The opening ceremony earlier this week – image PGA of America
Now considered not only one of the world’s great golfing events, but one of the greatest and most eagerly anticipated sporting events, the 45th Ryder Cup encounter between Europe and the USA at New York’s Bethpage Black gets underway on Friday, 26th September, when the 4 Foursome matches begin at 7.10 am, followed later that day by the afternoon Fourball match-ups.
28 points are up for grabs over the three days, 16 coming from the eight Foursome and Eight Fourball matches on Friday and Saturday, followed by Sunday’s Singles in which 12 points bring the total of points available to 28, the side first to 14.5 the winners. However, Europe needs only to record 14 points to retain the trophy, given they are the defending champions following their win in Italy in 2023.
As has regularly been the case since its inception in 1927 and even since the turnaround in fortunes since Europe included players from Continental Europe into its side for the first time in 1979, the Ryder Cup between the USA and Europe has always appeared on paper (for what that is worth) to be a one sided contest, the Americans typically outweighing the Europeans in terms of player strength.
But, the results since the new-look European side claimed its first victory in 1985 highlight that what is on paper is not always as it is on grass, and that statistics count for little when the outcome of the revitalised Ryder Cup is at stake.
Players such as Continentals, Bernhard Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Manuel Pinero, Jose Maria Canizares, Jose Maria Olazabal and major-winning British players such as Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle played a great part in turning what was essentially a one-sided exhibition into one of the most eagerly awaited and scrutinised of all sporting battles.
This year’s contest again highlights the discrepancy in the world ranking of the two teams, with the Americans boasting seven of their team members (and arguably eight, given Bryson De Chambeau’s participation in very few world ranking events since moving to LIV) currently inside the top ten in the official world ranking.
Compare that to the European side, in which only three are currently ranked inside the top ten, although it could also be argued that Tyrrell Hatton should be considered a top ten golfer at least, given his performances in world ranking events when he gets the opportunity.
Typically, the Ryder Cup has remained a case of David versus Goliath, even allowing for the results being very much in Europe’s favour since 1985 when they won their first contest with a convincing 16.5 to 11.5 at the Belfry, and, since that momentous occasion, the Europeans have won 11 of the 18 encounters, the Americans 6 with one tied.
While the 1985 victory was historic in that it was the first occasion in which the combined European side had won the event, it was probably 1987, when they would win again, this time in Ohio, that gave the Europeans the real belief they could take on the Americans anywhere and win.
Only four of those 11 victories since and not including 1985 have been away games, however, while the Americans have won five of six encounters in front of home fans and given what the passionate, raucous and patriotic fervour that the New York crowd at Bethpage Black will bring to the encounter this week, then that aspect is perhaps the biggest factor the Europeans will have to overcome.
One aspect that might work in the Europeans’ favour is that four of the Americans are Ryder Cup rookies, namely J.J. Spaun, Russell Henley, Ben Griffin, and Cameron Young, while for the Europeans, only Rasmus Hojgaard will face an atmosphere, the likes of which he has ever experienced previously.
Despite the imbalance in world ranking, however, the Europeans have more than displayed a capacity to outthink and outplay the Americans, even if there was to be such a thing as neutral ground. Still, the hostile cauldron they will face in front of arguably the most patriotic sporting fans anywhere is a bridge that may prove too far.
Admittedly, the Europeans did win in New York state in 1995, but that was in Pittsford and away from the intense partisan crowd they will face so close to the thriving metropolis of New York City this week.
It’s hard to pick a winner; the patriotic crowd should, in theory, provide the edge the Americans need to regain the Cup, but hometown advantage can work in two ways. It offers unequalled vocal support, but it also creates expectation, the likes of which most of the American team, irrespective of their significant success when playing as individuals and not for their country, have seldom experienced.
I can see this encounter going down to the wire and adding further to the ever-growing intrigue and intensity of one of golf and sport’s most analysed events.
Alfred Dunhill Links offers unique opportunity for many
Cam Smith back to the scene of his greatest triumph – image Open Championship
This week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship at St Andrews, Carnoustie, and Kingsbarns in the Fife area of Scotland, brings together an eclectic mix of golfers from several tours, providing many with a unique opportunity to play for the US$5 million prize fund and be exposed to not only a European Tour event but the stunning golf courses of this region.
Interestingly, the event has shown little increase in prize money over its 25-year history, but the opportunity to play such a popular event on such great and iconic golf courses, where many can play alongside family and friends in a pro-am format event, proves a great attraction for some of the game’s best, and 2025 is no exception.
Similar events on the PGA Tour, such as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am and the New Zealand Open on the PGA Tour of Australasia, have highlighted the popularity of such a format, and the longevity of such tournaments has provided a great indication of the importance of a departure from the norm on occasions.
No doubt adding to the celebratory vibe in St Andrews this week will be the presence of four of the successful European Ryder Cup side, namely Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert McIntyre, and Tyrrell Hatton, but the inclusion of additional Liv Golfers, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Cam Smith, and Matt Jones is sure to provide plenty of interest.
Hatton is chasing a record 4th victory in the event, having won in 2016, 207 and 2024.
Cam Smith returns to the scene of his brilliant Open Championship win in 2022.
Players who competed well on the PGA Tour of Australasia in the past twelve months also get their chance, many of those without status on the DP World Tour, but getting an opportunity to test their game over great golf courses and against fields considerably more demanding than they have faced at home.
Those players include Anthony Quayle, Harrison Crowe, Corey Lamb, Jordan Doull, Phoenix Campbell, Jasper Stubbs, James Conran, Kerry Mountcastle and Tyler Hodge, who will be pinching themselves as they stand on the first tee of one of golf’s greatest arenas, the Old Course at St Andrews.
Now regular DP World Tour players such as Elvis Smylie, Kazuma Kobori, and Daniel Hillier will be keen to add to their recent success, all three now far enough inside the required Road to Dubai ranking to all but ensure they will be in Dubai in November for the lucrative season-ending Tour Championship and the lead in events.
Leaderboard
Semmingly impossible almost possible at Bethpage Black
The European team after a gripping final day – image PGA of America
Down 11.5 to 4.5 heading into Sunday’s singles matches at Bethpage Black on Long Island, the USA team would so nearly defy history and logic with a comeback for the ages to ensure the outcome of the 45th Ryder Cup would remain in doubt until the second-to-last match of the day between Tyrrell Hatton and Collin Morikawa reached the 18th green.
It was there that Hatton secured the half point needed to secure the victory for the Europeans, who would eventually win 15 to 13. Even though the retention of the Cup they had won two years ago in Europe had been settled 20 minutes earlier when Shane Lowry holed an 8-foot birdie putt at the last to square his match against Russell Henley to take the Europeans to 14 points, there remained interest in just whether the Americans could complete the remarkable comeback with a tied encounter or even victory.
Henley will rue leaving two very makeable putts from ten feet or so at the final two holes on line but short, either of which might just have made the difference. But, it wasn’t to be, and despite winning the Sunday Singles by 8.5 to 3.5 the Americans could not overcome the domination of the Europeans in the Foursomes and Fourball match-ups over the opening two days.
There are just so many stories to take from the week and more especially the final day but suffice to say that the Europeans, beautifully captained and managed by Luke Donald, had set the bar over the opening two days, and, in the end, the margin was a bridge too far for the Americans to overcome.
Somehow, however, the Americans managed to turn what was potentially an exhibition match and walk in the park on Sunday into one of the most gripping final days in the history of the event and there have been plenty.
Chasing just 2.5 points from the 12 head-to-head single match-ups, Europe probably gained a further advantage when Viktor Hovland was forced to withdraw from his encounter with Harris English, meaning an automatic half point to either side. Europe would then need only 2 points to retain the trophy and 3 to win outright.
Europe made a fast start, leading early in all of their first five matches, and a whitewash appeared on the cards, but slowly the momentum began swinging back to the Americans, and as the afternoon wore on, there was an increasing realisation that maybe, just maybe, the seemingly impossible was possible.
Nine of the twelve matches were concluded in either a tie or a 1-up result, ensuring everyone at Bethpage Black, and perhaps the game’s biggest ever viewing audience internationally, were kept on the edge of their seats until Lowry secured the half point needed to retain the Cup followed soon after when Hatton fought out a memorable clash with Morikawa to move the Europeans ahead.
The final day drama turned an, at times, ugly encounter into one in which both sides could be considered winners.
Sure, the Europeans were brilliant in establishing what turned out to be an unassailable lead, but the manner in which the Americans fought so hard on Sunday to keep the outcome in doubt for so long, ensured the 45th Ryder Cup will now be remembered more for the intense and hard-fought battle to the finish than for some of the ugly crowd behaviour so prevalent on the opening two days.
Adare Manor in Ireland, in two years time, can hardly come soon enough.
SCORING
The Ryder Cup – one of sport’s greatest contests
The opening ceremony earlier this week – image PGA of America
Now considered not only one of the world’s great golfing events, but one of the greatest and most eagerly anticipated sporting events, the 45th Ryder Cup encounter between Europe and the USA at New York’s Bethpage Black gets underway on Friday, 26th September, when the 4 Foursome matches begin at 7.10 am, followed later that day by the afternoon Fourball match-ups.
28 points are up for grabs over the three days, 16 coming from the eight Foursome and Eight Fourball matches on Friday and Saturday, followed by Sunday’s Singles in which 12 points bring the total of points available to 28, the side first to 14.5 the winners. However, Europe needs only to record 14 points to retain the trophy, given they are the defending champions following their win in Italy in 2023.
As has regularly been the case since its inception in 1927 and even since the turnaround in fortunes since Europe included players from Continental Europe into its side for the first time in 1979, the Ryder Cup between the USA and Europe has always appeared on paper (for what that is worth) to be a one sided contest, the Americans typically outweighing the Europeans in terms of player strength.
But, the results since the new-look European side claimed its first victory in 1985 highlight that what is on paper is not always as it is on grass, and that statistics count for little when the outcome of the revitalised Ryder Cup is at stake.
Players such as Continentals, Bernhard Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Manuel Pinero, Jose Maria Canizares, Jose Maria Olazabal and major-winning British players such as Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle played a great part in turning what was essentially a one-sided exhibition into one of the most eagerly awaited and scrutinised of all sporting battles.
This year’s contest again highlights the discrepancy in the world ranking of the two teams, with the Americans boasting seven of their team members (and arguably eight, given Bryson De Chambeau’s participation in very few world ranking events since moving to LIV) currently inside the top ten in the official world ranking.
Compare that to the European side, in which only three are currently ranked inside the top ten, although it could also be argued that Tyrrell Hatton should be considered a top ten golfer at least, given his performances in world ranking events when he gets the opportunity.
Typically, the Ryder Cup has remained a case of David versus Goliath, even allowing for the results being very much in Europe’s favour since 1985 when they won their first contest with a convincing 16.5 to 11.5 at the Belfry, and, since that momentous occasion, the Europeans have won 11 of the 18 encounters, the Americans 6 with one tied.
While the 1985 victory was historic in that it was the first occasion in which the combined European side had won the event, it was probably 1987, when they would win again, this time in Ohio, that gave the Europeans the real belief they could take on the Americans anywhere and win.
Only four of those 11 victories since and not including 1985 have been away games, however, while the Americans have won five of six encounters in front of home fans and given what the passionate, raucous and patriotic fervour that the New York crowd at Bethpage Black will bring to the encounter this week, then that aspect is perhaps the biggest factor the Europeans will have to overcome.
One aspect that might work in the Europeans’ favour is that four of the Americans are Ryder Cup rookies, namely J.J. Spaun, Russell Henley, Ben Griffin, and Cameron Young, while for the Europeans, only Rasmus Hojgaard will face an atmosphere, the likes of which he has ever experienced previously.
Despite the imbalance in world ranking, however, the Europeans have more than displayed a capacity to outthink and outplay the Americans, even if there was to be such a thing as neutral ground. Still, the hostile cauldron they will face in front of arguably the most patriotic sporting fans anywhere is a bridge that may prove too far.
Admittedly, the Europeans did win in New York state in 1995, but that was in Pittsford and away from the intense partisan crowd they will face so close to the thriving metropolis of New York City this week.
It’s hard to pick a winner; the patriotic crowd should, in theory, provide the edge the Americans need to regain the Cup, but hometown advantage can work in two ways. It offers unequalled vocal support, but it also creates expectation, the likes of which most of the American team, irrespective of their significant success when playing as individuals and not for their country, have seldom experienced.
I can see this encounter going down to the wire and adding further to the ever-growing intrigue and intensity of one of golf and sport’s most analysed events.
Elvis Smylie continues improved late season form in France
Elvis Smylie – file image courtesy of Australian Golf Media
Australian Elvis Smylie continued his impressive run of late-season form on the DP World Tour with a share of second place at the French Open, just one shot behind the winner, Michael Kim.
Smylie, who is playing his first season on the DP World Tour as a result of his victory at the Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane in November last year, followed up a recent 6th place in Denmark a month ago with a final round of 65 at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, Paris, France, after beginning the day two shots out of the lead.
The 23-year-old Gold Coast golfer played with the eventual winner, Kim, on the final day, and as they arrived at the last, Kim was one ahead of Smylie and Korean Jeong Weon Ko, Ko having finished ten minutes earlier.
Smylie found the green at the par 3 while Kim’s tee shot was left, into the greenside bunker. Smylie 2 putted for par, but PGA Tour player Kim, with a 16-foot putt remaining to claim the title essentially, holed the crucial putt to win his first event anywhere in seven years.
“It feels amazing,” said Kim. “I haven’t won a tournament since 2018 at the John Deere Classic and I really wanted to put on a good showing here this week. I’m just so happy and grateful that I was able to come out with the victory.
“I’ve had a really good year on the PGA TOUR this year. This feels like the perfect cherry on top and I hope to continue this throughout my career.
“To be honest, I felt like I hit a decent bunker shot. That green slides away so much that I knew it was going to be quick and it just didn’t run out as much as I thought.”
Elvis (Smylie) gave me a decent look from the side and it somehow stayed pretty straight through the middle, and I kind of blacked out when the putt went in.
For Smylie, however, the share of the runner-up position earned him a cheque for €239,000 and he now moves to 14th place in the Race to Dubai rankings. Potentially, he is now in a position where he could claim one of the ten PGA Tour cards for season 2026, given to the leading ten players in the Race to Dubai rankings not otherwise exempt on the PGA Tour.
Min Woo Lee, who had begun the final round in a share of the lead with American Brooks Koepka, raced to the turn in 4 under, including an eagle at the 8th hole, and had the lead at that poin,t but he would struggle on the way in and eventually finished in a share of 5th.
RESULTS
Minjee Lee finishes second in Korea
Minjee Lee – file photo Australian Golf Media
Minjee Lee narrowly missed an opportunity to complete the first leg of what may well have been an historic weekend for the Lee family when she finished runner-up after a playoff at Hana Bank Championship at the Bears Best Golf Club in Incheon outside of Seoul.
Lee was, of course, playing the event several hours ahead of the final round of the French Open where her brother Minwoo shares the lead.
Lee went down to Korean golfer, Lee Dayeon, at the second extra hole of a playoff, missing an eight-foot par-saving putt after her opponent had two-putted for par after both had earlier parred the first extra hole.
It was the second time in three years for Lee to lose the event to Lee Dayeon having also lost a playoff to the multi-winning Korean LPGA Tour player in 2023.
Playing the event no doubt because of the commercial arrangement Minjee Lee has with the tournament sponsor Hana Bank, Lee produced a last round of 68 to force the playoff, holing a 30-foot birdie putt at the last to set the target, before just a few moments later, the eventual winner also holed a similar length putt at the 17th.
The winner was full of admiration for her more credentialed opponent.
“Minjee is someone I really admire and look up to, said Lee Dayeon. “She’s such a kind and inspiring person, and it meant so much to me just to be in a playoff with her again. In 2023, I cried after the win, so this time I told her, ‘I’m not going to cry.’ And she told me, ‘It’s okay, you can cry if you want to.’ It was such a sweet moment.”
Victorian Sue Wooster reaches 4th US Senior Women’s Amateur final
Sue Wooster in action today – image USGA
63-year-old Victorian Sue Wooster had progressed to her 4th US Senior Women’s Amateur Championship final after wins in her quarter and semi-final matches today in Hot Springs, Virginia.
Wooster has been in the final on three previous occasions but has yet to claim the title, so tomorrow she takes on South Carolina’s Dawn Woodward in the final of women’s amateur golf’s most significant title.
Fellow Victorian and defending champion Nadene Gole came from 3 down in her quarter-final morning match against Shelley Stouffer, but, despite a birdie at the last hole of her match against the Canadian, she would lose 1 down, and thus Wooster is the only remaining Australian in what has been a good week thus far for the Australian contingent.
Wooster overcame her American quarter-final opponent with some ease, but it was a different story against her semi-final opponent, Sarah Gallagher, finally winning at the first extra hole after a birdie clinched the match.
“It feels amazing,” said Wooster. “Whether I win tomorrow or I lose, just I’m 63 years old and I’ve been in three finals and lost all of them. To be honest I never thought I would make another one.
“I haven’t been playing that good this year, and something just clicked couple of weeks ago and started to get in a groove and I guess here I am. I can’t believe it.
“I mean, I’m happy I’ve come this far. Obviously, I want to win it, but I don’t want to — I think some of the other years, because I lost a few in a row, I just put too much pressure on myself. I don’t want to do that. I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and try and enjoy the day and soak up the experience and just have a good memory with it, whatever the outcome.”
Wooster’s opponent in tomorrow’s final is the 51-year-old Dawn Woodward from South Carolina who is playing in her second US Women’s Senior Amateur Championship after being beaten in the quarter- finals by Nadene Gole last year.
SCORES
Nadene Gole and Sue Wooster reach quarters at US Senior Women’s Am
Nadene Gole in action this week – image courtesy of USGA
56-year-old Victorian golfer Nadene Gole has reached the US Women’s Senior Amateur Championship at the Omni Homestead Resort in Virginia as she continues her great run in senior women’s amateur events internationally.
Gole, the highest-ranked senior women’s amateur in the world, shared 4th place in the 36-hole qualifying earlier in the week and today defeated former champion Ellen Port of Missouri in the Round of 16 as she looks to defend the title she won in Seattle last year.
Gole was 2 down to Port earlier in the match but won three of four holes early in her homeward nine to win 2 up.
Gole not only won this event twelve months ago, she also won the 2024 R&A Senior Women’s Amateur Championship and the 2025 English and Scottish Senior Women’s Amateur Championships.
“Today’s been a game of patience. It’s hard to explain, but you know, it’s a long day,” said Gole, who also defeated Port in a Round-of-32 match in 2023. “Ellen’s always going to be a tough match; she’s a great competitor. We started off a bit scrappy. She flew some good putts in there in the end, and I got some good ones, so I just got her there on the last hole.”
Gole is joined in the quarter finals by her fellow Victorian Sue Wooster (63), a three-time runner-up in the event, after the remarkable and prolific title winner, Wooster, narrowly defeated another Australian, Gemma Dooley, 1 up in her round of 16 match today.
If both players win their respective quarter-final and semi-final matches, they will meet each other in the final.
SCORING
Min Woo Lee’s great weekend at Wentworth
Min Woo Lee – file photo courtesy of Australian Golf Media
Min Woo Lee made a valiant attempt to contend and possibly win the BMW PGA Championship on the final day at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water in Surrey, the 27-year-old West Australian moving within two of the lead when he pitched in for birdie at the par 4 15th hole and when he also birdied the 16th he was within one.
At that point, he was 7 under for the day and with two par fives to finish at Wentworth and his power to aid his cause, it was possible that Lee could have come from near the cutline on Friday evening to win the tournament.
Unfortunately, the 17th, one of two par 5s to finish at Wentworth, is a dangerous driving hole. Perhaps looking for the extra distance he needed to set up a birdie and possibly an eagle, he pulled his tee shot out of bounds, double-bogeyed, and his bold bid for victory was gone.
Lee would, though, birdie the last after finding the green and would eventually finish in a share of 11th place, although some five shots behind the playoff between the eventual winner, Alex Noren, and Frenchman Adrien Saddier.
For Lee, however, the finish ended a run of indifferent form since his breakthrough PGA Tour win in March and, with this week’s French Open his next assignment, he could well finish off his limited 2025 European campaign in style.
Lee’s weekend total of 133 was amongst the best of the leading players.
The tournament was won by the Swede Alex Noren, who won his second tournament in his last three starts, having won the British Masters three weeks ago. He did miss the cut in Switzerland at his last start, but this win and the one at the Belfry mean he has claimed two of the European Tour’s flagship events in 2025 despite playing much of the year in the USA.
Noren is a vice captain of Europe’s Ryder Cup side so he will head to Bethpage not as a member of the team but to play a significant role in the battle in 12 days’ time and perhaps, if needed, a late and in-form replacement should the need arise.
It was Noren’s second win in this most prestigious event and his 12th European Tour victory.
For the runner-up Saddier who, despite being outside the world top 100, has, in the last three months, won the Italian Open and finished 5th in Ireland last week.
Elvis Smylie was the next best of the Australians when he finished in 31st place to maintain his 26th position in the Race to Dubai rankings.
RESULTS
Cameron Percy first Champions Tour victory denied in playoff
Cameron Percy – close again but no cigar – file photo courtesy of PGA of America
U.S.-based Victorian Cameron Percy was denied his first PGA Tour Champions victory despite a stunning final round of 64 at the Stifel Charity Classic at the Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis today.
Beginning the day three shots behind the 36-hole leader, Stewart Cink, Percy made the near-perfect start when he eagled the second hole and made the turn in 32, a bogey at the 10th slowed the momentum, but he would add four more birdies in his last seven holes and wait for the three groups behind to finish.
Thomas Bjorn and Alex Cjeka remained alive as possible contenders to Percy’s lead, but when Cjeka bogeyed the final hole, it would see Bjorn and Percy enter a playoff, which Bjorn would win with a birdie at the first extra hole.
“Yeah, just I’m starting to know the courses a bit better so I sort of know where I’m going,” said Percy after his round when asked what he took away from his effort this week. “And I’m putting really nicely from short range, I’m not missing many short putts so that’s really helping.”
Percy has won on the Korn Ferry Tour during his 16-year career in the USA but was denied a PGA Tour victory in his very first season there in 2010 when beaten by a hole-in-one by his opponent in a playoff for the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children event in Las Vegas.
This was, however, Percy’s second playoff loss of this season, his first full season on the PGA Tour Champions, and with the US$184,000, he won today, he now moves to 9th in the Schwab Cup standings with earnings of US$1.15 million.
Mark Hensby 10th and Richard Green 11th were the next best of the Australasians.
Leaderboard
Travis Smyth and Kevin Yuan finish 3rd in Jakarta
Kevin Yuan – file photo courtesy of Asian Tour
Kevin Yuan and Wollongong’s Travis Smyth have finished in a share of 3rd place at the Asian Tour’s Mandiri Indonesia Open at the Pondok Indah Golf Club in Jakarta.
The pair were tied at 16 under and a massive eight shots from the winner, Suteepat Prateeptienchai of Thailand.
Smyth had started the final round three shots off the then pace set by Malaysian Shahriffuddin Arrifin, but a round of 70 saw him lose ground as the Thai golfer stormed home with a final round of 64 to win by seven.
Yuan stormed home from near the cutline on Friday with consecutive weekend rounds of 66 to finish in a share of third place with Smyth.
Yuan is now in 10th place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and Smyth 13th, the current leader amongst the Australians on the Asian Tour in 2025 being the New Zealand Open winner, Ryan Peake, who stands in 6th place despite a run of disappointing finishes since his emotional win in Queenstown.
Leaderboard