The Ryder Cup will take place later this year in September at Bethpage Black in New York State.
Team USA will be looking to regain the Ryder Cup trophy, after Team Europe won the 2023 contest in Rome comfortably, by a score of 16.5 to 11.5.
Keegan Bradley, his players and the New York crowd will make Bethpage Black an extremely hostile environment for Luke Donald and his European team.
In the professional game, there are certain players who thrive in the Ryder Cup format, whilst others struggle to cope with the pressure.
Players who have been out of form over the past year or so are being tipped to turn things around and make their respective teams at Bethpage.
Viktor Hovland is one player who will be hoping to be part of the 2025 Ryder Cup, having spent some time in the golfing wilderness before returning to form with a win at The Valspar Championship in March.
The Norwegian is still without a major win on his resume, but he will still undoubtedly be part of Team Europe at Bethpage this year.
However, one legendary figure in the game won two of golf’s premier championships but never got to represent his country at the Ryder Cup.
John Daly the only golfer to win two majors and never play in the Ryder Cup
There are not many more popular figures in the game of golf than John Daly.
Daly, also known as the ‘Wild Thing’ has experienced one of the most colourful careers out of anyone to have ever played the game professionally.
The now 58-year-old won two majors – the 1991 PGA Championship and the 1995 Open.
His career was plagued by battles with alcohol, depression and failed marriages.
However, when it came to playing golf, he was supremely naturally gifted. Daly recently showed that he still has immense power, when he hit an old persimmon driver 275 yards off the tee!
He once told a famous story of when he beat Tiger Woods whilst he was extremely hungover, and maybe even still drunk, back in the early 2000’s.
“We had the roundtable at Sherwood and I had my bottle of Jack Daniels then. I just meet these guys, right? Tiger came in and I said ‘T, come have a drink with us man’. And he said ‘No, I’m going to go hit some balls’. A few hours later, I said again, ‘Come have a drink with us.’ Tiger said, ‘No, I’m going to go work out’. This is going on for about 5 or 6 hours and we’re still there just pounding, getting drunk, having a good time. I got a sponsorship out of it which I was happy about.
“TW comes out in a suit and I go, ‘Where are you going?’ He says ‘I got a guitar on stage for you. You have to go to the dinner.’ I didn’t know anything about a dinner. I got no shoes on, I got my shirt tucked out, I got shit spilled all over me. Just drunk. The bar room wasn’t very far, so I stumbled over there. There’s a chair and a guitar. I did ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ and got a standing ovation and said I’ll see you tomorrow.
“So [the next morning] we tee off, my caddie was drunk with us … But the funny thing about Tiger is, when I got on the tee, I had my caddie bring me a crown or a jack and coke, if you’ve never played Sherwood, the first hole, he’s walking and walking through all the cactuses on this hill trying not to spill my drink.
“I grab my 3-iron and go on the tee. To make a long story short, I shoot like 65 he shoots like 71, he was shaking his head all day.”
It’s quite incredibly that a man with that talent, and two major championships under his belt, never got to represent Team USA in the most prestigious team competition in the sport.
One player was the polar opposite to John Daly, with no majors but Ryder Cup dominance
Interestingly, there is a player who did near enough the exact opposite to Daly during his career.
He actually couldn’t have been more different to the diet coke swigging, long-hitting Daly…in every single way.
Colin Montgomerie was unbeaten in Ryder Cup singles matches throughout his career, and is tied fifth on the all-time points list.
However, the Scot quite incredibly never won a major championship, although he did have five runner-up finishes to his name.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to see if Montgomerie would swap his Ryder Cup record for Daly’s two major wins.
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