Why this Bethpage Black Whisperer Bullish is about the Ryder Cup chances of the US

Bellport, NY – This is the high season for Ryder Cup Insights and that qualified to offer them. Paul McGinley, for example the golf canal commentator. He was the leader of the European Ryder Cup team 2014. Or Jim “Bones” Mackay, from NBC Sports, who caddied in a dozen ryder -cups. Then there is Rees Jones, the golf course architect, who gave Bethpage Black the makeover that it needed to make it a primetime player again.

Based on his considerable experience at Bethpage, among others and Ryder Cup courses, Jones was persuaded to make a daring prediction about the outcome of this 45th Ryder Cup on Thursday afternoon.

“I think it will be close, but I think the Americans will win,” said Jones.

“Are you a gokman?” A friend asked.

“I used to be,” Jones said.

“What happened?”

“I played a lot with this bookmaker and I thought I knew something about college basketball. I found out, I didn’t do that.”

“When was this?”

“Oh, 1975.”

When UCLA College ruled basketball, Jack Nicklaus was at the height of his powers and the Reds defeated the Red SOX in an epic seven-game World Series.

Jones loves sport. He does not like how the modern sports fan is bombed with messages to bet and gambles and bets. But he is so sure of his Ryder Cup prediction that he is willing to be sucked back into the action.

“What is the most willing to lose on this Ryder Cup,” he was asked.

“Hmmm,” Jones said. He is a methodical man, not inclined to hurry things.

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Rees Jones and I were On the track in the village in Bellport, on the Great South Bay, 30 miles east of Bethpage and on the Great South Bay. People say that Bellport is a Seth Raynor course, but nobody really knows. I have been playing the course for 50 years and in my opinion, Rees has designed his two best holes, the long, brackish par-3 14th, with a Boomerang Green and a wide creek that runs on his right side, and the par-4 15th, a classic Cape hole where you try to make your ride in Bellport Bay (you can’t get a bay bay.

Jones built these two holes in the late sixties. On Thursday he returned to Bellport for the first time since then. Through the afternoon we spoke a lot about the Ryder Cup and Bethpage Black, and Bellport’s village property and Seth Raynor.

“Bethpage Black really never had his star moment,” said Jones. “At the ’02 US Open, Tiger almost ran away with it.” Phil Mickelson finished second, three shots back. “The opening of 2009 ended on a Monday. The PGA that Brooks Koepka won never really had that Sunday excitement.” That was in 2019. “This could be the one.”

Jones believes that Bethpage Black, for Ryder Cup game, will not be something like the beast that it is for public wave golfers. “The fairways are wide, the rough is not high and the Americans are long, longer than the Europeans. I think that will make the difference,” Jones said. Shorter recordings in difficult pins is a old recipe for golf success. “The guts of the course – 9, 10, 11, 12 – is in favor of the long driver.” Match play is a momentum game. If you can wear a lead through the turn, you just have to stay on.

Some matches, predicted Jones, will engage one of the most fascinating and difficult holes in championship wave, the Longish Par-4 15th hole with a serious Green that runs forward from behind. You have to drive it for a long time and ride in the game, and you have to be able to stay behind Putt. “Guys will win that gap with pars,” said Jones. In Ryder Cup Golf, three days of match game, each hole is a new start. But if you win a hole with a par, it can really be demoralizing for the other side. You can play on 15 to gauge moods – and to predict results.

Of the 24 Elite Professional golfers collected in Bethpage Black, Jones believes that Rory McIlroy is the player who is most equipped to tackle the variety of his challenges, including the long and game and lay put to low stress tap-in-distance. In other words, the qualities with which you can win at Augusta are the qualities that a player needs to win matches at Bethpage Black. Perhaps it is worth mentioning that there is only one two-time Masters champion among the 24 players Ryder Cup players, Scottie Scheffler van (according to his open ceremonies introduction) New Jersey.

Rees loves the game of Rory and the opportunities of America.

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Rees has been a friend Long time. We have registered many rounds on many courses. When he was 64, he looked 74. When he was 74, he looked 74. Now he is 84. He still looks 74. In terms of involvement, he is at the height of his powers. He works more than many people of his age. He stops his wife, his children, his grandchildren, his friends, his caddies, his play partners.

He likes public wave. He loves Bethpage Black, Torrey Pines, Wellman Golf Club, the city owned by Jacksonville, SC He did extensive work on all three of those courses. His father renovated famous Oakland Hills and Oak Hill, both Ryder Cup courses that Rees know well. Rees did extensive work on three Ryder Cup courses: the Country Club, outside of Boston; Hazeltine National, outside Minneapolis; and Medinah No. 3, outside of Chicago. He is one of the most respected clubs in the world. But there he was, on a windy and sultry Thursday afternoon, in Bellport, on short, flat village possession that, for a few hundred people on this wave-loving planet, lies in the middle of the Golf Universe.

Bellport does not try to be Augusta National (where the architect father of Rees, Robert Trent Jones, in my opinion does not get enough credit to make his back nine, with his many water hazards, the beautiful torture room it is). Bellport does not try to be the Westhampton Country Club, a Seth Raynor course 20 miles east of here. It doesn’t try to be Bethpage Black.

Bellport is a course where you can learn the game, two putt from anywhere, breathe air, playing the wind, making some pars, finding your ball and breaking 100 without breaking your couch. As a teenager, in the 1970s, I had a junior membership for $ 50 a year. I could make that in an afternoon that clamps in the Great South Bay and mow lawns.

“Golf needs more of this,” said Rees, while he was in the 15th tee. His return to Bellport was not emotional for him, not at all. It just made him happy to see the holes standing so well and to see golf in all his beautiful simplicity. The course was quiet in this damp afternoon. There were some children who played after -school wave. They were not future professionals. Just children have a good time. Rees was once such a child and played a dollar-a-side game, something like that.

Rees will be all three days at the Ryder Cup. He predicts an American victory. He would even bet up to $ 100, but not a cent anymore.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments on michael.bamberger@golf.com