Ryder Cup 2025 - Bethpage Black

It could have been worse for the US.
In the foursomes Schauffele & Cantlay lost a 3 shot lead before a few wild shots by MacIntyre & Hovland

And in the fourballs McIlroy had a reasonable putt on the 18th to win the hole.

It could have been 6.5 to 1.5

I worry for Europe if the Americans build up a head of steam with the New York crowd behind them. It could suffocate the Europeans and leave them exposed. Golf is such a psychological game.
Momentum can shift very quickly. Europe need to hang tough today to guard against a USA onslaught.

America had a fast start. They were up in the first two pairings.
And then the momentum changed. And Europe are currently up in two. But there's a long way to go.

Saturday pm - afternoon fourballs
Match score before fourballs:
USA 3.5-8.5 Europe

Match 13
USA: Young & Thomas
v
Europe: McIlroy & Lowry won 2 up
(3.5-10.5)

Match 14
USA: Scheffler & DeChambeau
v
Europe: Fleetwood & Rose won 3&2
(3.5-9.5)

Match 15
USA: Spaun & Schauffele won 1 up (4.5-10.5)
v
Europe: Rahm & Straka

Match 16
USA: Burns & Cantlay
v
Europe: Hovland & Fitzpatrick won 1 up
(4.5-11.5)

Europe lead 11.5-4.5 after day two.

During ever Ryder Cup there's usually one player up gets up my nose.

This time it's Ben Griffin with his over top celebration. To my surprise they've only picked him for one four ball over the last two days. So he must have upset the US Captain as well.

That fourballs session was really almighty battle with the crowd getting heavily involved.
McIlroy and Lowry were particularly targeted but held themselves together really well to see out a 2 up victory.
Fleetwood and Rose were rock solid despite an opposition caddy playing silly buggers on the green.
Rahm and Straka claimed defeat from the jaws of victory by losing the last two holes of their match but Hatton and Fitzpatrick showed balls of steel to win the final hole and with it the last match of the day.
So Europe have a seven point lead going into day three singles.

Europe needed to hang tough on the day and did so under intense pressure to stifle any American optimism. So far they have kept things in check and not allowed momentum to build for the home side.

2 and a half points from 12 to retain.
3 points for the outright win.

Day Three Singles:

Match 17
USA: Cameron Young won 1 up
v
Europe: Justin Rose

Match 18
USA: Justin Thomas won 1 up
v
Europe: Tommy Fleetwood

Match 19:
USA: Bryson DeChambeau
v Match halved
Europe: Matt Fitzpatrick

Match 20:
USA: Scottie Scheffler won 1 up
v
Europe: Rory McIlroy

Match 21:
USA: Patrick Cantlay
v
Europe: Ludvig Aberg won 2&1

Match 22:
USA: Xander Schauffele won 4&3
v
Europe: Jon Rahm

Match 23:
USA: JJ Spaun won 2&1
v
Europe: Sepp Straka

Match 24:
USA: Russell Henley
v Match halved
Europe: Shane Lowry

Match 25:
USA: Ben Griffin won 1 up
v
Europe: Rasmus Hojgaard

Match 26:
USA: Collin Morikawa
v Match halved
Europe: Tyrrell Hatton

Match 27:
USA: Sam Burns
v Match halved
Europe: Robert McIntyre

Match 28:
USA: Harris English
v Match halved (ER Rule Applied)
Europe: Viktor Hovland

Europe won 15-13.

Europe were holing their puts from all over the place.

USA fans really have no class. Hope Europe demolish them in the singles.

Looking back to the Day 1 fourballs & the nature of Europe's dominance with 3 wins by large margins it just set the tone for what followed. The scoring in the fourball matches as a whole were off the chart, being the hardest format, pars are decent scores at least good enough to tie holes. Usually 2 or 3 under will win matches, Europe were way beyond that mark.
I think having 11 of the 12 from Paris made the pairings easy for Donald. The USA team had a number of changes, highlighted no better than the world number one going pointless so far, Scheffler had 4 different partners, captain Bradley went for broke & threw in his big gun Bryson & that didn't work, it potentially had the effect of weakening another pairing.
The fight shown by Europe under great duress played out in the tightest of all sessions the Day 2 afternoon fourballs. Aside from the unstoppable Fleetwood Mac who defeated the afore mentioned USA Powerhouse pairing, all other matches were tight & could've easily swung heavily in favour of USA.
The hassle with the caddy was a bad look for the game, & should never have happened, what followed was ugly, but it only doubled their resolve, the same as the 2 Irish lads having to cope with idiots, they are not fans & have no place at a golf event.
The day ended in the perfect manner after the slight disappointment of Rahm & Straka, Fitzpatrick hit a fairway bunker shot of high quality close enough to be conceded & Hatton from the rough cozied his ball in spinning bad to nudge his partners ball.
Hatton had putted poorly earlier in the day but got a reprieve courtesy of a neck injury to Hovland who he stepped in to replace. It was said to be cautionary, but it is interesting that Hovland is last out & Europe may well have the Ryder Cup in the bag long before his match is over.
As expected, USA have to throw their best players & best form players up top to have any hope. Europe have countered that to some degree, but seem to have got all bases covered with some strength through the middle & back end.
The tastiest match has to be Scottie & Rory. The hope will be for 1 or 2 matches to swing Europe's way by 3 shots or so the calm the nerves.
Any sort of a Europe win will suffice, although a clean sweep winning all 5 sessions would be a dream.

A last word for Rasmus Hojgaard, Europe's only player yet to gain any points, he must have a chance against Griffin the get off the mark.