‘It just sucks’: Pro worries about ‘tough’ Ryder Cup rule that has cost him a lot of money

Amid the chaos of the 2025 Ryder Cup, a rarely seen rule was introduced that resulted in healthy American Harris English being ruled out of Sunday’s singles matches.

It also cost the US Ryder Cup team the chance to make a historic comeback against the European team.

In one new interview with CBSEnglish opened up about the Ryder Cup ‘envelope rule’ that forced him to sit on the bench at Bethpage on Sunday. He argued that the “hard” rule “hurts” healthy competitors and may need to be changed.

‘Envelope rule’ came into effect on Sunday during the 2025 Ryder Cup

The European team dominated the first two days of the 2025 Ryder Cup, provoking insults from some American fans and leaving others fearing a historic margin of victory.

But the US Ryder Cup team almost flipped the script at Bethpage Black with a comeback for the ages in Sunday singles. The final score: Europe 15 – US 13.

Although they fell just short, the American team had one less chance to gain a point over the European team than they thought. This is thanks to the ‘envelope rule’.

At each Ryder Cup, each captain secretly selects one of his players to place in an envelope. Because all 24 players participate in the singles match on Sunday, if a player and team is injured prior to the singles matches, they will not lose the match to the injured player. Instead, the player in the other team’s envelope sits out the Sunday games and each team gets half a point for the game.

Ahead of Sunday’s matches at Bethpage, European player Viktor Hovland decided a neck injury would keep him from playing his singles match. As a result, the envelope rule was introduced for only the third time in Ryder Cup history.

That forced American captain Keegan Bradley to reveal who he had put in the envelope: Harris English.

While the rule gave the American team one less chance to stage a Sunday comeback against the Europeans, it also forced a healthy Englishman to miss a lifetime opportunity.

Harris English: Ryder Cup Sunday ‘something I’ll never get back’

In a new interview on ‘In Between Shots’ from CBS Golf host Patrick McDonald questioned Engels about the envelope rule at the 2025 Ryder Cup and asked if he thought the rule should be changed.

While English did not call for a change to the rules, and acknowledged that it had been in place for a “long time,” he honestly explained how the rule hurt him personally at the Ryder Cup on Sunday, and how it could impact future Ryder Cup participants.

“It hurts my ability to play for my team on Sunday, and it’s something I’ll never get back. And I know I may never play in a Ryder Cup again,” English told CBS. “So it definitely hurts the other player who can play and loses the opportunity to play.

For some context, the 2025 Ryder Cup was Engels’ second appearance on the US team. He was also part of the Americans’ victory at the 2021 Ryder Cup in Whistling Straits. While he automatically qualified for the 2025 U.S. team and is currently ranked Number 13 in the official world golf rankingstwo years is a long time. English will be 38 when the 2027 Ryder Cup begins, and there’s no telling whether he’ll be able to maintain his elite play long enough to make another U.S. team.

English also revealed he has nothing against Hovland, whose injury forced the envelope rule to be implemented.

“Victor [Hovland] was injured. I know that. He came to me. I know he couldn’t play,” English said.

Although English admitted that he did not know how to effectively change the envelope rule, he did imply that the negative impact on players should be taken into account when revising the rule.

“I don’t know how they’re going to change this. I mean, I understand you don’t want to have an alternate there all week. But it’s tough. I know that rule has been in play for a long time, and they’ve only had to use it a few times. It just sucks that it happened this year,” English said.

You can watch the full English interview on CBS Golf’s “In Between Shots” here.

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