Connect with us

News

Friday at the Ryder Cup: Five things we learned

Published

8 months ago

on

Nothing like having a Friday-evening quarterback, err, captain like me, to share five things that we learned post-golf on day one of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. Items that coulda or shoulda or woulda made a difference. It’s unavoidable to wonder what might have been, when what appears obvious now, was so shrouded by the mists of autumn, 24 hours back.

Friday was a long day for this writer, so without going into detail, this edition of five things we learned will be pithy in comparison with the usual effort. Not worse, just pithy. Each point is a salient one, and worth your time and ponderance. With that endorsement, have a quick read of five things that we learned on Friday at the 2025 Bethpage Black Ryder Cup.

FARMINGDALE, NY – SEPTEMBER 26: Scottie Scheffler of Team United States plays his shot on the sixth hole during the 2025 Ryder Cup on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park on Friday, September 26, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Michael Reaves/PGA of America)

1. Jon Rahm can win with anybody; can Scottie Scheffler win with somebody, please?

Jon Rahm led Europe on day one with two, lead-off victories. He partnered Tyrrell Hatton in the morning to a decisive 4 & 3 victory over Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas, then rode herd with Sepp Straka in the afternoon, to a 3 & 2 win in a tilt with the current Open and US Open champions. Rahm is poised to become Europe’s spiritual leader, in the same manner that previous Spaniards Jose Maria Olazabal and Severiano Ballesteros did. He is a workhorse, and should show in all five matches this year.

Scottie Scheffler, paired with Russell Henley in the morning and J.J. Spaun in the afternoon, won a total of three holes in two matches, while losing eleven holes. Future captains, take note: Scheffler may not be the guy to pair with Ryder Cup rookies. Not saying anything beyond the essential fact that Scottie is 0-2 this year, and 2.5-0.5 in 2021, and 1-3. in 2023. Team golf is hard, even for the world number one player. Of his 3 Ryder Cup points, half have come in singles (a win and a draw.) Scheffler will once againmatch with Henley in Saturday morning foursomes; perhaps they have solved the mystery of how to make more birdies.

If the press cannot find topics for stories, shame on them. RCBPB 2025 is high Broadway drama at its finest, minus the music and the dance.

FARMINGDALE, NY – SEPTEMBER 26: Jon Rahm of Team Europe hits his shot on the 12th hole during the 2025 Ryder Cup on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park on Friday, September 26, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Michael Reaves/PGA of America)

2. Captain Keegan isn’t afraid to mix up his dance cards, but should mix them more

Bryson DeChambeau will partner Cameron Young in foursomes on Saturday morning. Here’s hoping that the third guy is the charm for the big guy. BDC is 0-2 thus far, and has failed to provide the spark that Team America needs. In contrast, Young co-authored the 6 & 5 mauling of Ludvig Aberg and Rasmus Hjogaard on Friday afternoon. He is probably a bit stung from sitting out on Friday morning, and probably itching to continue to prove his worth on a course that feels like home.

Saturday morning foursomes will see the return of Scheffler-Henley (yikes), English-Morikawa (uh-oh) and Schauffele-Cantlay (phew). It’s a risky play, to be sure, as two of the three duos were outmatched by their European counterparts in brace number one. Scheffenley and Englikawa will need to demonstrate improved performance and partnership, or the host side will find itself once more behind the the eight ball at the four-ball.

FARMINGDALE, NY – SEPTEMBER 26: Bryson DeChambeau of Team United States hits out of the bunker on the seventh hole during the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage State Park on Friday, September 26, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Michael Reaves/PGA of America)

3. Winning holes with birdies

That’s precisely what Team Europe does. It might sound simplistic, but the visitors won 16 holes over four matches in foursomes on Friday morning, with birdies. In the afternoon, they claimed another 11 holes with birdies. Only the Young-Thomas slaughterhouse produced zero birdies for the blue. It doesn’t matter if the old world gets under par with accurate approach shots, chip-ins, or long putts; they get it done and the USA needs to find the secret sauce, or the Sunday singles won’t matter.

In Friday foursomes, the Red, White and Blue won a total of five holes in three matches. That’s abysmal. The fourth pairing, Schauffele and Cantlay, won six holes on their own, eclipsing the combined efforts of six of their teammates. Their recipe for success needs to be memorized and rehearsed by version 2.0 on Saturday morning.

FARMINGDALE, NY – SEPTEMBER 26: Tyrrell Hatton of Team Europe hits his shot on the 15th hole during the 2025 Ryder Cup on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park on Friday, September 26, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/PGA of America)

4. Compel yourself to peak

This might be the unmentioned difference between the two sides. The Europeans, at least on day one, have proven themselves able to will themselves to successful play. Team USA, in contrast, arrives with all the platitudes and sigils that tendy people use, but seems to have little backing, with a few exceptions. Team Europe is like a small, authentic town, steeped in history and camaraderie, while the Americans resemble a golden-age, Hollywood set: pretty paint jobs of facades with nothing behind the shell.

Europe understand that the Ryder Cup is not a singles competition, and that it is every bit a singles competition. Its shots do not stray, do not waver. Each strike is decisive, accurate, and effective. Mentally, Europe is at another level, and the host squadron must summon all of its accuity to equal or surpass on day two.

Another part of this is the been there before essence of Europe’s teams. 11 of 12 team members are in their second or more playing, with only Rasmus Hojgaard making his debut. Squadron USA has four rookies in Spaun, Henley, Young, Griffin, but its veterans aren’t playing like veterans. Moikawa and Thomas should be team leaders, but they honestly don’t look good enough to deserve their selections. If you can’t help, at least don’t hinder. So far, that’s what Scheffler, Morikawa, Thomas, and DeChambeau, multiple major winners all, have done.

FARMINGDALE, NY – SEPTEMBER 26: Viktor Hovland of Team Europe hits his shot from a bunker on the 18th hole during the 2025 Ryder Cup on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park on Friday, September 26, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Michael Reaves/PGA of America)

5. What is needed?

Foremost, a decisive victory by Young-DeChambeau in the first match with Fitzpatrick and Aberg. It’s achievable. Match two pits two European titans (MackyWood) against English and Morikawa. If ever an upset was needed, this is the match. Patty Ice and Xander will need to replicate their day-one foursomes victory, only this time, they will face two barrel chests in Rahm and Hatton. The USA needs to win a stage, or the afternoon will be quite depressing. Down by 5.5 to 2.5, the host team needs to close the gap in the AM, and further reduce it in the PM. The current hole is quite deep, and Captain Bradley and his staff are tasked with contriving a method to narrow the breach.

How is this done? Hit fairways and greens, and give your duo nine birdie putts on the outward half. Keep the ball in play, in front of you. Get back to the most basic element of the game and work forward from there. Reduction of mistakes forces the opponent to match your precision, or fall by the wayside. No need to take risks at any point. Stay the course. On Friday, Team USA fell by the wayside with much regularity and little apparent direction toward improvement. Saturday must be better, or the singles matches will be a formality.

FARMINGDALE, NY – SEPTEMBER 26: Patrick Cantlay of Team United States hits his shot on the ninth hole during the 2025 Ryder Cup on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park on Friday, September 26, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/PGA of America)

Related Topics:

Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Zachs Johson

    Sep 28, 2025 at 9:23 am

    Similar to the disaster team that Zach Johnson lead over the cliff, Keegan seems to be doing the same. Instead of picking the top 12 qualifiers, let’s choose 6 of my buddies and see how that works out. What Luke Donald has done is being overshadowed by the mediocrity of Keegan and his team. Luke Donald is obviously better at being a captain of a team, and Keegan seems to be indifferent about it all. Hopefully he takes his indifference to the worst Ryder Cup captain hall of fame. I hope the EU wins every singles match on Sunday.

    Reply Report comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

1 day ago

on

May 12, 2026

By

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

  • Jon Rahm +1300 
  • Cameron Young +1500
  • Bryson DeChambeau +1700
  • Xander Schauffele +1850
  • Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
  • Ludvig Aberg +2000
  • Tommy Fleetwood +2600
  • Collin Morikawa +3500
  • Brooks Koepka +3900
  • Justin Rose +4300
  • Russell Henley +4600
  • Si Woo Kim +4700
  • Justin Thomas +4800
  • Robert MacIntyre +5300
  • Patrick Cantlay +5300
  • Viktor Hovland +5400
  • Tyrrell Hatton +5500
  • Jordan Spieth +5900
  • Sam Burns +6000
  • Hideki Matsuyama +6200
  • Adam Scott +6400
  • Rickie Fowler +7000
  • Chris Gotterup +7400
  • Patrick Reed +7400
  • Min Woo Lee +7800
  • Ben Griffin +8000
  • Sepp Straka +8400
  • Shane Lowry +9000
  • Akshay Bhatia +9200
  • Maverick McNealy +9200
  • Joaquin Niemann +9200
  • Jake Knapp +9200
  • Jason Day +9600
  • Kurt Kitayama +10000
  • J.J. Spaun +10000
  • Harris English +10500
  • Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
  • Gary Woodland +11000
  • David Puig +11000
  • Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
  • Jacob Bridgeman +12000
  • Keegan Bradley +12500
  • Corey Conners +14000
  • Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
  • Sungjae Im +15500
  • Sahith Theegala +15500
  • Harry Hall +15500
  • Alex Noren +16000
  • Thomas Detry +16500
  • Marco Penge +16500
  • Kristoffer Reitan +17000
  • Alex Smalley +17000
  • Wyndham Clark +17500
  • Sam Stevens +17500
  • Keith Mitchell +17500
  • Daniel Berger +18500
  • Ryan Gerard +20000
  • Nick Taylor +20000
  • Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
  • Dustin Johnson +21000
  • Pierceson Coody +23000
  • Aaron Rai +24000
  • Jordan Smith +24000
  • Angel Ayora +24000
  • Bud Cauley +25000
  • Matt McCarty +26000
  • Jayden Schaper +26000
  • Brian Harman +27000
  • Taylor Pendrith +27000
  • Ryan Fox +27000
  • J.T. Poston +27000
  • Cameron Smith +29000
  • Ryo Hisatsune +29000
  • Michael Kim +29000
  • Max Homa +29000
  • Denny McCarthy +29000
  • Tom McKibbin +30000
  • Rico Hoey +32000
  • Matt Wallace +32500
  • Ricky Castillo +33000
  • Haotong Li +33000
  • Michael Brennan +34000
  • Max Greyserman +36000
  • Stephan Jaeger +37500
  • Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
  • Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
  • Aldrich Potgieter +40000
  • Andrew Novak +42000
  • Patrick Rodgers +42500
  • Daniel Hillier +42500
  • Max McGreevy +46000
  • Billy Horschel +48000
  • Chris Kirk +48000
  • Ian Holt +49000
  • Casey Jarvis +49000
  • William Mouw +50000
  • Steven Fisk +50000
  • John Parry +50000
  • Nico Echavarria +52500
  • Garrick Higgo +52500
  • John Keefer+55000
  • Matthias Schmid +57500
  • Austin Smotherman +57500
  • Sami Valimaki +60000
  • Andrew Putnam +60000
  • Lucas Glover +62500
  • Daniel Brown +62500
  • Jhonattan Vegas +75000
  • Emiliano Grillo +80000
  • Mikael Lindberg +85000
  • Adrien Saddier +100000
  • Bernd Wiesberger +100000
  • Elvis Smylie +110000
  • Stewart Cink +130000
  • Kota Kaneko +130000
  • David Lipsky +150000
  • Chandler Blanchet +150000
  • Andy Sullivan +150000
  • Joe Highsmith +180000
  • Adam Schenk +200000
  • Travis Smyth +200000
  • Davis Riley +225000
  • Martin Kaymer +400000
  • Brian Campbell +400000
  • Padraig Harrington +450000
  • Kazuki Higa +450000
  • Jordan Gumberg +450000
  • Ryan Vermeer +500000
  • Austin Hurt +500000
  • Tyler Collet +500000
  • Timothy Wiseman +500000
  • Shaun Micheel +500000
  • Y.E. Yang +500000
  • Michael Block+500000
  • Mark Geddes+500000
  • Luke Donald+500000
  • Bryce Fisher+500000
  • Jimmy Walker +500000
  • Jason Dufner +500000
  • Jesse Droemer +500000
  • Jared Jones +500000
  • Garrett Sapp +500000
  • Francisco Bide +500000
  • Zach Haynes +500000
  • Paul McClure+500000
  • Derek Berg +500000
  • Chris Gabriele +500000
  • Braden Shattuck +500000
  • Ben Polland +500000
  • Ben Kern +50000

Continue Reading

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

on

May 11, 2026

By

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

Continue Reading

News

How much each player won at the 2026 Truist Championship

Published

2 days ago

on

May 11, 2026

By

Kristoffer Reitan held his nerve at Quail Hollow on Sunday to claim his first PGA Tour victory and the $3.6 million winner’s check that came with it. The Norwegian fended off a packed leaderboard on a dramatic final day, with Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Højgaard both taking home $1.76 million for their runner-up finishes.

With a total prize purse of $20 million up for grabs, here’s a look at how much each player won at the 2026 Truist Championship.

1: Kristoffer Reitan, $3,600,000

T2: Rickie Fowler, $1,760,000

T2: Nicolai Hojgaard, -$1,760,000

4: Alex Fitzpatrick, $960,000

T5: Tommy Fleetwood, $730,000

T5: Sungjae Im, $730,000

T5: J.J. Spaun, $730,000

T8: Ludvig Aberg, $600,000

T8: Harry Hall, $600,000

T10: Patrick Cantlay, $500,000

T10: Matt McCarty, $500,000

T10: Cameron Young, $500,000

13: Justin Thomas, $420,000

T14: Min Woo Lee, $360,000

T14: Chris Gotterup, $360,000

T14: Nick Taylor, $360,000

T17: Alex Smalley, $310,000

T17: Gary Woodland, $310,000

T19: Austin Smotherman, $242,100

T19: Rory McIlroy, $242,100

T19: Keegan Bradley, $242,100

T19: Sudarshan Yellamaraju, $242,100

T19: Kurt Kitayama, $242,100

T24: Patrick Rodgers, $156,643

T24: Pierceson Coody, $156,643

T24: Adam Scott, $156,643

T24: Andrew Novak, $156,643

T24: Harris English, $156,643

T24: J.T. Poston, $156,643

T24: David Lipsky, $156,643

T31: Brian Harman, $114,416.67

T31: Viktor Hovland, $114,416.67

T31: Alex Noren, $114,416.67

T31: Tony Finau, $114,416.67

T31: Nico Echavarria, $114,416.67

T31: Corey Conners, $114,416.67

T37: Sam Burns, $82,187.50

T37: Maverick McNealy, $82,187.50

T37: Akshay Bhatia, $82,187.50

T37: Taylor Pendrith, $82,187.50

T37: Matt Wallace, $82,187.50

T37: Andrew Putnam, $82,187.50

T37: Bud Cauley, $82,187.50

T37: Lucas Glover, $82,187.50

T45: Justin Rose, $60,000

T45: Daniel Berger, $60,000

T45: Ryo Hisatsune, $60,000

T48: Denny McCarthy, $50,000

T48: Aldrich Potgieter, $50,000

T48: Webb Simpson, $50,000

T48: Michael Kim, $50,000

T52: Mackenzie Hughes, $45,187.50

T52: Max Homa, $45,187.50

T52: Brian Campbell, $45,187.50

T52: Jhonattan Vegas, $45,187.50

T52: Matt Fitzpatrick, $45,187.50

T52: Chandler Blanchet, $45,187.50

T52: Jordan Spieth, $45,187.50

T52: Jacob Bridgeman, $45,187.50

T60: Xander Schauffele, $42,500

T60: Robert MacIntyre, $42,500

T60: Ricky Castillo, $42,500

T63: Ben Griffin, $41,250

T63: Sepp Straka, $41,250

T65: Ryan Gerard, $40,250

T65: Si Woo Kim, $40,250

67: Ryan Fox, $39,500

68: Jason Day, $39,000

69: Sahith Theegala, $38,000

70: Sam Stevens, $37,500

71: Hideki Matsuyama, $37,000

72: Tom Hoge, $36,000

Continue Reading

Announcement

Our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use have been updated as of January 29th, 2026. Please review the updated policies here Privacy Policy | Terms of Use. By continuing to use our site after January 29th, 2026, you agree to the changes.

WITB

Whats in the Bag2 days ago

Alex Fitzpatrick WITB 2026 (May)

Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (15 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus...
Whats in the Bag3 days ago

Kristoffer Reitan’s winning WITB: 2026 Truist Championship

Driver: Ping G440 Max (9 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 60 TX 3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees) Shaft:...
Whats in the Bag1 week ago

WITB Time Machine: Rory McIlroy’s winning WITB, 2021 Truist Championship

Rory McIlroy’s victory at the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship 2021 (now the Truist Championship) marked a significant return to form,...
Whats in the Bag1 week ago

Collin Morikawa WITB 2026 (May)

Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D LS (8 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade SIM Tour (14 degrees) Shaft:...

Facebook

Trending