US needs considerably more from Scottie Scheffler to have any chance at 2025 Ryder Cup – What must be disappointing for the U.S. squad at the 2025 Ryder Cup is that they don’t need Scottie Scheffler to be a superhero. They just need the world No. 1 player to play as he normally does. And he turned up, ultimately, here at Bethpage Black on Friday, Sept. 26.
Scheffler birdied holes No. 15 and 16 in the afternoon session, but so did Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka, respectively.
For the Americans, they best hope that Scheffler can straighten things out before he walks to the first tee Saturday, although he won’t have Donald Trump to point at this time. Scheffler and defending U.S. Open winner J.J. Spaun went on to win the first hole on Spaun’s birdie – and it was their lone victory for the rest of the match against Rahm and Straka.
“It really just came down to me not holing enough putts,” Scheffler said. “We put up a good fight at the end. The boys just really cranked it up on the back nine, but it really came down to us not taking advantage of the holes early in the match that we needed to. But overall it was a nice fight.”
Scheffler performed even worse in the morning session. He and Russell Henley, his playing partner in the Friday morning foursome (alternate shot) round, were throttled by Ludvig Åberg and Matthew Fitzpatrick and lost by five holes. US needs considerably more from Scottie Scheffler to have any chance at 2025 Ryder Cup
The nemesis for Scheffler on Friday wasn’t the opposition as much as it was his putter.
“We just didn’t hole enough putts early,” he remarked after the opening match. “We had some chances.” Since September 2021, Scheffler has won 19 of the 116 events he’s played in. In that same time frame, he’s 2-9 at the Ryder Cup. He hasn’t won his last six Ryder Cup matches (two ties, four losses).
The Americans don’t need him to be 9-2. But a decent performance from the best player in the world? Surely that can’t be too much to ask for. The United States’ other stars didn’t do well on Day 1 of the tournament, however. Bryson DeChambeau also turned in 0 points, for example. But Scheffler is a four-time major winner who has been constantly at the top of his sport for years.
“I think if you ask Scottie, he would say he’s excited tomorrow to go out and play his best golf,” U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said. “When you’re the No. 1 player in the world, you have a day when maybe it wasn’t his greatest, generally you bounce back. We are not worried about Scottie Scheffler. He’s been in excellent spirits in the team room. He’s ready to get back out there tomorrow.” US needs considerably more from Scottie Scheffler to have any chance at 2025 Ryder Cup
Of course, Scheffler isn’t the first all-time great to lose his domination in the team format of the Ryder Cup. Tiger Woods was part of a victorious U.S. squad just once and has the most foursome losses in U.S. Ryder Cup history (nine) and the most fourball losses (10). (Woods’ overall record was 13-21-3).
Scheffler is the first No. 1 player since Woods to lose both his matches on opening day of the Ryder Cup since the latter did so in 2002 at The Belfry in England. Rahm – to be rather trivial for a moment – is the European incarnation of Scheffler, a multi-major championship winner with long stretches as the world’s best player. But the Spaniard, unlike his competitor, consistently comes up at the Ryder Cup and has an 8-3-3 record following Friday. Rahm is unbeaten (5-0) in foursomes.
Scheffler is paired with Henley in foursome play again Saturday, proving that Bradley has full faith in his star. Now it’s time for the game’s top player to reward that faith and start correcting his Ryder Cup narrative. US needs considerably more from Scottie Scheffler to have any chance at 2025 Ryder Cup
About the Author
