While Team USA nearly completed one of the most remarkable comebacks in sport, the 2025 Ryder Cup now feels like a moment where things need to change for them.
Despite pushing it to the final holes, the American side fell short again. The 15-13 scoreline makes it look closer than it really was.
Keegan Bradley’s team gave themselves a chance, but Europe held on just enough despite winning only one singles match on Sunday.
They controlled the opening two days, giving themselves a cushion that proved sufficient to hold off the American’s late charge.
Justin Thomas shares where Team USA got it wrong at the Ryder Cup
Bradley’s decision not to include himself in the line-up is one that will likely stick with him for a long time. Some of his pairings also raised eyebrows throughout the event.
His choice to put Collin Morikawa and Harris English together in foursomes on both days did not go unnoticed. One analysis even called it the worst possible pairing out of 132 combinations.
But it was not just his selections that drew criticism. A lot of attention turned to how Bethpage Black was set up for the event.
The rough had been trimmed back, and the greens were far more forgiving than they would be during a US Open. Europe were clearly caught off guard by the changes.
Justin Thomas acknowledged this was a significant mistake, during an appearance on the No Laying Up Podcast.
“The golf course was a huge, huge thing and all of us would say it was a mistake, just like Keegan did. It just was a bummer because you did not get rewarded for great shots like you got penalised for bad shots,” he began by saying.
“I remember Cam [Young] and I’s match on Saturday afternoon. We had a huge flip there on 14 where Rory [McIlroy] made his putt and I missed my putt and they went one up and there were four holes to go.
“It was just in a best ball, you had a bowl pin in 15, then 16 is a hard hole but the pin towards the back where it feeds down a bit, 17 is in a bowl and then 18 was on the front where everything goes back and I was going through this thinking I don’t see how we can get a shot back.
“It was like these greens, it does not matter where we hit it. We are playing against Rory and Shane [Lowry], they are playing unbelievably.
“These are the best players in the world. They are p—- off and playing so well because of that. I am thinking if you get down in four ball, it is so hard to get a shot back because of how easy this golf course is right now.
“It was funny playing with Cam because he has played there so many times and he was saying I have never in my life seen this golf course like this.
“It was not saying this is so great, it was more like I can’t believe that we are playing this course like this.
“So if we could start over tomorrow, I would say that would be the first thing that Keegan and everybody would have done differently,” Thomas concluded.
Justin Thomas reflects on Keegan Bradley’s choice not to play as captain
The 2025 Ryder Cup was always going to have a big say in how Team USA looked ahead to future events.
If Bradley had been a clear success as captain, it might have opened the door for the PGA of America to back younger leaders who could also compete as players.
But in the end, he felt doing both jobs was not realistic. When asked if he would ever consider being a playing captain, Thomas pointed out that this year highlighted how much support is needed behind the scenes.
“The hardest part which isn’t necessarily something that is talked about too much is kind of where we are at in terms of captains.
“I personally was very excited for Keegan and I felt that it was easy to say that it’s doable, but until you go through it as a captain, someone who has done it is probably the only person who can say if it’s doable or not.
“You probably need to be a vice-captain three, four or five times to know what goes into being a captain so if you are playing captain you are like I need these x amount of people who are handling this so I can deal with this.
“I just think it was something that we have kind of had this group, not that there is anything wrong with the group that the US captains were using, but it was like we need to move on to this wave of potential captains and we have to at some point.
“It’s tough because I feel like for a while it was like who do you want to be a captain? Do you want Strick? Do you want Jim Furyk? Do you want Davis Love? There were so many options versus it felt like there was not as big a pool to choose from,” he said.
Looking at the current American team, Thomas seems like an obvious candidate for a future leadership role.
While some question how much certain American players care about the Ryder Cup, Thomas clearly takes it seriously. And there is every chance he could end up winning as captain before his career ends.
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