Bethpage Black had the reputation for being one of the hardest courses in the world prior to the Ryder Cup.
It last hosted a major at the 2019 PGA Championship, where only six players finished under par. But the 2025 Ryder Cup was a birdie-fest.
Keegan Bradley’s Team USA shaved down the rough, effectively turning the tournament into a putting contest. That wasn’t helped by Thursday’s rain, which helped produce some of the softest greens ever seen in a major competition.
Bradley admitted it was a mistake to remove the teeth from Bethpage Black. The course was so easy for the players that locals were “furious”, according to Johnson Wagner.
Bethpage Black locals tell Johnson Wagner whether the course was easier at the Ryder Cup
Bethpage Black is a public golf course in Long Island. That’s part of what made this course selection so interesting. The course regulars were about to be shown how professionals would navigate the challenge.
Instead, they played it on easy mode, and the locals couldn’t believe it. They told Wagner that the course is harder when they play it throughout the year.
Speaking on Fried Egg Golf, he said, “I have played Bethpage 15 or 25 times. I have never seen those greens act like that. The greens are benign, they are flat, they are pretty easy to put on, with a few exceptions, like 15 is great.
“But it was mind-boggling how soft it was and how brutal the setup was. All the local people out there were furious at how easy it was. They were like, ‘This is not the golf course I know. I play it on a normal Wednesday, and it’s harder than these guys are playing.’
“I think it was a whiff on course setup, whoever that is. Sorry if it’s Keegan. They missed. You gave away any advantage that you had.”
The course conditions weren’t just affected by the setup, however. Thursday’s rain had an enormous impact on the softness of Bethpage. But Wagner thinks that there were factors at play beyond the weather.
Johnson Wagner’s theory on the soft greens at the Ryder Cup
There was a downpour of rain on Thursday, which absolutely impacted the course conditions. But this was as soft a golf course as any major tournament has seen.
Balls were kicking back on the fairway after drives, sticking dead on greens, or spinning backwards by a ridiculous amount. If your ball landed on the green, the only risk of it falling off was if it spun back onto the fairway.
Wagner was on the course for the midweek practice rounds and said the greens were not close to those conditions before the rain came down. And while there was torrential downpour, the impact of that on the surface seemed exponential.
That has caused Wagner to theorise whether someone had watered the greens throughout the tournament. He explained, “Wednesday, before we had the rain on Thursday the greens were firm and they were bouncing and they were fast. We did not have that much rain on Thursday for them to stay soft all week long.
“I am convinced that somebody was out there putting water on the greens, and I just don’t know why. They played ball in hand every single session! Did we have that much rain on Thursday? I have never seen it! There’s no chance!”
The Americans wanted the course to be easy, but that ultimately favoured the Europeans. It was a blunder of epic proportions on Bradley’s part.
It was obvious after Friday that the easier the course played, the better Luke Donald’s side would perform at Bethpage. But the thought of the Europeans sneaking out in the dead of the night with a watering can seems a little far-fetched!
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