The most difficult feat in professional golf these days is winning a Ryder Cup on the road. Dating back to 1997, the road team has won just twice across the last 13 Ryder Cups — Europe in 2004 at Oakland Hills and again in 2012 in what has since been dubbed the “Miracle at Medinah.”
After Europe captured another home victory at Marco Simone in Rome two years ago, Rory McIlroy boldly claimed that they would come into New York and pull off that rare accomplishment at Bethpage Black in 2025. Now, the time has come for Europe to back up McIlroy’s boast as the visitors arrive as +175 underdogs, per BetMGM Sportsbook, despite returning 11 of the 12 players (and captain Luke Donald) from that dominant winning side in Rome.
It’s clear that Europe’s plan to win another Ryder Cup on U.S. soil is to lean on experience, but it needed the players from that winning side in 2023 to hold up their end of the bargain. Nearly all of them did just that by playing themselves into qualification; Donald did not have to make any controversial decisions to ensure continuity on his roster. Ten of 11 returners from that 2023 team finished among the top 11 in the standings, the lone exception being Jon Rahm, who found enough form in the 2025 majors to make himself a no-doubt selection.
The only new player for Europe is Rasmus Højgaard, who takes the place of twin brother Nicolai; even so, Rasmus was around the team plenty in 2023 while supporting his brother. For years, the Europeans have touted their passion for the Ryder Cup and togetherness as a team as the key to their success compared to their American counterparts. They’ve taken it to a new extreme for 2025 with nearly the entire team coming back en masse.
Now, it’s time to find out just how far experience and continuity can take this team. Let’s take a look at the path to Europe winning a second straight Ryder Cup and third on the road victory this century.
How Europe can win the 2025 Ryder Cup
Keep it close Friday
The scene the morning of Day 1 at Bethpage Black will be unbelievable, and the Americans will try to ride that wave of energy to a big early lead. If Europe can pull away at the onset of play Friday, that would be massive in taking the crowd out of the event and perhaps causing some turmoil inside the U.S. team room.
As great as that would be for the Europeans, the first, more realistic step is keeping its deficit inside two points going into the weekend. If Europe can get out of the first eight pairings trailing something like 4.5-3.5, it will feel like it has a legitimate shot at pulling this off. Why? Because many expect United States captain Keegan Bradley to send out his best guys in those first two sessions.
The home team has dominated morning foursomes in recent years. In 2016 and 2021, the U.S. respectively went up 3-1 and 4-0 in that opening session. On the flip side, Europe took a 4-0 lead in Rome two years ago with the U.S. never recovering. That opening session features such a surge of energy around the golf course for the home team that Europe must find a way to avoid letting it get away from them early.
Afternoon four-ball will be a chance to draw closer. The temperature lowers a bit after lunch as everyone on the grounds will be a bit spent emotionally after the first five hours of action. That session is normally more competitive. If Europe can get 1.5 points in foursomes and split the afternoon, it will feel like it has taken the best punch the U.S. could offer. However, if the Americans can go up 5.5-2.5 or more, it will become an extremely daunting task for Europe to rebound on the weekend.
McIlroy, Rahm must lead the charge
The Ryder Cup isn’t always about the biggest stars, but the 2025 edition feels like it will be for Europe. McIlroy and Rahm need to be incredible for Europe to win on the road. As talented as the other guys may be, this is a stage some of them have never come close to experiencing. McIlroy and Rahm, however, have thrived in such arenas. Whether in majors or past Ryder Cups, they know what it’s like to deal with huge crowds that aren’t pulling in their favor, and they need to be the ones putting points on the board consistently.
In Rome, they combined to go 6-1-2. Europe is going to need that kind of performance again on the road. Expect to see McIlroy and Rahm play at least nine combined sessions like they did in 2023 — Rahm sat out Saturday afternoon with Europe already up 9.5-2.5 — if not all 10. They are Europe’s two best players with great Ryder Cup records, and Donald showed in Rome that he will lean on his best guys.
2025 Ryder Cup predictions, odds: Expert picks as teams from United States, Europe battle at Bethpage Black
Patrick McDonald
Win points off Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau
The two best players on the American side are Scottie Scheffler (undisputed No. 1 in the world) and Bryson DeChambeau. Those two are going to have the biggest followings and produce the biggest roars for the U.S. when things are going well; however, if they drop points, those will feel more significant than others. Xander Schauffele said Tuesday that Bryson’s points “might hit harder” than those scored by others on the U.S. side, but that goes both ways.
Europe has succeeded in the past at taking aim at top Americans, namely Tiger Woods, who went 9-19-1 in foursomes and four-ball throughout his Ryder Cup career. If Europe can put points on the board against the two top dogs for the U.S., it’ll have a huge impact on everyone at Bethpage Black.
For the Europeans, it’ll foster even more belief they can get the job done on the road. For the Americans, it might cause Bradley to question his plan and pairings. For the crowd, it’ll sow seeds of doubt that they’re going to enjoy a weekend-long celebration if they’re watching their best stumble and create a bit of angst that could dampen the noise.
Lean on experience
The best thing Donald has going for him is there’s no real guesswork about who will work well together on this roster. While Bradley has some known pairings, he’ll be trying a lot of new combinations this week. That’s much easier to do successfully at home, but usually, you have the benefit of the other team having some kind of turnover as well.
Europe doesn’t have that and could run out almost the same lineups as last time, knowing what worked and what did not. We’ll see what tweaks Donald has in store for a different course setup, but you should expect a healthy dose of McIlroy-Tommy Fleetwood, Rahm-Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland-Ludvig Ã…berg and Justin Rose-Robert MacIntyre pairings. (In fact, it would be surprising of those are not the groups out for foursomes on Friday morning.
Donald can remind those guys of their success together, and they’ll have the kind of earned confidence you need to go into a hostile environment and perform. The hardest thing to do is go into an uncomfortable environment facing a true unknown. Europe doesn’t have to do that by design, and two years of planning for this moment will give them the best chance a European road team has had in more than a decade.