America claimed to have a potentially ‘significant advantage’ over Europe for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black

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The Ryder Cup is rapidly approaching, with Team USA and Team Europe slowly but surely taking shape for Bethpage Black.

The latest American Ryder Cup qualification rankings have emerged after The Open, which was won by Scottie Scheffler, their only qualified player so far.

And Scheffler’s win should concern Luke Donald, who returns as captain of the European Ryder Cup team in September.

Keegan Bradley meanwhile is in the hot seat for America, replacing Zach Johnson, who lost in Rome in 2023.

Bradley could play at the Ryder Cup, but it remains to be seen exactly what role the captain will take on this year.

America claimed to have potentially significant Ryder Cup advantage over Europe

Spain will host the Ryder Cup in 2031, but well before that is this year’s edition at Bethpage Black in New York.

And America have now been claimed to have a potentially big advantage for the event, as discussed by Paige Mackenzie.

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She said on Golf Channel: “From what I have heard about what the United States could do, they have control of the golf course set up when the Ryder Cup is at a home country. It could be more in their favour because they have the advantage in the driving.

“If we take a look at some of the players who will likely be on the European team. We very well could see the exact same line-up in 2023 as we will this year on the team.

“Robert MacIntyre is outside the top 100 (108), Justin Rose (112), Tommy Fleetwood (129), Sepp Straka (136) and Shane Lowry (139) are all outside the top 100 in driving distance.

“So when it comes to golf course set up and how that could influence the outcome of this tournament, if you can figure out a way or the golf course set up can to have the length and the advantage for those longer hitters, the United States does have a distance advantage and a pretty significant one.

“They only have two players in their potential top 12 which ranked outside the top 100 in driving distance. Compare that to what the European team have and there is a certain advantage for the United States as it relates to driving distance.”

Who are the driving distance leaders ahead of the Ryder Cup?

While a handful of likely European representatives do fall short in driving distance, they still have Rory McIlroy to rely on in that regard.

The five-time major champion, who is the only player qualified for Donald so far, is second for driving distance on the PGA Tour in 2025.

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His average of 323.4 yards is behind only the 327.6 of Aldrich Potgieter, while his fellow Europeans Rasmus Hojgaard and Nicolai Hojgaard are also both within the top 10.

At the same time, however, McIlroy’s number is surpassed by that of his fellow big-hitter Bryson DeChambeau on LIV Golf.

DeChambeau will play at the Ryder Cup for America, with his huge average driving distance of 331 yards unsurprisingly leading the way in LIV Golf in 2025.

The tournament will, of course, come down to much more than just driving distance, but it could be an area which Bradley will be keen to use to his advantage at Bethpage Black.