Team USA have three unanswered questions looming over them ahead of the Ryder Cup starting

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With the Ryder Cup now just 18 days away, excitement ahead of the event is beginning to reach fever pitch.

US captain Keegan Bradley and European skipper Luke Donald will be hoping to guide their respective 12 players to Ryder Cup success at Bethpage Black at the end of the month.

Donald has spoken about how strong the US Ryder Cup team are, and the Englishman will be under no illusions as to the size of the task that awaits him and his players in New York State.

However, the same can be said for Bradley. The 39-year-old will be desperate to guide his side to success at Bethpage Black, but a fearsome European team will be standing in his way.

Interestingly, Bradley and Donald are legitimately very close friends, but that will all be thrown out of the window later this month at Bethpage.

It will be a hostile atmosphere for the European players up in New York but as things stand, it’s fair to argue that Donald’s team is far more settled than Bradley’s side.

Team USA have three unanswered questions ahead of the Ryder Cup

The Americans have a lot of unresolved issues right now, but they will be answered very soon, one way or the other.

First, Xander Schauffele‘s decision not to play in the Procore Championship along with every other eligible US Ryder Cup player has drawn huge criticism.

Schauffele is not injured ahead of the Procore Championship, but instead chose not to play. It was claimed that he needed time off from golf, which is really strange given the fact he hasn’t played in a tournament for over three weeks now.

Will he be razor sharp and competitively ready to play at the Ryder Cup? Only time will tell in that regard.

That brings us on to Bryson DeChambeau – the only other US Ryder Cup team player who is not competing at the Procore Championship.

The American is not allowed to tee it up in Napa because he’s a member of the LIV Golf league, and because of that, he won’t have played competitive golf for five weeks by the time the Ryder Cup starts later this month.

DeChambeau is an elite player, one of the best in the world in fact. However, his lack of game-day sharpness, so to speak, might just be a worry for the US team and their fans.

Finally, we have the potential issue of Bradley not picking himself and relying on out-of-form players like Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas and those who haven’t won in a long time like Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay to get the job done at Bethpage.

The 39-year-old from Vermont performed incredibly well during the 2025 PGA Tour season and he was more than deserving of a place on the US Ryder Cup team.

However, he chose the selfless option in the end and made, what he thought, was the best decision for the United States.

Whether that was the correct decision is very much up in the air right now, but we will get the answer in three weeks’ time when the Ryder Cup has finished.

All of these unanswered questions in the American camp right now leads to the conclusion that the Europeans may well be best-placed to win at Bethpage.

The United States might have a stronger team on paper, as far as the world rankings are concerned at least, but the European players may have formed a more closely knit group.

Why world rankings mean nothing at the Ryder Cup

Europe have won five out of the last seven Ryder Cup clashes with the United States.

Throughout the years, it has been clearly visible that team ethic and a close bond between the players have been the cornerstones of the European team’s success.

It is something that cannot be manufactured, and the average world rankings of both teams over the past 15 years proves the unquantifiable aspect of team unity is something that is more important than anything else at the Ryder Cup.

When the numbers are there in black and white, it’s hard to argue that the American team play as anything other than individuals.

That’s the complete opposite to how the Europeans go about things, and it will be very interesting to see how the team dynamics play out at the Ryder Cup later this month.