. That was very much what Luke wanted.

He’s just bringing Rome back to here. They’re only worried about playing the golf course. They’re going to be really locked in with one another. This U.S. side has a lot to figure out about who’s going to be partnering with who and who’s going to be helping each other.

Keegan can only do so much. It’s really going to be on the players to really communicate and talk with one another and really make sure that everyone understands who are their people. Who is the guy that I’m going to talk to? Who’s sort of my leader within my little group? So that when we go out and play, we’re just worried about the golf, we’re not worried about anything else, that there’s going to be zero surprises this week. Because that’s the last thing that can happen for the American side.

Gianni: In your view, what’s the strongest Ryder Cup pairing you’ve ever seen, either as a teammate or as an opponent?

Hunter:  I think Graeme McDowell was one of the better teammates and players that I’ve ever seen in a Ryder Cup. I remember him and Rory together was an insane partnership. Those guys just, felt like they were thinking the same thing on the golf course. It’s like they could almost pick each other’s clubs. They could see each other’s styles so well. Graeme is just an incredible guy that I love to compete against and just a good human being.

And then I remember him with Victor Dubuisson. I remember the Europeans purposely put them together quite a bit, you know, and for Graeme to invest so heavily into Victor, into his work up to the Ryder Cup. And I remember they played practice rounds together, they were paired together. The Europeans had really made sure that Graeme got a lot of knowledge about this guy and about how to talk to him, about who he was.

And it just shows how much effort the European side puts into this Ryder Cup. There’s never a doubt of who wants to be there and why. Everyone is completely invested in it, and it’s very impressive. Just seeing Graeme and who he works with, he’s sort of a chameleon in that way. But I had so much respect for him and how he took on his role on the Ryder Cup team from a playing perspective. He really was fantastic.

Gianni: What’s the best piece of advice you ever received from a Ryder Cup captain?

Hunter: It was definitely from Paul Azinger going into Valhalla.

I was talking to him quite a bit beforehand, trying to convince him to pick me on the team and told him how much I wanted to be a part of it and how much I lived up to watching the Ryder Cup and how much I enjoyed it. And he said, I want to make sure that you understand it’s you have to want it the right amount. You know, you can’t want it too much, right? You can’t want to try too hard. And you also don’t want to walk into it if you think it’s just another event and you’re just playing golf.

There’s a happy medium of the energy and the focus that you need to bring to our Ryder Cup that is different from another event. And you really have to work hard on figuring out where that is. And once you find that place, that’s where you’re really going to succeed and really play your best in the Ryder Cup situation.

He really told me, make sure you find where you need to be energy-wise and focus-wise, and how you’re going to handle those things. Make sure you live in that space where you’re not reaching and trying too hard. We all want to win, but if you try too hard, that’s not going to work either in these very, very stressful events.

Strategy at Bethpage

Gianni: Looking at Bethpage specifically, which hole do you think will prove most pivotal at this year’s Ryder Cup?

Hunter: 15. I think 15 is going to be the hole. It’s the perfect hole, where it’s big par-4, it’s super challenging, super steep uphill, so it requires a certain type of player to hit into that shot. It’s a slight dogleg to the right, it’s kind of a weird tee shot, and if you miss it in the rough, depending on how thick the rough is, it’s going to be very challenging to get it up high enough. You’ll have to be incredibly strong, incredibly fast to get it up that high and that steep to be able to hold the green. Or you’re going to be completely out of position.

If you hit it long enough, obviously, you’re going to be able to cut the corner a little bit and get way up there. And then obviously, hitting it farther, you’re going to be able to hit it higher, you’re going to have control of the shot, and control of the spin. That’s just from a technical perspective. But if you’re one down going in that hole, right, if you’re one or two up, you can just change the match real quickly because 16, 17, and 18 are birdie holes. They’re great opportunities for you to catch up.

I think we can see a lot change on that hole from a mental perspective. You can see a lot of guys winning on that hole and getting in trouble and sort of losing with, you know, pars could win a lot on that hole depending on the foursomes and best balls.

So I think that’s going to really be the pivotal hole. That’s the hole, that’s like the last really, really tough hole you’re going to play. And you can see a lot of carnage on that hole. So I think that’s going to be a great spot to see momentum change in a lot of the matches.

Gianni: When it comes to Sunday singles, strategy is often key. Which U.S. player would you most want to send out early, and who would you hold back as an anchor?

Hunter: I definitely want Scottie Scheffler to be my anchor. He is so used to being in those tough situations – last group watching everyone in front of him play golf. He just knows how to handle those situations so well.

Obviously  when he gets a lead on Sunday, when he’s in that position in the last group he’s an extremely tough guy to beat, he never really hurts himself. He’s just always going to be in the right frame of mind to come through and being the clutch. So the way I see this Ryder Cup, it just feels like it’s going to be a very, very tight match.

I think you want him to be in the last three for sure, and maybe second to last, because you obviously want his point to count. But this just feels like a very 50-50 Ryder Cup to me. So I want him near the anchor.

Who I want to go first? I always feel like it’s good to send the rookies out first because I think they’re just going to be eager to play. Sitting around all day watching is not going to be in their best interest.

I really think sending out a Ben Griffin or Russell Henley early would be super beneficial for those guys. You don’t want them just waiting. They want to be a part of this thing and they want to get their points. I always feel like the rookies, you want to get out there early because they’re just going to be excited. Sitting around waiting for them is going to be a waste of time.

Pairings, Captain’s Picks & Predictions

Gianni: Brandel Chamblee recently raised the question of how to pair Bryson DeChambeau in foursomes. From your perspective, what’s the key to integrating him given his unique style and equipment?

Hunter: Nobody hits it like Bryson. I’ve watched him hit it on the range a few times. Nobody hits it like him. He’s a player in a different mould.

A player of his caliber right now, sitting him in two matches seems like a waste. And I think the U.S knows that. And so I think they’re working really hard within the squad to figure out who’s going to be his partner.

His ball is really his. So you really have to find a good balance with that and make sure the equipment is similar. But you’re going to have to find his energy. You can’t bring his energy down with someone who’s more stoic. People talked about Cameron Young. That doesn’t make any sense to me. You need a high energy guy. You need someone who’s going to roll with him.

Because he’s going to want to be aggressive, he’s going to want to take risks, he’s going to hit driver down by the hole, and then you’re going to have to have someone who is really creative and hit out of some different lies in different situations. So it’s going to require a certain player to be able to handle Bryson and to be lockstep with him, from how he plays to what he thinks.

I’m sure the U.S. have worked really hard at that and figuring out how do we get Bryson out there for five matches. But it is a unique challenge. I think that was one of the things I could see that the team really focused on the last six, seven months and figuring out how do we get him on the golf course for five matches, who’s going to be a partner technically, and then also emotionally, who’s going to ride that wave with him and be creative and hit the shots that Bryson hits because he plays a very different game than everyone else.

Gianni: Looking at Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald’s captain’s picks this year, who do you feel has the potential to emerge as their biggest star?

Hunter: Well, the European side is pretty stock from last time. Obviously, we’re replacing the Højgaard’s. I think everyone seems to know about all the European players. They’re just studs. They’ve only gotten better it feels like from the last time in Rome.

Tommy’s finally won, Ludvig’s just doing what he does. McIntyre is a completely different player than than last time. He’s actually reaching his peak right now. Hatton is just a stud. They definitely built a team based on just knowing each other and just flat out really, really good players. That’s just all it is.

The US side is interesting. From Ben Griffin, Russell Henley, JJ Spaun and Cameron Young, the younger guys, there’s nothing really showy about them. They’re just grinders in a way. You look at Russell, Ben and JJ, they’re all the 29 and over, this is their first Ryder Cup. I think they epitomize hard work and toughness.

Cameron is a really talented guy. Cameron’s probably the biggest potential superstar out of this. He’s had high expectations for a long time and he hasn’t quite reached those. But he’s still only 28 and the best of him is probably yet to come. His driving ability, he’s a guy who has gotten hot at the right time. I do think we’ve not seen the best of him. And I think this week, being a New Yorker, I think he’s going to be the biggest superstar out of this week.

Gianni: With half the team now chosen by the captain, do you see that as a positive or negative evolution for the Ryder Cup?

Hunter: It just makes sense, right? For where golf is right now and how things have changed, the European side of the DP World Tour, LIV Golf, it’s sort of a necessary change. I thought eight and four was great. I think six and six is technically it’s a little much because I do think making it on your points, make it on your own is something to hang your hat on.

But I do like having the options for the captains to really see his team and see what he needs, right? Clearly, Luke wanted seniority. He wanted experience to go into this Ryder Cup.

There’s clearly something from that last team that was so dominant like we saw there’s a chemistry and a real affection amongst the players, and understanding all the players and how they work so well together that he wanted to keep that as best he could and it makes perfect sense going from Rome into this one two years later, to where this team is probably actually better than they were at that time.

So for him to have those six picks for the European side makes total sense, and it definitely does help them. I liked it the other way, but it makes more sense, and it is a positive for where golf is now.

Gianni: Finally — prediction time: who wins at Bethpage, and why?

Hunter: I think 15- 13 U.S. I was looking at some data sets, and I think the U.S. has the advantage.

Technically, when you look at stats and everything, but when it comes to the Ryder Cup and the partnerships that Europe has from the last one, the confidence that they bring, this golf course actually fits both teams very well. It’s very fair in that sense. Like Rome was sort of, the perfect opportunity for Europe because none of the U.S. players had any experience. None of them came over and played the Italian Open. They didn’t actually put that much work into that golf course. And I think it showed, and the European side did a lot of that.

This feels very 50-50 to me. And I think losing so badly in the last one, I think Scottie Scheffler is really going to be a huge part of this team. I think he’s going to be more of a leader.

From the embarrassment that the U.S. took last time, they’re going to be incredibly motivated. This feels still like a flip of the coin to me, but I’m going to give the edge to the U.S.