Brooks Koepka knows he is going to get criticized as he discloses his Ryder Cup theory which involves Tiger Woods

Add as preferred source on Google

When it comes to the golfing calendar, both The Masters and The Ryder Cup stand out as two of the absolute premier events in the whole sport.

The mystique of The Masters and the quality of Augusta National as a golf course is unmatched while the Ryder Cup brings the team element and competitive nature that so many crave.

Now in 2025, we are just a week away from The Masters and less than six months from Team Europe travelling to Bethpage Black to defend the Ryder Cup they won in Rome.

• READ MORE: Johnson Wagner predicts where Jordan Spieth will finish at The Masters this year, 10 years after his victory at Augusta

However, while Europe will be desperate to win in New York, Brooks Koepka has suggested that if it wasn’t for Tiger Woods, the Europeans wouldn’t care quite as much.

Brooks Koepka says why Tiger Woods has influenced Europe’s Ryder Cup stance

Speaking in an interview for The Times, Koepka covered a whole host of golf related issues and eventually got onto the Ryder Cup and comparisons to The Masters.

And in a little bit of a dig to Team Europe, Koepka has suggested that a dominant Tiger Woods almost pushed Europe into caring more.

“I’ll shoot dead straight,” he promises. “So I suggest the fact Americans will be paid at the Ryder Cup only adds to the old perception that Europeans care more. When I grew up it was The Masters,” Koepka said.

““That’s what my family talked about, and everybody came round and watched, but the Ryder Cup is like a religion in Europe.

“I’ll get criticised for this, but I think a lot of it was Tiger dominated those majors from ’97 through to 2008, and there weren’t many Europeans winning majors then. But they were winning the Ryder Cups and so it was the one thing that they could really hang their hat on.

“I’m not dogging them, I just think it’s actual fact.”

• READ MORE: Brooks Koepka names the two PGA Tour events which he would love to come back and play in despite joining LIV

When Brooks Koepka suffered the ultimate humiliation at The Ryder Cup

While the five-time major winner will have good reason for his feelings on The Masters and Ryder Cup as he explains here, he’s also had the odd nightmare against Team Europe.

Indeed, it was only recently that Koepka delved into his famous shank at the Ryder Cup in 2016 and the embarrassment it caused.

“I hit a shank at the Ryder Cup too. This was bad. The best part about it was Tiger walked up to me, you know how they’ve all got the earpieces in, and he walked up and he was like, ‘hey, no big deal, shake it off, just 10 million watched you shank it, no big deal’. And I was like, ‘thanks man, appreciate that’,” he said.

“Then he gives it this, with the earpiece, and he’s like, ‘no, no, no, no, 10 million people just got to watch it in slow-mo, so you’re good’.”

Going into Bethpage – if selected – Koepka will be hoping to improve his record and be a key factor in Team USA bringing the trophy back over the Atlantic.