FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — History continues to be made at the 2025 Ryder Cup. Unfortunately, for those stateside, the United States remains on the wrong side of it. Europe has amassed a mammoth 11.5 to 4.5 lead at Bethpage Black, becoming the first road team to sweep the opening four sessions of a Ryder Cup since the Americans and Europeans began going head-to-head in 1979.
At 7 points, Europe now holds the largest advantage entering Sunday singles in modern Ryder Cup history. It previously won the opening four sessions at home in 2006, the only prior time either side has successfully swept the other before singles competition.
While the deficit is technically not insurmountable for United States — 12 points are up for grabs Sunday in one-on-one matchups — it will require monumental effort by an American side that has heretofore not looked to be in the same class as their European counterparts in any phase of the competition.
No Ryder Cup team has ever earned more than 8.5 points through singles, a feat accomplished four times previously — twice by each side. Europe scoring 8.5 points or more Sunday would pass the 20-point threshold, which has never been accomplished before. The United States would need to win 10 of 12 singles matches in order to win the Ryder Cup, an extremely difficult if not impossible task.
Sinking the U.S. has been the play of the entire team, notably on the greens where the Americans have been unable to sink putts despite captain Keegan Bradley setting the course up to cater to his side’s strengths.
Not helping matters is Scottie Scheffler, the first golfer to start 0-4-0 through the first four sessions of a Ryder Cup in modern history. No other No. 1-ranked player has ever gone winless through foursomes and fourballs at a Ryder Cup, and Scheffler is now winless across the last two playings of the biennial event dating back to 2023 in Rome. The de facto on-course leader of the U.S. performing so poorly is a huge tip on a massive iceberg of failure.
Tommy Fleetwood is playing a completely opposite role for the Europeans, starting 4-0-0 at Bethpage Black and nearly scoring as many points himself (4) as the Americans have together (4.5). The reigning Tour Championship winner continues to play the best golf of his career, rounding into form as the type of golfer many believed he had the pedigree to eventually become.
Battling obnoxious crowds Saturday to nevertheless dominate the Americans was Rory McIlroy, himself 3-0-1 after four sessions. Despite being the subject of insults beyond the pale even while he was setting up to swing throughout the day, the reigning Masters champion and career grand slam winner played inspired golf to the point he even turned around and audibly cursed at U.S. fans for going well over the line with their jeering. (And then he stuck his approach shot just feet from the cup.)
McIlroy and pal Shane Lowry were particularly fiery in Saturday foursomes, ultimately winning 2UP in a competitive match against Justin Thomas and Cameron Young.
Not only has Europe won all four team sessions, it has done so without giving up more than 1.5 points to the U.S. in any of the competitions. On Saturday alone, Europe led for 76 combined holes across eight matches compared to just six for the United States — an even more dominant showing than Day 1 when Europe’s edge was a paltry 61-40 by comparison.
Ryder Cup 2025: TV schedule, viewer’s guide | Schedule, format, scoring
2025 Ryder Cup results, scores: Day 2 Europe 11.5 | United States 4.5
Session 3 — Foursomes
9
Matt Fitzpatrick & Ludvig Åberg
4 & 2 ➡️
Bryson DeChambeau & Cameron Young
10
Rory McIlroy & Tommy Fleetwood
⬅️ 3 & 2
Harris English & Collin Morikawa
11
Jon Rahm & Tyrrell Hatton
⬅️ 3 & 2
Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay
12
Robert MacIntyre & Viktor Hovland
⬅️ 1UP
Russell Henley & Scottie Scheffler
Bradley insisted the U.S. team just needed to stick to its plan despite the disastrous start Friday, so he sent out three of the same four pairings in foursomes Saturday. Spoiler alert: The same plan yielded the same results. Europe once again took the foursomes session 3-1, extending its lead to 5 points entering the afternoon with all three repeat American airings losing.
The U.S. duo to score a point Saturday morning the new pairing of Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Young, who won the opening match 4 & 2 over Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Åberg. Young’s performance this week has been one of the few bright spots for the Americans, as he registered two full points in his first Ryder Cup matches and appears to be a potential stalwart for the U.S. side in the future.
Everything after that match went the way of the Europeans. Luke Donald’s most trusted foursomes delivered three more points, quieting quieted a Bethpage crowd desperately hoping for a reason to get boisterous for the Americans. They had to watch as duos of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton plus McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood once again gutted the U.S. side. Both pairings won their matches 3 & 2, improving to 4-0-0 in the foursomes format going back to 2023 in Rome.
In the final match, it was more pain for Scheffler as he and Russell Henley went back out and battled all the way to the 18th only to fall against Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland on the last hole. Scheffler’s day only got worse from there.
Session 4 — Fourballs
13
Rory McIlroy & Shane Lowry
⬅️ 2UP
Justin Thomas & Cameron Young
14
Tommy Fleetwood & Justin Rose
⬅️ 3 & 2
Scottie Scheffler & Bryson DeChambeau
15
Jon Rahm & Sepp Straka1UP ➡️
J.J. Spaun & Xander Schauffele
16
Tyrrell Hatton & Matt Fitzpatrick⬅️1UP
Sam Burns & Patrick Cantlay
Bradley finally shook up his pairings up for the afternoon, but the end result was more of the same as the Americans got steamrolled again, losing 3-1 in the four-ball session.
To the Americans’ credit, the afternoon session was most competitive of the week in terms of close contests; however, the U.S. only led for three holes in those four matches with Europe maintaining advantages across 37 holes.
The Americans sent three matches to the 18th hole and kept their deficits thin; however, the Europeans continued to deliver huge shots and drain long puts when the hosts could not.
Bradley’s big move was putting Scheffler and DeChambeau out together as the pairing went went 1-0-1 four years ago. The hope was to produce a full point from the captain’s two top stars. Instead, they ran into the buzzsaw of Fleetwood and Justin Rose, becoming the only pair not to reach the 18th hole in a 3 & 2 loss that got testy at the end.
Rose and Fleetwood were outrageously dialed all day, making birdie or better on 11 of 16 holes, which gave the Americans no room to make any mistakes. The match reached a boiling point on the 15th hole when Rose told DeChambeau’s caddie to step back while his player got ready to putt. After both golfers made birdie, the two teams got into a heated argument walking to the 16th tee.
Ultimately, cooler heads prevailed and Rose ultimately shrugged off the whole exchange, but the Americans seemed to still be steaming (particularly DeChambeau) as the team’s top stars fell to a combined 1-7-0.
Behind them, McIlroy and Lowry battled Thomas and Young in a match that wasn’t as heated between the groups but featured a ton of emotion between the players and the crowd. The fans at Bethpage were all over McIlroy and Lowry with reports of fans crossing the line with indecent comments — and poorly timed — comments. It was to the point that Thomas and Young were actively trying to quiet the crowd at numerous points while the Europeans were playing.
McIlroy let out all that emotion after his birdie on the 14th to go back 1UP, which proved to be the decisive hole in the match.
Lowry delivered a similar effort on the par-3 17th with a birdie putt to stay 1UP going to the last. The U.S. ultimately conceded after failing to make a birdie, handing McIlroy and Lowry their first full point as a Ryder Cup pairing. Afterwards, an exhausted McIlroy had an emotional embrace with Lowry but wouldn’t offer up much about whether the fans crossed the line, mostly noting how proud he was of how they played in that arena.
“Look, when you play an away Ryder Cup, it’s really, really challenging,” McIlroy said. “You know, it’s not for me to say. People can be their own judge of whether they took it too far or not. I’m just proud of us for being able to win with what we had to go through.”
Behind that match, J.J. Spaun provided the lone positive for the Americans as he made consecutive birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to flip his pairing with Xander Schauffele to a U.S. win, 2UP over Sepp Straka and Rahm. It was Rahm’s first loss of the week (and since 2021), as he was unable to join Fleetwood in the 4-0-0 club. Still, it was a great example of what the Europeans have demanded from the United States all week as it took a spectacular finish from Spaun to beat them.
In the final match, Hatton and Fitzpatrick put a fitting end on the day by giving the U.S. duo of Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns false hope by going to the 18th tied before slamming the door with two incredible approaches to gimme range. The Americans could not answer, the result being another 3-1 session.
What was billed as one of the most competitive Ryder Cups fans may ever see has turned into a historic blowout. Even one of the best Sunday singles performances in Ryder Cup history won’t be enough for the Americans, and anything less than that could yield one of the all-time worst showings from a home team in Ryder Cup history.
The benchmark at this point is the 2004 victory by Europe at Oakland Hills as the visitors won 18.5 to 9.5. Bradley will be hoping not to dethrone Hal Sutton as the least successful U.S. captain this century, but at this point, he’s yet to figure out the right buttons to push.
Bradley will face plenty of deserved criticism. There have been head-scratching pairings — Collin Morikawa and Harris English were a disaster on Friday yet somehow got sent back out on Saturday — and a pathetic course setup that completely neutered the typically stern test of Bethpage Black into a birdiefest akin to TPC Deere Run.
Despite any of Bradley’s mistakes, though, the Ryder Cup ultimately comes down to how players perform on the course. The Americans have played terribly. The stars have fallen flat, and the experienced supporting cast took a massive step back throughout the 2025 season leading into the event.
That’s a bad combination no matter what, but it becomes a true disaster when the opposite is happening on the European side. Their top three stars are 10-1-1, and veterans like Rose and Hatton are providing needed lifts when called upon.
There aren’t any positives options for the U.S. if Europe is going to play this way, and if the visitors can stay focused for one more day, they will pay off McIlroy’s proclamation in Rome that they would go on to win at Bethpage in historic fashion.