How Did Players Qualify?
Diving briefly into the complexities of Ryder Cup team qualifiers, there’s a necessary difference as to how the two teams achieve their final 12-man lineup.
The qualification period for Team USA began in 2024, and this remains open until immediately after the second FedExCup Playoffs event, the BMW Championship, on August 17. The top six players on the rankings list will secure spots on the U.S. Team.
For Team Europe qualification there’s a significant change to previous years. There is now only one Ryder Cup Points List during the 2024/2025 qualification period. This player list is based on points earned according to a new tournament banding structure implemented by Ryder Cup Europe in consultation with captain Luke Donald. The player list includes not only FedExCup points earned by players on the PGA TOUR, but also includes points earned by each player from all Race to Dubai Ranking tournaments (2024/25).
Make it Loud
For the world of golf and the millions of fans, the Ryder Cup is the biggest event on the calendar, coming up only once every 24 months. At this point, just days out from that spectacular big occasion, the scene is set for what will surely be a close and thrilling world-class match.
With the 45th Ryder Cup taking place at Bethpage Black on New York’s Long Island, the two teams, Team USA, and current holders, Team Europe, can expect an ear battering from the fans. The home team will, of course, get the loudest fan support.
It’ll be on a pop concert scale because New York fans are famous for their bravura supporting antics. And so much fun and color does this add to the whole atmosphere and intensity of these feisty 28 matches!
Do the roars of fan support really make much difference to these elite players? Yes, for certain! The general consensus across all sports is that those sudden tidal waves of fan support can have a dramatic hot-wired effect on players at key moments. And this intense atmosphere and vocal support for the home team creates pressure on the visiting team. It can potentially affect the latter’s focus and performance, but it can also produce a fiercer opposition.
The good-humored U.S. fan support is being orchestrated by Aron Chewning who has launched St. André Golf, a new golf brand centered around comedic content and dive bar inspired merchandise. Chewning’s St. André crew are currently posting “How To Fan.” This includes “walking you through how to fully prepare, chant, and psychologically dismantle the competition—all in the name of patriotism, golf, and being the ultimate fan.”
Money and the Starting Gun
That gun actually fired in 2024 for the potential Ryder Cup players (see above), but it also fired in 2024 for the fans, when, in October ticket sales opened.
There were around half a million registered applicants lined up and ready to pay the hefty ticket prices. But of these—because getting a ticket is a lottery—only around ten percent of punters got the opportunity to buy up to four tickets apiece. As well as massive uptake by U.S. fans, some 47 countries worldwide also pitched in for tickets, with 2,500 going to Team Europe fans.
Yes, and that hefty ticket price, referred to above, comes in at $750 for single-day tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Compare this to the price tag of $275 for a Ryder Cup ticket when the Cup was held last in Rome, little surprise then that there has been some hard criticism of organizers PGA of America for the price hike.
That criticism hasn’t cut much ice with the organizers because, despite a home-turf Ryder Cup generating tens of millions of dollars through ticket sales, media rights and sponsorships, organizational costs are also huge—PGA of America also points out the free and “unlimited food and non-alcoholic beverages” for ticket holders. More significantly, the Ryder Cup contributes millions of dollars to various charitable organizations and youth golf development programs.
The Ryder Cup team players also play their part as each player is given $200,000 apiece by the organizers to donate to charities of their choice. And the players themselves are paid nothing to participate in the Ryder Cup.
However, the conversations about introducing compensation for Ryder Cup players are never far from the surface.
So, let’s state it plainly: No! Ryder Cup players should never be paid! It would ruin the very special ethos of this wonderful, rare, sporting event.
Checks and Balance
In terms of winning the 2025 Ryder Cup, Team USA looks to have the edge, given a home match this September, along with the massively patriot fan support, mentioned above, which goes into creating an energy that’s unlike any other golf event.
But is that enough?
Remember, each match is worth one point, with matches ending in a tie worth a ½ point to each side. The first team to reach 14½ points (of the 28 available) wins the Ryder Cup. Balanced on a knife-edge at 14-14, it will be a draw (and the current holder, Team Europe, would retain the trophy).
And for Team Europe, with Luke Donald once again in place as captain, Donald will be sure to be pushing his team to retain the Ryder Cup trophy won in Italy, 2023. And Team Europe will also be pushing for a first win on U.S. turf since the 2012 “Miracle at Medinah.” You’ll remember, this was the occasion when Team Europe, then captained by José María Olazábal, famously overcame a 10-6 deficit on the final day to defeat Team USA at Medinah Country Club in Illinois. That remarkable comeback is still considered one of the greatest in Ryder Cup history.
But there are other elements in the mix.
The way the player lineups and qualifiers are currently headed, the two teams look to be very evenly matched. This could make the 2025 Ryder Cup excitingly close, which is what Essential Golf is predicting. Team USA currently holds a slight edge based on current betting odds and home-field advantage, while Team Europe has a strong captain and a core of talented players who are motivated to win on American soil.
Then there are other aspects which may bring about a different outcome. The Bethpage Black course is notoriously tough and there must be few who could come close to Brooks Koepka’s 63, a course record he set during the first round of the 2019 PGA Championship. And for us mere mortals, the course has a very visible warning, or perhaps challenging, message: “WARNING: the Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers”.
This suggests that even for these highly skilled Ryder Cup players luck may indeed play a part for the victorious 2025 Ryder Cup team.
A final thought, too, is that for Team U.S. players anticipating an unlimited supply of raw energy and passion from the home crowd, the level of fan support could play a significant part in the final result of what will be a thrilling Ryder Cup.