[Photo: Vaughn Ridley]<\/p>\n
As we all know, the 2025 Ryder Cup didn\u2019t go the way the US team hoped. Anything but, in fact. The home side was asleep at the wheel throughout the first two days of the tournament, entering Sunday in a seven-point hole that they had dug. The reasons\/excuses for this were myriad: Keegan Bradley\u2019s disastrous will-he-won\u2019t-he captainship. Underwhelming play from stars, ugly behaviour from fans and the bed sheets being tucked too tight at the team hotel\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026OK, we made that last one up, but allegedly the course setup at Bethpage Black did play a big role in the outcome. Though far from the core issue, the Americans complained that the setup didn\u2019t match what they had asked for, including the greens, which were reportedly much slower than Captain Keegan specified. This week Justin Thomas joined the No Laying Up podcast and shed some light on the behind-the-scenes friction between the US team and the grounds crew that helped to derail the squad\u2019s Ryder Cup bid. Watch it and weep.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know why they [the greens] weren\u2019t at all what Keegan had asked for. I mean, he had been pretty clear of asking for a certain speed and wanting it fast enough. I watched them argue with us that they were 13s [on the Stimpmeter],\u201d Thomas said. \u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018Guys, we play golf every week. Like, look on TV at how many guys are leaving putts short. Nobody is getting\u2026 You can\u2019t have a putt, roll, three feet, four feet past the hole. Like these greens are slow, speed them up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just bizarre because that\u2019s not something you would expect at a home Ryder Cup,\u201d Thomas continued. \u201cA fun advantage you generally have [as a home Ryder Cup team] is being able to do that a little bit, and it was just so frustrating that we were being fought with and argued with on the speed of the greens that we asked for. So that was bizarre.\u201d<\/p>\n