Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau will be integral to the United States Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black this week.
Behind world number one Scottie Scheffler, Schauffele and DeChambeau are probably the two best golfers in Keegan Bradley’s lineup.
They will both need to bring their A-game to beat the European team on Sunday, although they will go about it in completely different ways.
Schauffele recognizes that DeChambeau’s personality could be a key factor at this Ryder Cup and has even spoken to Bradley about it.
Xander Schauffele expects big things from Bryson DeChambeau at the Ryder Cup
Schauffele has performed well at previous Ryder Cups, particularly alongside Patrick Cantlay, but he is not the type of person to inspire the rest of the USA team.
DeChambeau, however, will interact with the raucous crowd at Bethpage Black in an attempt to build confidence in his teammates and to wind up the Europeans.
Schauffele has told Bradley in the build-up to the Ryder Cup that DeChambeau could be a game-changer this week because of his extroverted character.
“Yeah, I was telling Keegan when this whole thing was starting that I felt like he could be… when you look at Ryder Cups and how they shake down, it’s like… it can kind of seem very different or distant at times when you win or lose one,” Schauffele explained in the pre-Ryder Cup press conference.
“But I was telling Keegan, I feel like Bryson could be like the difference for us in a strange way, from the standpoint of feeding into these fans, the style of golf he plays.
“And also how… like you’ll get me, I’ll make a putt, and you won’t see too much of a reaction. That’s just who I am. That’s kind of how I operate. Maybe it might change this week, who knows. These Ryder Cups bring out the best in you at times.
“But Bryson is like, this is his arena. If he views himself as a gladiator golfer, this is as good as it gets. He’s been awesome. He’s been awesome in the team room.
“I’m excited to sort of see what he can do, and hopefully get a lot of points up on the board because his points might hit harder than maybe my points, for example, just because of how he might celebrate and get these fans into this tournament quickly.”
Tony Finau wants Bryson DeChambeau to hit the first tee shot at the Ryder Cup
Tony Finau recently discussed Bryson DeChambeau’s potential impact at the Ryder Cup and suggested something to Bradley.
Finau wants DeChambeau to hit the opening tee shot on Friday morning because it would immediately rile up the United States supporters.
“It’s a dogleg right, and this is driver for everybody,” he said about the first hole at Bethpage Black. “Everybody’s going to be sending the driver up towards this green.
“And to me, it’s a crime if we don’t send out Bryson first and let him send this tee shot at the green.
“It plays downhill about 20 yards, and it doglegs, so to the front edge is only about 350, something like that to the front edge, which Bryson is very capable of hitting.”
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