Paul Azinger, a man always measured in his criticism, claims that the PGA of America has made a colossal mistake by choosing Bethpage Black as the venue for the Ryder Cup. His explanation is as simple as it is forceful. “There isn’t a single American player who likes this course. Not one. Ask around. Meanwhile, the Europeans don’t care where they play.” The winning captain of the United States in 2008 at Valhalla made these statements this Monday on a podcast across the Atlantic. Luckily, he considers himself a friend of Keegan Bradley…
One would have to ask all the American players to verify if Azinger’s statement aligns with reality or if it is simply a consequence of his poor performance at the US Open in 2002, when he missed the cut with rounds of 75 and 82 strokes. There isn’t enough time before Friday to ask so many golfers, so at least, we will offer what the always cold, yet revealing data says.
The good thing about Bethpage Black is that it is a well-known venue. After all, five major championships have been held here in the last 23 years. Namely: US Open 2002, US Open 2009, The Barclays 2012, The Barclays 2016, and PGA Championship 2019. The two The Barclays were part of the FedEx Cup playoffs. It should be noted that all five, not one less, were won by American players. Oh, Paul. In the same order: Tiger Woods, Lucas Glover, Nick Watney, Patrick Reed, and Brooks Koepka. In a risky and almost unconscious exercise of speculation, we would say that at least those five don’t dislike the New York course too much.
The next step is to establish how the 24 players who will compete there in the Ryder Cup from this Friday have fared. The first thing is that not all have played one of those five major tournaments. Debuting at Bethpage for Europe are Robert MacIntyre, Rasmus Hojgaard, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg, and Viktor Hovland. Meanwhile, debuting for America are Scottie Scheffler, Ben Griffin, Collin Morikawa, and Cameron Young. With the important nuance that Young, a local, has played (and won) state championships on that course.
Thus, in this sense, purely by experience, the United States starts with a certain advantage over Europe. Eight (plus Young) know Bethpage in top competition compared to seven from Europe. However, the Europeans have more participations, mainly because Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose, the most veteran of the Ryder, only missed the first Bethpage event in 2002. The Europeans have 13 participations on the Long Island course, compared to the nine of the Americans.
As for the results, how have the players fared? It should be noted that the best result obtained by any of the team members this year belongs to Patrick Cantlay, who was third in the PGA Championship of 2019. Additionally, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry finished eighth. More top 10s at Bethpage: Justin Thomas was tenth in The Barclays of 2016 and Rory was tenth in the US Open of 2009. And now we go case by case with the 16 players who have experience at Bethpage:
– Rory McIlroy: PGA Championship 2019 (8), The Barclays 2016 (31), The Barclays 2012 (24), and US Open 2009 (10).
– Justin Rose: PGA Championship 2019 (29), The Barclays 2016 (31), The Barclays 2012 (46), and US Open 2009 (Cut).
– Justin Thomas: PGA Championship 2019 (did not play due to injury) and The Barclays 2016 (10).
– Patrick Cantlay: PGA Championship 2019 (3).
– Harris English: The Barclays 2016 (53) and The Barclays 2012 (24).
– Russell Henley: The Barclays 2016 (48).
– Xander Schauffele: PGA Championship 2019 (16).
– Shane Lowry: PGA Championship 2019 (8).
– Sam Burns: PGA Championship 2019 (29).
– JJ Spaun: PGA Championship 2019 (54).
– Matthew Fitzpatrick: PGA Championship 2019 (41).
– Tyrrell Hatton: PGA Championship 2019 (48).
– Tommy Fleetwood: PGA Championship 2019 (48).
– Jon Rahm: PGA Championship 2019 (Cut).
– Bryson DeChambeau: PGA Championship 2019 (Cut).
Other curiosities of Bethpage. How have the captains fared?
The only time Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley coincided in a tournament at Bethpage was in The Barclays of 2016, and curiously, they tied for 53rd place. Additionally, Donald was tenth in The Barclays 2012, missed the cut in the US Open 2009, and finished 18th in the US Open 2002. Meanwhile, Bradley was 29th in the PGA Championship 2019 and missed the cut in The Barclays 2012.
Other notable results: Matt Wallace, who gave his blood, sweat, and tears to be on the team, was third in the PGA Championship of 2019, and Sergio García, in the spotlight all year for his possible inclusion in the team, has very good results at Bethpage: 4th in the US Open 2002, 10th in the US Open 2009, 3rd in The Barclays 2012, and missed the cut in the PGA Championship of 2019.
Having said that, we’ll see what happens this week. As Luke Donald said, the preparation of the course for the Ryder Cup is nothing like a US Open or the PGA Championship. They are just clues. Data that serves better from a mental standpoint for those who have done well there in the past. But the idea that Americans don’t like it or don’t do well there is, at the very least, questionable.
