[PHOTO: Richard Heathcote]
There were signs on Saturday night in New York that the blue-and-yellow storm was coming. Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler were on the driving range under the floodlights and glow of a nearby big-screen TV, desperately trying to discern where there games that had been so good had gone and if they could return to stop the bleeding. It didn’t help that behind them was a crowd of well-liquored Europeans, posted in two rows of temporary seating, letting the Americans know through song the hell they were in and could not outrun:
“Scottie gets battered, everywhere he goes… “Scottie gets battered, everywhere he goes … everywhere he gooooes”
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And, to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”: “You can stick your ****** majors up your ***! “You can stick your ****** majors up your ***!”
And it’s not that they were crooning it (although that is a very generous description of their vocal stylings), but that there were no American fans around able to counter, the 50,000-plus running from the scene of the crime. On Sunday morning at Bethpage, that scene proved to be a precursor for what awaits the final day of this Ryder Cup.
Plenty of European fans have made their way to Bethpage today. 🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/VjNabpKKbz
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) September 28, 2025
European fans, who had been scattered throughout the American crowd the first four sessions, were large in number and louder in voice when the gates opened for the singles match-ups. Tickets for the event – which were $US750 plus $200 in fees, and running close to $US2,000 as late as last week – flooded the secondary ticketing market on Saturday night (US time) as American fans offloaded their entries in the face of an almost guaranteed European victory. Europe’s supporters clearly took advantage of the opportunity, gobbling up passes (albeit still for $US300-$US400) to watch their boys win on American soil for just the second time in the past 20 years.
The result is a bipartisan crowd on the final day. This was most evident in the first-tee grandstands, where the gallery seemed split and European flags outnumbered the Stars and Stripes across the front-row banner. While most Europeans have been greeted with boos and just a smattering of cheer this week, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood received warm welcomes, with Fleetwood enjoying chants of his name.
The crowd still has plenty of American fans, evidenced by the roar that Cam Young conjured with a long birdie putt at the first hole. And given some of the behaviour from American fans on Saturday afternoon, a little more European support is not the worst of things from the overall health of this event. Still, there’s supposed to be an inherent advantage in hosting a Ryder Cup, and the Europeans have turned this home game into a neutral event. That should resonate just as loud as any song, or score on the board, to the American team as it figures where to go from here.
