People are buzzing about the vibes-only guides of 2025, which remained perfect at picking the eventual winner of all three majors (not really, and we forgot to do one at the U.S. Open). It was capped by a brilliant prediction at the Open, where I had the near-impossible task of identifying the outright winner with just 41 chances, and successfully included Scottie Scheffler among the 41 contenders (at No. 4). Many are saying it’s the “call of the century.”
Now we’re in Long Island for the Ryder Cup, land of male aggression and female hair, and while the previous format of “good/vibes/does he have a snowball’s chance in hell?” doesn’t quite work at a team event, we’ll adapt it slightly to help us prognosticate which team has the better vibes, and who’s going to win this thing.
Let’s rank ’em! And, remember, this all comes from the gut, vibes-only, which means that unlike ordinary power rankings, it can’t be wrong.
24. Rory McIlroy 
Ramsey Cardy
Good Vibes: Completed the career grand slam, insulted Bryson DeChambeau, won the Irish Open with a putt that sent his people into some very Irish conniptions. Has secured his legacy, and we can’t forget that he guaranteed victory at Bethpage two full years ago.
Bad Vibes: Responded to a career-affirming victory at Augusta miserably, with months of whining and poor play and general sullen behavior, joining the proud ranks of those of us who have no idea what to do with happiness or success. Will probably get insulted viciously at Long Island by people who consider it soft to be born in a different country.
Can he help his nation/continent? Yes, and he cares a lot about this event—the tears of Whistling Straits are fresh in everyone’s minds—but there is a proud tradition here at the vibes-only guide to ranking Rory last, starting at Augusta when he just cracked our list at No. 41. We can’t break from tradition now; not at such an historic event.
23. Collin Morikawa
Good Vibes: Said on Wednesday that he’s striping it in the practice rounds at Bethpage and was a killer in his last home Ryder Cup, going 3-0 with Dustin Johnson at Whistling Straits.
Bad Vibes: Limped his way onto the team, got dog-walked in Rome, and has seen just one top-10 since March. If he’s saying that he’s hitting it well, it’s probably because he knows Cap’n Keegan needs to hear that to have any faith in him. It’s easy to see him playing just once before Sunday.
Can he help his nation/continent? It all feels a little uninspiring, especially because it looks like he’ll be paired with Sam Burns in a classic case of Bradley going, “What else am I supposed to do with these guys?” Like how you put your two most awkward cousins together at the farthest table at the wedding reception.
22. Shane Lowry
Good Vibes: Will happily start a fight with any American at the slightest provocation or at least provoke one of his teammates into doing so.
Bad Vibes: Has spent a full season being cranky, with a special expertise in cursing out courses he finds wanting, like noted dog tracks Oakmont and Portrush. Since May, his best finish is a T-13 at a tournament with 30 players. Was kind of a jerk about the mural they painted for him at the Open. (It was a cringy mural, don’t get me wrong.)
Can he help his nation/continent? He’s one of those guys that has been tagged as a “good teammate,” presumably because of how he acts inside the team room, and despite his mediocre 2-3-1 career record. But I would bet everything I own that he’ll be the first dude to get publicly irate at the American fans.
21. Sam Burns 
Jamie Squire
Good Vibes: Every few months, Scheffler compliments his putting, and does so effusively. I saw it at Quail Hollow, and it happened again this week. If you’re going to be patted on the head, there are worse people to do the patting.
Bad Vibes: He’s been a little rocky under pressure, especially at Oakmont, and at team events that are supposed to reward great putting, Burns has had a surprisingly mediocre time, going a combined 4-5-3 at the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup the last three outings. He and Scheffler are winless in a combined three pairings (0-2-1).
Can he help his nation/continent? Judging by the practice pairings, he has been usurped by Russell Henley for the “Scheffler Whisperer” role, and we can expect to see him with Morikawa. As noted above, this seems like an uninspiring default choice, like when you set up your two most antisocial friends on a blind date and, surprise, they don’t get along.
20. Sepp Straka
Good Vibes: Remains his team’s foremost undercover agent, his U.S. background enabling him to teach his European teammates about classic American concepts like hot dogs, diabetes and gun violence.
Bad Vibes: His major record in 2025 was, as the British say, an absolute howler. Behold: MC-MC-MC-T-52. For the 15th ranked player in the world, who won tournaments this year and bagged six top-10, that’s disastrous, and obviously speaks poorly of his ability to handle pressure. It’s a small sample, but he wasn’t so hot in Rome, either, going 1-2.
Can he help his nation/continent? If he plays up to his ability, sure. But if major pressure cooked him this year, just wait until 50,000 merciless, howling New Yorkers start to smell blood. These are people who have psychologically destroyed many of their own athletes; they’ll devour Straka as an appetizer.
19. Xander Schauffele
Good Vibes: Part of a brilliant partnership with Patrick Cantlay (who he can lean on again if he needs the calming influence of America’s best match-play sadist), just one year removed from the swaggering peak of his career.
Bad Vibes: Hasn’t had his best year despite some late signs of life, and as Golf Digest’s Jamie Kennedy pointed out, behaved like a frail Victorian-era woman prone to fainting spells at the gala Tuesday night. Disconcerting.
Can he help his nation/continent? Absolutely yes, but he’ll need to find a different level than he accessed for most of 2025. Maybe Cantlay will help him rediscover his inner shark, or maybe he’ll be buoyed by the successful campaign to get paid for his efforts.
18. Matt Fitzpatrick 
Ross Kinnaird
Good Vibes: Has been stacking up to-10 finishes all season in a quiet return to peak form, and sources indicate he’s over the moon with excitement after treating himself to a brand- new calculator.
Bad Vibes: It’s hard not to think that he’s just not a good Ryder Cup player at this point. It was a feel-good story when he got first win in Rome on Friday, but two more losses left Fitzpatrick with a woeful career mark of 1-7. It’s beginning to look like muted self-deprecation isn’t the ideal Ryder Cup personality.
Can he help his nation/continent? He’s on an Eamonn Darcy career trajectory (Darcy finished 1-8-2), but it’s worth noting that Darcy did sink the Cup-winning putt in 1987, so anything’s possible … but he’s not exactly a totem of Ryder Cup passion.
17. Ben Griffin 
Scott Taetsch/PGA of America
Good Vibes: After a torrid summer and a subsequent drop-off, he found his mojo again at the end of the tour season and is coming off a near-win at the Procore. Still rocking the oddly effective cop/pilot shades.
Bad Vibes: Weird things keep happening to him, and he’ll have to restrain himself from overdosing on milk and other mild intoxicants after his creatine scare at the BMW.
Can he help his nation/continent? Sure. He’s been in practice groups with Bryson, Justin Thomas and Cam Young, all of whom are fun partners at Bethpage for different reasons, and I can see Griffin putting together a sneaky 2-0-1 campaign while trying to avoid being assaulted by a falling acorn.
16. Rasmus Hojgaard
Good Vibes: Shares a huge amount of genetic material with one of the winners from Rome and had to perform under the gun to make the team on points. He did the job by finishing second at the Danish Golf Championship and T-13 at the British Masters to overtake Lowry for auto-qualification; it bodes well for his chances here.
Bad Vibes: Previous conquering Danes trying their luck in North America have been hung up at Newfoundland; he’s now in uncharted territory and perilously far from his supply lines.
Can he help his nation/continent? As the only rookie, he’ll almost certainly be playing in a very limited role. If I had to guess, he’ll be in both fourball matches, maybe even with Tommy Fleetwood, like his brother. And if we finally get a close Ryder Cup, he’ll be late in the singles lineup with a huge match.
15. Harris English
Good Vibes: I’m not sure.
Bad Vibes: I’m not sure.
Can he help his nation/continent? Maybe?
14. Tyrrell Hatton 
Maddie Meyer/PGA of America
Good Vibes: As the maddest, reddest man in golf, will not shy from competition or conflict. He’s now a four-Cup vet with a record above .500 and likely partner to Jon Rahm, coming off a T-5 at the BMW PGA.
Bad Vibes: May actually combust on the inside when he begins to learn what Long Island patriotism entails; by far the likeliest player to black out and strangle a spectator.
Can he help his nation/continent? Oh yes. He and Rahm are now 2-0-1 over a couple Cups, and their (presumed) partnership in opening foursomes will be especially critical to avoid a repeat of Whistling Straits and an early drubbing.
13. Byrson DeChambeau 
Mike Ehrmann
Good Vibes: Seems to have shaken off early week insults from Brandel Chamblee and McIlroy. His teammates clearly don’t hate him as much as some people would like to believe, and he hits the ball approximately one mile.
Bad Vibes: Seems to have fully fallen down the influencer role, and there are now hints of the cornball in everything the dude says, including his response to Rory. I’m sick of hearing about “the kids.”
Can he help his nation/continent? Oh, hell yeah, especially if they trot out the rumored DeChambeau/JT alt-shot duo. Scottie says they want to “unleash” him, and it feels like a cannon is about to go off.
12. Ludvig Aberg
Good Vibes: Cucumber-cool in all his Swedishness, made fun of Viktor Hovland for talking about aliens too much, continues to be aggravating in his combination of coolness and handsomeness.
Bad Vibes: Very few, but after the lightning strike of his emergence on the PGA Tour, maybe he hasn’t been quite as prodigious as originally thought, just wildly consistent … what’s his problem?
Can he help his nation/continent? This man made Scheffler cry in Rome. Yes.
11. Scottie Scheffler
Good Vibes: Has had a decent couple years.
Bad Vibes: I’m not saying he’s Tiger-level bad, but for an emphatic No. 1 player, Scheffler hasn’t quite been up to the standard America needs at the Ryder Cup, with a 2-2-3 career mark. Rome was an 0-2-2 nightmare (and a wildly poor 3-5-1 mark in the Presidents Cup to boot). Great American golfers have a modern tradition of struggling here, and Scottie needs to break the mold.
Can he help his nation/continent? Of course, but for years and years Tiger seemed to serve the role of “guy who gives Europe a galvanizing win,” and Scottie will have a target on his back.
10. Robert MacIntyre 
Mondadori Portfolio
Good Vibes: Now among the world’s top 10, in way better form than Rome, where everyone expected him to stink and instead he went undefeated in three matches. He looks like a child but has a deep Scottish baritone that should be employed in reading the poetry of Robert Burns.
Bad Vibes: May miss out on the comforting avuncular presence of Justin Rose now that he’s not a wayward rookie. “Uncle,” he will cry to the wilderness, “uncle, where have you gone?!”
Can he help his nation/continent? Yes, even if it’s slightly mysterious who he’ll partner with, or his half-serene, half-brooding disposition will gird him sufficiently for the American barbarian hordes.
9. Justin Thomas 
Mike Ehrmann
Good Vibes: Coming in with low expectations after a quietly solid year, he’s the greatest match-play golfer of his generation, sneaky intense. JT didn’t get screwed by Bradley after talking his way past him to get on the team in Rome and is free of trying to carry Jorda Spieth this time.
Bad Vibes: Perhaps not considered as fearsome in this format as he deserves and had a slight drop-off in form at the Procore. He apparently has started doing a European chant at his own daughter, potential Benedict Arnold.
Can he help his nation/continent? He’s done pretty much that for his entire career, so why should this be a change?
8. Viktor Hovland
Good Vibes: Great smile, fierce Scandinavian partnership with Ludvig (even though they speak Mandarin to each other), had his mojo in full effect in Rome, on a late heater in the 2025 season.
Bad Vibes: Got crushed at the last away Ryder Cup, overly concerned with aliens and not concerned enough with fjords.
Can he help his nation/continent? Yes, but I’m worried that he and Ludey are maybe too low-key to rise to the occasion under the fierce heat of the honking New York barrage. Can these ice-born men find the hot flames of their own competitive fire?
7. Cameron Young
Good Vibes: Ayyy, I’m walking heahhh! We got a real honest-to-god New Yorker, a mean streets urchin of the dirty Bronx, son of the Big Apple, progeny of the Empire, with a driver that never sleeps. ONLY IN NEW YORK, BABY!
Bad Vibes: Pretty much the least “New York-y” New Yorker that has ever existed. In a city full of big emotions, he’s about as emotive as a slab of concrete on the Flatiron Building. But maybe that’s good? (Also hearing reports of some unsettling practice round play.)
Can he help his nation/continent? If he can figure out how to embrace it, he’ll have the home crowd on his side, and that kind of support is enough to elevate even the stoniest character.
6. Jon Rahm
Good Vibes: Slightly-to-seriously back in the mix on the world golf stage after threatening to win the PGA, latest in a long line of Spanish Ryder Cup killers, spiritual heir to Seve, about as eager as possible to add to his legacy after experiencing two years of LIV invisibility.
Bad Vibes: As if the normal guff of an away crowd isn’t bad enough—I watched a guy shout his name just to tell him he sucked in Wisconsin—now he’s going to get double the guff for LIV. You never want double the guff.
Can he help his nation/continent?: I get the sense he’s going to be a thoroughbred set loose out of the gate, and if it’s possible for Europe to pull this off, they’ll need to lean on true alphas like Rahmbo.
5. Russell Henley
Good Vibes: Had a chance to make himself into the Scheffler Whisperer at the Presidents Cup in Rome, was phenomenal, instantly created an important role for himself at Bethpage and then consolidated the goodwill with a year that brought him to World no. 3. The late renaissance is amazing, and now he plays with house money.
Bad Vibes: There’s a certain amount of pressure being the Scottie Guy, which Burns already failed at, and as mentioned before a previous generation of Tiger Guys all crumbled under the strain.
Can he help his nation/continent?: Yes, he and might arguably be the most important “role player” on the entire squad.
4. Justin Rose 
PAUL ELLIS
Good Vibes: Speaking of house money, that’s Rose in a nutshell, with a spectacular Rome campaign and elite golf that has persisted to age 45 in the person of a dude who just refuses to give up even when golf delivers him major heartbreak. Now he’s poised for a leadership role and a final act that will be the hardest of his life; nobody is better suited.
Bad Vibes: Almost too British.
Can he help his nation/continent? He better!
3. Patrick Cantlay
Good Vibes: Doesn’t give a fig who likes him, which seems to be an increasingly diminishing list among the general public. He fully embodies the quiet remorseless killer of match-play myth and legend, to the point that he’s made an annual tradition of burying massive putts in the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup, often on Saturday night. You want this mad lad on your side.
Bad Vibes: Pretty much everything else.
Can he help his nation/continent? He’s America’s long-awaited answer to Westwood/Poulter/Montgomerie—a guy who can’t seem to hack it in major, but is totally fearless in Ryder Cups.
2. Tommy Fleetwood
Good Vibes: Finally broke the “can’t win” curse in the Tour Championship, greeted on the green hilariously and touchingly by an adult stepson, and, stayed extremely classy in defeat. He’s probably the only Euro who will be beloved by the New York crowd.
Bad Vibes: He’s the first bad-vibe-less man in history.
Can he help his nation/continent? [profound insight voice] He already has, Europe … he already has.
1. J.J. Spaun 
Patrick Smith
Good Vibes: Shocked? Appalled? Too bad! He won a U.S. Open with the baddest finish in history, and every single putt he takes from greater than 30 feet feels like it’s going in. I know in my heart this man is about to take the Ryder Cup by its very guts and bend it to his will. He is the consummation of a nation’s desires, and the embodiment of its greatest dream. Like Lady Liberty herself, he bears the torch of hope. I am not going too far. This is not overboard. This is me being restrained. J.J. WILL LIVE FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARS!
Bad Vibes: Voice almost too Californian.
Can he help his nation/continent? He’s the Bethpage Prince That Was Promised, and woe unto them who doubt!
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
