FARMINGDALE, NY — The Ryder Cup will almost certainly remain in Europe for another two years after Europe won its fourth session in a row in the Saturday afternoon fourballs to pile further misery on a badly-faltering Team USA at Bethpage Black.
Europe has utterly dominated the Ryder Cup since the opening session of the competition on Friday morning, winning each of the four sessions so far to build an unprecedented seven-point lead going into the final-day singles matchups.
The US, meanwhile, is staring down the barrel of one of the most humiliating defeats in the history of the tournament, trailing 11.5-4.5 ahead of what will surely be a formality of a final day.
And it could have been even worse the Americans, who trailed in all four matches as they headed down the final stretch. Only a last-ditch effort from J.J. Spaun and Xander Schauffele to turn a one-hole deficit into a one-hole victory in the final two holes of their match against Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka prevented a European sweep, but the session and all those before it represent nothing short of an unimaginable calamity.
The Americans have collected a far larger tally of unwanted records at the 2025 Ryder Cup than they have match-play wins, of which they have recorded just four in the opening four sessions.
On Friday, the Europeans won the first three matches of a Ryder Cup on American soil for the first time ever, while they won the opening fourball session on American soil for the first time since 2004.
The records continued to tumble as the American calamity extended into Saturday, with Europe becoming the first visiting team in Ryder Cup history to scoop each of the first three sessions after a comprehensive 3-1 win in the Saturday morning foursomes.
The American collapse continued at an even more alarming pace during the Saturday afternoon fourballs, with World Number 1 Scottie Scheffler becoming the first player in almost half a century to lose each of his first four matches at a single Ryder Cup. It is also only the second time in Ryder Cup history that a team has won each of the first four sessions.
Most humiliating of all, however, Europe’s 11.5-4.5 lead stands as the largest-ever lead at this point of a Ryder Cup since the tournament switched to its current format in 1979.
Europe’s dominance in the opening three sessions contributed to a subdued atmosphere at Bethpage, but some European players – Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry in particular – ran a gauntlet of unsavory and acceptable abuse from a small number of home fans.
The Europeans, however, seemed to thrive in that hostile environment, producing a stunning array of shots at crucial moments to shade a number of tight matches. The Americans, on the other hand, seemed to lose their nerve at pivotal moments, missing a high number of makeable putts that could have swung the session completely in their favor.
McIlroy and Lowry were particularly impressive in responding to a torrent of abuse in the opening match of the session against Justin Thomas and Cameron Young. Fans reportedly unleashed a raft of personal abuse at the Irish pair, allegedly targeting family members and taking aim at Lowry’s weight.
The abuse became so persistent that Lowry pointedly aimed a “F*** You” at a heckler after sinking an eagle putt on the par-5 fourth. McIlroy, meanwhile, was required to ask for enhanced security as the abuse continued throughout the front nine.
They did not let that abuse affect them, however, and remained level with Thomas and Young before McIlroy sank a nine-foot putt on the 14th to send the European pair into a one-hole lead.
An increasingly vocal European contingent celebrated the effect that McIlroy was having on the home crowd as the match came down the home stretch, chiding American fans to the tune of the Cranberries’ “Zombie” and gleefully informing the hosts McIlroy was “in your head.”
Lowry and McIlroy finished with a flourish by winning the 18th to finish 2UP, with a gleeful McIlroy pointing at a nearby scoreboard to remind American fans of their predicament.
Lowry said afterward that the abuse made it a “very tough day” on Bethpage Black, adding that McIlroy has borne the brunt of the verbal attacks since the start of the tournament.
“I think we dealt with it very well,” Lowry said in an on-course interview. “I said at the start of the week, I don’t know what way I’m going to deal with it but I’m going to be myself and I was myself out there today and thankfully that worked.”
Moments prior to that, the English pair of Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose consigned more misery on Scheffler after sealing a 3&2 victory over the World Number 1 and Bryson DeChambeau on the 16th.
Scheffler came into the Ryder Cup as the undisputed best player in the world after winning the Open and PGA Championships in 2025, but his form has dramatically deserted him over the last two days.
DeChambeau had been the USA’s cheerleader-in-chief during the Saturday morning session, attempting to ignite the forlorn crowd after winning America’s solitary point in the morning foursomes alongside Young.
He could do nothing to ignite the crowd at this point, however. Even the American faithful were beginning to see the funny side of this utter humiliation, humorously chanting “I believe that we will lose” as DeCheambeau & Co. approached the 16th green.
Fleetwood, on the other hand, has been Scheffler’s polar opposite and has now won four out four across the first two days of the tournament.
Rahm had been equally irrepressible in the opening three sessions of the tournament and looked on course for a fourth victory from four in his matchup against Spaun and Schauffele, with the Europeans leading by one with two to play.
The Americans rallied, however, with Spaun producing a gorgeous approach on the 18th to win the match 1UP. That momentarily provided a sliver of hope and prompted a feeble chorus of “U!S!A” from the home crowd.
The chants – and the hope – were ruthlessly extinguished within minutes when both Hatton and Fitzpatrick produced equally stunning approach shots on the 18th to beat Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns 1UP and snuff out any faint hopes of an American resurgence ahead of the single matchups on Sunday.
A delighted European crowd – working off a far more sophisticated repertoire of songs than their American counterparts – noisily toasted that final hole victory.
Just like the European golfers outclassed their American opponents on the course, so too did the European supporters outclass the American fans in the grandstands.
The visiting fanbase poked fun at home fans relentlessly, chanting “you’ve only got one song” and “is this a library” as the short-lived American resurgence faded into obsolescence.
Keegan Bradley’s America retains a mathematical hope of staging a comeback on Sunday, but it is a fool’s hope.
Europe’s Miracle at Medinah in 2012, which has long been the benchmark of impossible final-day Ryder Cup comebacks, saw Europe convert a 10-6 deficit into a 14.5-13.5 lead, a much more doable task than the task currently facing the Americans.
Europe also had the inspirational Ian Poulter among their ranks, with Poulter kickstarting the challenge on the Saturday evening by firing five straight birdies in a fourball match to keep the gap manageable.
The US has no Poulter-like figure to rally the troops on Sunday, nor does it have the breathing room that Europe had 13 years ago.
The boisterous European supporters summed it up best with their parting chants of “this is embarrassing” as the dejected Americans departed the course.
This is a humiliation in every sense of the word, and nothing short of a miracle on Sunday will go any way toward reversing that.
