Mark SchlabachSep 27, 2025, 06:41 PM ET
- Senior college football writer
- Author of seven books on college football
- Graduate of the University of Georgia
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — It hasn’t been a great Ryder Cup week for American stars Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler at Bethpage Black, and it didn’t get any better when their caddies were involved in a confrontation with Europe’s Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood during their four-ball match Saturday.
As Rose was lining up a 15-foot birdie attempt on the 15th hole, he said DeChambeau’s caddie, Greg Bodine, came back to read the American star’s putt again and was standing close to his line. Rose pointed for Bodine to move out of the way.
“I was waiting to putt, the boys were obviously working on their read, obviously going through a lot of their sort of whatever, calculations and bits and pieces, so I sort of waited a few seconds,” Rose said. “Then I felt like they came up again, and I was like, ‘It’s my putt, right?'”
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The Europeans were 3 up in the match, so tensions were already running high.
“Maybe I didn’t say it as politely as I could have said it in the moment, but by no means was there any disrespect or anything like that,” Rose said. “But obviously it was taken the wrong way.”
After Rose made his birdie putt, he celebrated in the direction of DeChambeau and Bodine.
When DeChambeau made an 11-foot birdie putt to extend the match, he seemed to return the favor.
As the golfers walked off the green, DeChambeau approached Rose, and the pair exchanged words.
“I said to the boys, ‘If you want me to say, excuse me, please, then yeah, my bad,'” Rose said.
The incident continued up the hill to the 16th tee box. Fleetwood and his caddie, Ian Finnis, joined the heated discussion, and then Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, had words with European team vice captain Francesco Molinari. Fleetwood stepped between Molinari and Scott to separate them and try to calm the situation.
“It’s one moment out of two days of a lot of golf and a lot of great golf,” Fleetwood said. “You’re out there and, yeah, it happens. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”
Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose exchange words while walking to the 16th hole Saturday at Bethpage Black. Harry How/Getty Images
After Rose made a 6½-foot par putt to seal the 3-and-2 win on the 16th hole, the golfers and the caddies shook hands. Scott talked to Molinari, and things seemed to calm down.
“It was a shame that the match got to that point because it was actually a really great match,” Rose said.
Rose hoped the situation was over on the 16th green when the match finished.
“Listen, I hope so,” Rose said. “I spoke to the boys. It should be [over], in my opinion. There was no intent behind it whatsoever. I admire [Scheffler] more than anybody else out on tour with the way he goes about his business, the way he goes about his life, and obviously just huge respect all around.
“But from my point of view, it was something that was sort of taken in a way that wasn’t intended in a way, but obviously it was a big putt, big moment. I’m trying to control my environment as well in that scenario. We’re all competitors, right? I think that’s all within the framework of what we’ve got to do out here.”
DeChambeau didn’t comment on the confrontation after the match ended.
U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said he spoke to everyone involved.
“I mean, I think it was a little bit disrespectful, but Justin Rose told me after on the green that they had talked it out,” Bradley said. “I talked to Bryson. In sports, golf, it’s blown into this huge thing. It happens in sports all the time. They seemed fine after the round. You know, it’s super passionate out there, especially for — well, for both sides. But from what I understand, everything was fine after the round. These sort of things happen when you’re playing for your country.”
Remarkably, DeChambeau and Scheffler were 9 under in the match — and lost handily.
“Bryson and I did some good stuff out there,” Scheffler said. “We were into a tough matchup today. Those guys played great. They made a ton of putts and really tip of a cap to them. They played better than we did.”
It has been another forgettable Ryder Cup week for Scheffler, who became the first American golfer to lose a match in each of the first four sessions of a Ryder Cup. It had previously been done only by two Europeans: Peter Alliss (1967) and Peter Townsend (1971).
The world No. 1 is only the fourth American to lose four matches during one Ryder Cup played on U.S. soil, joining Steve Stricker (2012), Raymond Floyd (1983) and Fuzzy Zoeller (1979), according to Elias Sports Bureau.
No American has dropped five matches in one Ryder Cup, home or away.
Scheffler is winless in his past eight matches going back to the Europeans’ 16.5-11.5 victory in Rome in 2023.
Bradley, though, commended Scheffler after play concluded Saturday, calling him the best teammate in the U.S. room this week.
“This is what happens in sports all the time,” Bradley said. “You know, you see somebody, like I said in here last night, in golf, the moment you want something so bad and you try so hard, you don’t play as well. And when you’re kind of freewheeling it, and I know how it is when you get off to a bad start in a Ryder Cup. You really desperately want to help the team, and I’ve been out there with Scottie, he’s played great. He flew one in the hole today and it popped out and came off the green. We’ve had some wacky stuff go on.”
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