Ryder Cup Dilemma from Team USA? Justin Rose thinks they are completely wrong

For some time there has been a stubborn Ryder Cup story that Team USA is a collection of 12 people, while Europe is a coherent unity. It is this companionship and togetherness with which Europeans can often exceed expectations, even if they may seem to be the weaker side on paper.

“For a European player, the Ryder Cup is about history,” said Justin Rose after the dominant victory of Europe over Marco Simone two years ago. “More specifically, it is about adding to that history. It’s about playing a small role in a collective story that has been going on for decades. The entire privilege of the week is the chance to help write the next chapter.”

Jon Rahm added: “It is the possibility to walk through those gates and doors and forget who you are outside this week. What you did or what you can do afterwards does not matter.”

“We are now carers of this European sweater,” Rory McIlroy chimed that day. “And hopefully we will pass it on in a better place in the future than where we found it.”

The Americans have apparently spent years chasing the formula to become a team, that special sauce with which they can achieve the opportunity on the road while retaining dominance at home. Europe has won eight of the last 11 Ryder Cups and has won three on American soil since the last time the US passed and won the pond.

Of course, the success of Europe Ryder Cup is not just about singing songs, enjoying being together and having an appreciation for their place in history. The European team has a meticulous plan that prepares it for everything in the biennial event and players offers the confidence that is necessary to cope with anyone who occurs.

Anyway, the Americans have been having an identity for some time – looking for a way to develop the formula they believe they are missing.

While Captain Keegan Bradley believes that the US Ryder Cup team from 2025 is the ‘nearest’ that he has ever seen, Rose sees the fixation of the United States on chemistry as something they attack in the wrong way.

“I think the American team has certainly tied much more in recent years, and I think they will have bags with good friendships,” said Rose during a Q&A session prior to the Justin Rose Ladies that were open earlier this month, Via Sky Sports. “But I think the Americans have become a little bit … they think that a great team is about being the best friends. I really don’t think that’s a great team. Being a great team is a kind of really good theme and have an identity that has come for you, and you all buy in that vision.

“You don’t have to have the best time in the world to do that. Although we inevitably have that, we have a great time. I think America has tried too hard to become a team, while Europe is a little more natural and more organic, and I think it will come from deeper roots in a sense.”

It was an outside-the-box decision to make Bradley captain for the confrontation at Bethpage Black. Although it led to some avoidable tension when Bradley played his way in the conversation to make his own team, Bradley’s Captainincy was well received by players, including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. For Scheffler, having a captain who is still one of the best players in the world has created a different atmosphere when the team met.

“The intensity he brought as a captain – I mean, he certainly exceeded my expectations as a captain. He did a great job,” said Scheffler at the BMW championship. “He is passionate about the Ryder Cup. He gives us a lot about us as players. It has been very nice to see him develop in this role, and we are pleased to start the Ryder Cup.

“Every now and then he leaves a few messages in our safe, many text messages,” Scheffler said when he was asked how Bradley lifted the bar as a captain. “I just feel that Keegan is a lot here versus some of the other captains we have had in the past – not that they have done it badly. It is different to have him here for week and week out. He is a man we know well. To be a kind of part of our lives.

In the end, Bradley chose not to choose to be in the team. He wanted to give all his focus on winning as a captain and made the selfless decision to pass on his dream to return as a player to the Ryder Cup to do what he thinks is best for the team.

In the meantime, Europe will return 11 of the 12 players from the winning team in Rome, with Rasmus Hojggard replacing his brother Nicolai. That 2023 Ryder Cup ended with McIlroy who promised that Europe would win at Bethpage Black this year.

That is a comment that Bradley has ensured that his team has heard. But with the Ryder Cup away for a week, it is time for Team USA to concentrate on Team USA and to see if the Soul searching has paid off in the two years since they were steamed in Italy.

“I don’t care what Europe is doing, I only care about our 12 boys, our Caddies, the women. I only care about what we do,” said Bradley on the Procore Championship last week. “They are a self -assured group, they should be. They have won the last Ryder Cup, their team is solid. Luke Donald is perhaps the best captain ever, someone I have always looked for. So they have to be confident, but I am not really – I really don’t care what they say about our team.”

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