FARMINGDALE, NY — World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler insists he is not dwelling on the record-breaking 9&7 defeat that he suffered in the 2023 Ryder Cup as Team USA sets its sights on regaining the most famous team trophy golf has to offer.
Scheffler and Brooks Koepka were trounced by Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg in the Saturday foursomes in Rome two years ago, marking the largest ever defeat in an 18-hole match in Ryder Cup history.
The defeat left Koepka in tears on Italy’s Marco Simone golf course and summed up an awful week for Team USA as Luke Donald’s Europe strolled to a comprehensive 16.5-11.5 victory.
The World No. 1 has rebounded impressively since then, however, winning the Masters in 2024 before claiming the 2025 PGA and Open Championships to move to four career majors.
Scheffler admitted Tuesday morning that the 2023 Ryder Cup represented a “difficult week” for Team USA under former captain Zach Johnson.
Scheffler, however, has moved on and learned the lessons from that comprehensive defeat as Team USA looks to regain the Ryder Cup at Long Island’s Bethpage Black this weekend.
“I don’t think it can be understated how difficult of a week Rome was for us,” Scheffler said Tuesday morning. “I think we could have done better for sure. That wasn’t how I expected the week to go. I think we learned from it, and we’re as prepared as ever this time.”
Scheffler has certainly moved on from that dismal showing and comes into the 2025 Ryder Cup as the in-form player in golf, boasting over 20,000 more ranking points than the next-highest-ranked American player, J.J. Spaun.
However, he does not expect to be held to a higher standard than his teammates and insists that he is one of 12 equal components of Team USA.
“I think we have 12 guys that are all equal. I don’t think one player is more important than another,” Scheffler said. “I don’t think about expectations. I don’t bother with that kind of stuff because it’s unimportant to me.”
A philosophical Scheffler said he does not carry the scars of that historic defeat against Aberg and Hovland, nor is he yearning for a rematch against the pair this weekend in a bid to gain revenge.
“I lost a point. It was a tough day,” Scheffler said. “(I) Came back the next day, played my best, ended up halving a match with (Jon) Rahm.
“I’m really excited to play whoever I’m going to be going up against. It’s going to be a fun week.”
Team USA captain Keegan Bradley similarly believes that his team does not need to take any motivation from the defeat two years ago into this year’s Ryder Cup.
“I think anytime you lose, you want to come back and win,” Bradley said Tuesday. “But when you’re at home and you’re at a home Ryder Cup, there’s not much more motivation that you need. The fans are going to give us all that.”
Bradley, who became the youngest Ryder Cup captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 when he took over from Johnson, said Team USA represents a “totally different” team from the one that lost in Rome two years ago.
“This team is 0-0, and we want to go out this week and represent the country in Bethpage and the fans in the best way we can,” Bradley said.
Patrick Cantlay, who also featured in the 2023 defeat, added that American players feel as if they have to make up for their performance in Italy, stating that the honor of representing the US supplants any pressure of making up for a past defeat.
“I think every time you show up to these events, you feel pressure to perform,” Cantlay said. It’s such an
honor representing your country, and we get to do it so seldomly in our sport that it’s such a privilege to be on the team, and you just want to perform at your highest because of what an honor it is to represent the USA.”
