5 Changes The Americans Need To Make To Win Back The Ryder Cup

Don’t let that incredible comeback bid fool you—the U.S. Ryder Cup team needs to make some significant changes if they want to win back the trophy.

Whether it was close or not, the Europeans have now captured 11 of the last 15 Ryder Cups. For many of those editions, the Americans have boasted the better roster on paper and came into the event as favorites.

But there is a lot more to team golf than rolling your best players out there and hoping for the best.

The European Ryder Cup team has structure and culture. There is a dedicated system in place for the captaincy. They have a support staff that is desperately looking for any small edge possible, even down to changing the shampoo in the hotel.

Most of all, the players want to win as a team. They are willing to do whatever it takes. It just means more to the Europeans than it does to the U.S. team.

And let’s be honest here—the PGA of America is more interested in making money than it is interested in winning the Ryder Cup. As a former club pro who was subjected to the PGA’s total lack of support, I have no faith they will make any of these changes.

However, if the Americans are serious about winning the Ryder Cup, they will take a long, hard look at these five changes that need to be made.

1. Establishing four-year terms for captains

After the Tom Watson debacle in 2014, the PGA of America established a task force that deemed it necessary for more continuity among the captains.

Basically that meant all future captains should have experience as vice captains. There should be a empowering of captains who are intimately familiar with the system needed to win.

The Americans have largely used that system in 2016, 2018, 2021 and 2023. It worked tremendously on home soil but failed miserably on the road.

Out of nowhere, the PGA of America decided to go with Keegan Bradley because he was a sympathetic figure based on losing out on the 2023 Ryder Cup (and being shown heartbroken in a Netflix documentary). He had no vice captain experience and is still in the prime of his playing career.

The Ryder Cup captain has to be willing to dedicate everything to the team. They need to be familiar with the team culture.

Bradley hadn’t been a part of a Ryder Cup team in 13 years.

The fix here is to establish four-year terms where vice captains get promoted to captain two Ryder Cup teams. And then have those captains remain part of the team room in future years.

Where is Fred Couples? Where is Justin Leonard? Neither of them have been captains.

And where is Paul Azinger, the most successful American captain ever? Nowhere to be seen.

The U.S. captaincy needs continuity rather than one-off names with little to no experience.

2. Analytics have to be taken seriously

I could write 2,000 words on this topic because it absolutely blows my mind how bad the Americans are at the analytics portion of the Ryder Cup.

When the Americans go to Europe, they are given the worst possible conditions relative to their team skill.

In Rome, the Americans were much better wedge players on paper. So the European team set up the course to take away as many wedge opportunities as possible. They added more drivable par-4s and lengthened other holes that required more mid-irons into greens.

In Paris, the Americans were wilder off the tee. The Europeans made the fairways narrow and the rough thick. They even moved the gallery line back so there was more rough.

For almost every Ryder Cup in Europe, the greens are slowed down. Europeans are more comfortable on slower greens, turning it into more of a putting contest (which Europe usually wins).

This past week, the Americans headed into the event statistically superior in tee-to-green metrics. So that would mean you generally want a harder golf course—more consequence for misses, faster greens and more of a U.S. Open-style layout.

Bethpage has hosted U.S. Opens, so that was perfect.

The Americans punted that advantage away by cutting down the rough to nothing and making the greens much slower. There was no consequence to missing anywhere. That turned it into a putting contest, which they lost by a wide margin the first two days as Europe gained more than nine strokes on the greens Friday and Saturday.

And don’t even get me started on Bradley’s decision to pair Collin Morikawa with Harris English. This was statistically the worst possible pair he could have chosen out of his 12 players—and he sent them out twice!

Even worse was the decision to have Russell Henley tee off on odd holes when paired in foursomes with Scottie Scheffler. The caddies later decided that Scheffler should tee off on odd holes instead of Henley because the distance disadvantage was significant. On Saturday, the pair was about two strokes better than they were on Friday.

The caddies decided. The caddies! Not the captain who has had 18 months to obsess over every detail of this event.

These sloppy analytics mistakes would never be made on the European side. And unfortunately, that American sloppiness might have cost them a more legitimate chance on Sunday.

3. Real leaders have to emerge

The Europeans don’t just have four or five premier players who elevate their game every Ryder Cup.

They have four or five players who are real leaders—players who take younger stars under their wing.

They each consider the Ryder Cup the pinnacle of their career.

There is an established culture that goes all the way back to Seve Ballesteros. The Europeans play with an incredible spirit and freedom.

After winning a foursomes or four ball match, they embrace each other like they truly love each other.

When you look on the American side, that is not happening. The best players are better as individuals, so it makes sense how they are better at singles.

How does a player like Scheffler go 1-4 in the Ryder Cup? If he had gone 2-3, the event would have ended in a tie. He’s clearly not comfortable being the face of American team golf, although maybe he grows into that.

How does Bryson DeChambeau go 1-3-1? Do you see him shepherding younger players around, encouraging them? Or do you see him as an egomaniac who is completely focused on himself?

The Americans need emotional leaders who are just as concerned with winning this event as the Europeans are. And that takes the sacrifice of having a real team culture where everyone is invested.

4. Make someone the permanent GM of the team

This idea is a little outside the box, but I think it’s time the Americans establish more of a management structure that takes the event seriously.

Personally, I would hire someone—perhaps a former caddie, an experienced golf executive or even a coach from another sport—who will treat winning the Ryder Cup as a full-time job.

This would be someone who would pore over every single detail of what it takes to win, coming up with a unique system that borrows some from the Europeans while adding a different flair that matches what the American team culture could be like.

Having a GM would give the team more organizational structure. Picking a captain would be methodical and based on years of teaching the system. There would be a rallying cry.

Honestly, why not? The Americans are bad at the Ryder Cup. Try something new.

5. Abolish the Ryder Cup standings

There is a huge difference between players who deserve to be on the Ryder Cup team and the players who will make a difference once they are playing in the Ryder Cup.

If you are playing at a bomb-and-gouge golf course like Bethpage, you shouldn’t bring short hitters or guys who rely on being good putters.

You need to match the course to the player.

This is where I think the Ryder Cup standings don’t make any sense. Just take them out completely and make it 12 captain’s picks.

English, who was an automatic qualifier, didn’t even get to play in Sunday singles because he was “the man in the envelope” in case of a European injury. He was basically voted the worst player on the team by his captain, and this was after getting smashed in two foursomes sessions.

I think the U.S. team has to remember that this is about winning. In a home Ryder Cup, you have to stack the deck in your favor as much as possible.

If you don’t want to take a player on your team, don’t be forced into doing it by your own rules.

Just because someone finished T3 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship doesn’t mean they are going to play well in a Ryder Cup.

Open it up to 12 captains picks and choose whoever fits the course—and the team culture—better than everyone else.

So how else would you fix the American Ryder Cup team?

Let me know below in the comments.

Top Photo Caption: Keegan Bradley speaks at the post-round press conference. (GETTY IMAGES/Slaven Vlasic)

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