How United States can overcome pressure to win 2025 Ryder Cup, proving Keegan Bradley's candidacy valid
The U.S. seeks to regain possession of the Ryder Cup with a lot of pressure on its shoulders

BETHPAGE, N.Y. -- For as much criticism as the United States Ryder Cup team tends to receive, it has won two of the last four editions of the competition, including the last two times the event has been contested on home soil. When stateside, the red, white and blue has largely looked the part. Outside of a historic European comeback in 2012, the trophy has been raised by the home team for nearly two decades straight.
Whereas the Americans had a distinct talent advantage four years ago at Whistling Straits en route to a historic 19-9 victory, the gap has closed markedly entering the 2025 playing at Bethpage Black. The Europeans will trot out 11 of the same players they did in Rome two years ago, the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Åberg and Justin Rose reprising their roles as thorns in the side of the U.S. These are grand slam winners, major champions, FedEx Cup crown wearers and stars of not only the present but the future.
Back to the talent gap that existed in 2021. It was so vast that a correction was bound to occur; however, it has vanashed to such a significant degree that players who appeared to be long-time fixtures like Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka are nowhere to be seen in New York. The experience level outside the ropes is just as fresh with captain Keegan Bradley stepping into the role against Luke Donald, a man who has already raised the Ryder Cup as a captain two years ago.
"My main goal is to put these players in their best position to play well," Bradley said. "When you do that, the guys can go out and perform at their highest level. But ultimately, the players are going to decide the Ryder Cup.
"But I definitely think the captain and the vice captains, their main goal here, their main job is to put the players in the best position to play at their best. Every day we go out, whether it's Friday of the tournament or a practice round, we want to make sure the guys are in the right state of mind with the right mindset of what we want to do during the week and get them prepared to be ready to go on Friday morning."
All of this leaves the U.S., meager -150 favorites per BetMGM Sportsbook, needing to find an advantage elsewhere, and ultimately, it will be a few small margins adding up to one big one if the Americans are able to discover what is needed. After all, Europe offers three of the top four players entering this Ryder Cup, while the Untied States is much stronger in the middle of its lineup -- as evidenced by CBS Sports' 1-24 ranking of the Ryder Cup rosters.
Let's examine the possibilities below and break down exactly how the U.S. can defend home soil at the 45th playing of the Ryder Cup.
How the United States can win the 2025 Ryder Cup
Win the opening session
The U.S. has typically fared well Friday morning of the Ryder Cup -- up until the 2023 edition in Marco Simone. Falling down 4-0 just four hours into the competition, the U.S. was immediately put behind the eight ball, and as such, the Ryder Cup was pretty much over just as it started. That cannot happen again, especially on home soil, and there is history to suggest it will not.
U.S. won opening foursomes 3-1 in 2021 and 4-0 in 2016. Other recent iterations of the competition largely started with four-ball (U.S. held leads of 3-1 in 2018, 2.5-1.5 in 2014), which tends to be a better format for the U.S. Therefore, if the Americans are able to get off to a strong start Friday it will have a snowball effect on both the atmosphere outside the ropes and the confidence inside them.
Over the last 6 Ryder Cups, the home side has a +27 point differential in foursomes (37.5 to 10.5).
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) September 22, 2025
Suffocate Europeans with the home crowd
There is a stigma around the Americans that they do not care as much as the Europeans do about the Ryder Cup -- or at least not act like it from an outward emotional standpoint. Well, one way to squash that criticism is to have thousands of New York sports fans doing the heavy lifting for you.
There will be no sleepwalking off the bus like in Rome for the U.S. With the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas on the team and Bradley at the helm, the key is to keep the energy up throughout the three days. Fans can grow restless if their side is sluggish and out of whack -- precisely what the Europeans will hope to accomplish -- but these are New Yorkers we're talking about. Keep them happy early and often, and Europe will be dealing with hostility from start to finish.
"The fans are what make this event special," Xander Schauffele said. "If you think about not having fans or enough of them, it would be like what we did ... [practicing] with my teammates out here in sort of peace and quiet. But when it comes to getting the juices flowing of the Ryder Cup, you need fans to be there. You need them to do their thing.
"I don't have anything sort of -- whether it's everyone singing their songs, they're sort of like pub drinking songs in Europe or the sort of heavy 'U-S-A' chants we get here, I love all of it, to be completely honest."
“Go out there and play like you have the country on your back– because you do.” #GoUSA pic.twitter.com/Tg4PxlDuLK
— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) September 22, 2025
Stalwarts must show up
Europe has an uncanny ability throughout the years of having their go-to guys show up no matter their incoming form. If they absolutely had to have a match, they knew where to look.
Collin Montgomerie went 4-0-1 in 2002 as the 31st-ranked player in Data Golf, 3-1-0 as No. 91 two years later. Ian Poulter went 4-1-0 at Valhalla as No. 41 and 3-1-0 at Celtic Manor as No. 57, respectively. Of course, we all remember what he did at Medinah, flipping the competition on its head Saturday evening and going 4-0-0 on the week.
The point: Ryder Cups can hardly be won without the help of your stalwarts whether European or American, and that feels especially true this year for the U.S. Scottie Scheffler seems like a sure thing -- the world No. 1 will need to be! -- but the U.S. will also need contributions from Schauffele, DeChambeau, Thomas and Collin Morikawa -- in some capacity -- considering they are four two-time major champions who have been there and done that but may have some question marks. There is a reason experience can be a valuable commodity, so go out and show why.
"I feel like Bryson could be like the difference for us in a strange way from the standpoint of feeding into these fans, the style of golf he plays," Schauffele said. "And also how -- like you'll get me, I'll make a putt, and you won't see too much of a reaction. That's just who I am. That's kind of how I operate. Maybe it might change this week, who knows. These Ryder Cups bring out the best in you at times.
"But Bryson is like, this is his arena. If he views himself as a gladiator golfer, this is as good as it gets. He's been awesome. He's been awesome in the team room. I'm excited to sort of see what he can do, and hopefully get a lot of points up on the board because his points might hit harder than maybe my points, for example, just because of how he might celebrate and get these fans into this tournament quickly."

Don't be afraid to run the rookies
Not all experience is good, though! Just ask Matt Fitzpatrick from the European side and even more so when the rookies from the U.S. have been fast learners in Ryder Cups -- whether Max Homa in Rome, Thomas in Paris or much of the team in Wisconsin. Bradley's ability to balance the experience on his team and the form of his rookies is what may ultimately decide this Ryder Cup.
Behind Scheffler, the four rookies on the U.S. team -- Russell Henley, J.J. Spaun, Ben Griffin and Cameron Young -- have been the most in-form players (based on total strokes gained) over the last three months. The straightforward strategy may be to let them ride with some training wheels with a veteran guiding them along, but the winning strategy may be to let them go without the governor in the golf cart.
"I was actually talking to J.T. about it. I think … it's great to have gotten that experience, especially in a way, Presidents Cup last year, and it kind of -- the more times -- basically he said the more times you can be on a team and get that team experience, the more valuable it is," Henley said. "He said he was really happy that he got to play a Presidents Cup before his first Ryder Cup."
Withstand the surge
This certainly could be a Ryder Cup with momentum swing after momentum swing, not all too dissimilar from the first couple of days at the Presidents Cup where the U.S. went up 5-0 only for the International team to tie it up at 5-5 following the second session of play. Perhaps, it won't play out to that drastic of an extent, but big putts and big moments will be had by both teams and it will be the task of the U.S. to not let things start moving faster.
It will be easy for them to do so as the more inexperienced side and this is where the role of Bradley, the team leaders and the preparation will show and show if this U.S. team is capable of meeting the moment or susceptible to wilting under the Ryder Cup pressure.