FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – It’s a busy time for Keith Pelley, but he was more than happy to talk about golf – especially with the European side winning the Ryder Cup in New York, just the fourth time in the last 30 years an away squad has tilted the trophy.
Pelley, now the president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, was the chief executive of the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) from April 2015 until the end of last year. The DP World Tour manages the European side of the Ryder Cup, so Pelley has had a first-hand look at the ins and the outs.
It turned out to be much closer on the scoreboard than anyone could have predicted heading into Sunday morning, as Europe had a seven-point advantage through two days.
Team Europe ended up winning 15-13, capturing just a single match outright on the final day.
Pelley, in an exclusive conversation with Sportsnet, was not surprised that Europe was able to win in the end.
“I think the fundamental difference is the culture and chemistry and the unwavering will to succeed. And they’ve done everything right. They have done everything really well,” Pelley said.
Sunday was trending towards the most lop-sided triumph at the Ryder Cup since 2006 when Europe won 18.5-9.5 (the same score it defeated the Americans by in 2004) before Team USA mounted an incredible, spirited comeback through the final day, winning four of the first five matches. Bryson DeChambeau was also able to claw a half a point from his match against Matt Fitzpatrick, where he was down five after seven holes.
Cameron Young held off a hard-charging Justin Rose to win 1-up with a final-hole birdie, with the same thing happening to Justin Thomas over Tommy Fleetwood about 15 minutes later.
Bethpage Black, for the first time all week, became a living, breathing entity. The 13th man on the American side. The thing is, of course, America had played so poorly over the first two days that the hole they had dug was too deep to come out of.
Shane Lowry captured the key half point that allowed Europe to retain the cup and jumped up-and-down a half-dozen times on the 18th green while being serenaded by the crowd with a Christmastime song replacing “winter” with “Lowry” in “Walking in a Winter Wonderland.”
Tyrrell Hatton earned another half point against Collin Morikawa to win the cup outright for the visitors.
Ludvig Aberg was the only European to win a full point Sunday, and Luke Donald became the first captain to lead his team to back-to-back Ryder Cup victories since Tony Jacklin for Europe, who won three in a row in 1985, 1987, and 1989. Ben Hogan was the only captain to do it for America – some 40 years earlier than that.
“He’s the greatest captain I think that’s ever lived. He’s the most amazing man in the world,” Lowry said. “Honestly, he’s done the best job.”
Pelley, who was at the helm of the DP World Tour for the last Ryder Cup in Rome in 2023 – also won by Europe – said Donald was the right guy to lead then, and now.
“You look at all the noise of their captain (Keegan Bradley) and whether he was going to play or not,” Pelley said. “While he was worrying about (that), ours was creating a plan that was methodically thought out and looked like he’s executed it flawlessly.”
The fifth point of the day was put on the board by Scottie Scheffler, who defeated Rory McIlroy 1-up in the first Singles match in Ryder Cup history, where the Nos. 1 and 2-ranked golfers in the world competed against each other.
McIlroy unleashed just one emphatic fist pump on the day, appearing to be completely out of gas – emotionally and physically. The Masters winner faced derogatory comments about his life inside and outside the ropes through the week, including Sunday.
It wasn’t McIlroy’s day, but with the win in New York, his premonition from Rome two years ago came true – the squad did indeed win a Ryder Cup on the road, one of the biggest accomplishments in the game, he said then.
“Rory is special. He’s special on the course and he’s special off the course,” Pelley said. “He’s wickedly skilled and gifted but he combines everything else off the course and his personality, which is so infectious and engaging, and in a Ryder Cup, he’s magical.”
Europe had all the magic through the week on Long Island. In order to run up the score as they did, however, you have to make the putts and hit the shots. They did that in spades, certainly over the first two days.
But the passion, Pelley said, is what sets the European side apart.
Team USA has now lost nine of the last 12 Ryder Cup competitions.
“(Europe) just takes it a bit more seriously than (the Americans) do,” Pelley said. “At the end of the day, it really comes down to how much it means to the players and how much respect and love they have for each other.
Pelley was quick to point to Matt Wallace, who had a wonderful chance to qualify automatically, crying in a post-round interview a few weeks ago when he knew he would not have made the team. Being part of the Ryder Cup side for Europe is an honour and a privilege. It’s not just the dozen with clubs, but the dozens without that help the team have success.
“We’re a small part of a huge team,” Hatton said. “They’re the greatest weeks of your golf life.”
The key line this week from Europe was, “Our time. Our place.” Only 37 players prior to this week have won a Ryder Cup away from home.
Now there are 47. This team has done it.
“Every European dreams of playing in the Ryder Cup and it is one of their most incredible experiences,” Pelley said. “Who has passion for the Ryder Cup more so than that team?”