The envelope rule became a major talking point again after Europe’s win over the United States at this year’s Ryder Cup.
Harris English ended up being the player selected by Keegan Bradley to sit out the singles matches, a decision that brought plenty of attention his way.
The ‘envelope rule’ has long been one of the more debated aspects of the Ryder Cup. At the start of each tournament, both captains must pick one player who would step aside from singles play if an opponent is unable to compete due to injury.
In fact, it’s only been enforced three times throughout the event’s history – in 1991, 1993 and most recently in 2025.
“I don’t think it should be around anymore. I think there should have been a replacement or Viktor should have played someone else.”
But that kind of frustration probably should have come up before play began rather than after everything had wrapped up.
Europe have now claimed six of the last eight contests against the U.S., and nine out of the past twelve overall.
Harris English reacts to being the Ryder Cup envelope pick
Before the singles matches, Harris English had played two sessions, losing both of his foursomes matches alongside Collin Morikawa.
The pairing of English and Morikawa was widely questioned from the start. Even before singles Sunday, it was already under heavy scrutiny.
Bradley’s decision to stick with that duo didn’t pay off. By Sunday, attention had shifted to the envelope rule as a factor in the Americans’ defeat.
It goes without saying that missing out on the singles was a tough blow for English. So how did he react when he learned he was Bradley’s pick?
He spoke about it on The Gravy & The Sleeze Podcast with Colt Knost & Drew Stoltz, sharing his reaction when Bradley informed him he wouldn’t be playing in Sunday’s singles at Bethpage.
“That was one of my two main goals this year, to make the Ryder Cup, and to not be awared that opportunity to play on Sunday, it sucked,” said English.
“Keegan came and told me and it was a little bit of a shock, and I kind of had to process that for a little bit.”
“Then I had to put my earpiece on and microphone on and kind of had to be another assistant captain,” added English.
What Edoardo Molinari had to say about the envelope rule
Edoardo Molinari spoke up about the American complaints, offering his perspective on why the envelope rule isn’t as big an issue as some made it out to be.
He said: “I think the envelope rule is the lesser of two evils probably. If you had a 13th guy around, the 13th guy would have played a practice round and then just sit around all week.”
“I don’t know, I don’t think that’s a great idea. The other thing I heard was that if someone is injured, you just lose your point. But that opens the door to, well if one of my players is injured I’m trying to put him out in one of the first few games and get one of the best players out from their team as well. That means Scottie Scheffler or Bryson would not have played on Sunday, which is pretty s—-y.”
“Obviously it happened this time, I don’t think it should be changed because most of the time it’s irrelevant and it doesn’t happen very often at all.”
“You have to think also that players would love to go out and play on Sunday. So if Viktor had any chance to go out and swing a club, he would have gone out and maybe lose a point or maybe win a point, we don’t know.“
Molinari has seen both sides of these issues before and highlighted how changes suggested by critics could end up being even more problematic than what’s already in place.
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