Tommy Fleetwood will be one of the European players hoping to make the team tasked with trying to retain the Ryder Cup in the Coliseum that is Bethpage Black in 2025.
Europe face what has become one of the toughest tasks in elite golf, as they look to win the Ryder Cup on away soil. Just two teams have won the event away from home in the last three decades. The better news for Luke Donald is that they were both European sides, back in 1995 and of course, Medinah in 2012.
USA meanwhile, won by a record margin at Whistling Straits in 2021. So Donald will be under absolutely no illusions regarding the scale of the task facing his team in New York.
Bethpage Black will provide the stage in 2025. Keegan Bradley has spoken about what he believes makes Bethpage so special. And one thing you can guarantee going into the event is that the crowd is going to be incredibly passionate.
Tommy Fleetwood issues his verdict on Bethpage ahead of the Ryder Cup
Tommy Fleetwood will be looking to make his fourth Ryder Cup appearance next year. The Englishman won the point which sealed victory in Rome in 2023. And speaking on Why Golf, he opened up about his one previous experience of playing at Bethpage.
“No, just in I think it was the USPGA in 2019, so that’s the only time I’ve been there. I remember how tough it was, how brutal it was,” he said.
“I remember the practice rounds being just ridiculously hard, especially on the Wednesday. It was raining, it was playing miles, the rough was so thick, and then Brooks shot a 63 in the first round, so it can’t have been that hard.
“A pretty tough test of golf, it will be pretty interesting to see how they set it up for a Ryder Cup, and obviously, it’ll be in front of a New York crowd. It’ll be amazing, it’ll be so much fun to go there as an away team.”
How the Englishman fared at the 2019 PGA Championship
The 2019 PGA Championship proved to be quite a strange tournament. As Fleetwood suggests, Brooks Koepka seemed to be playing a different course for the majority of the week. The American led by seven shots after the second and third rounds.
He was actually able to bogey five of the last eight holes and win by two.
Fleetwood meanwhile, was third after the opening round, but fell away quite considerably over the final three days. He finished in a tie for 48th after a final round 78.
He will hope to enjoy a much better weekend if he is in the European team which travels to New York next year.
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