U.S. team’s message to Ryder Cup rookies: embrace and enjoy Bethpage

The throughline of Keegan Bradley’s career and his turn as U.S. Ryder Cup captain is most easily quantified by his time at St. John’s University.

There are many who believe it was the 2023 Ryder Cup snub and his real-time reaction in front of the Netflix cameras that sealed his unlikely fate as a captain, but that explanation suggests a collective empathy at the PGA of America that normally isn’t found in professional associations and is impossible to quantify.

Instead, it will the 39-year-old’s four years at St. John’s, which bills itself as “New York’s team” and is just 30 minutes from Bethpage State Park Golf Course on a good traffic day.

The PGA of America was looking to check a few boxes with Bradley as captain, including his own admission that he’s something of a Ryder Cup “outsider,” but his association with Bethpage, where he played countless practice rounds on the Red Course, appears to have been the deal maker.

Next week’s crowds will transform the normally tranquil state park into a frenzied zoo to rival anything the Yankees can conjure in the Bronx. As a New Englander, Bradley is one of their own.

“I would say that New York fans are extremely passionate. I think that multiplies when you’re wearing your country’s flag on your chest and I think that multiplies even more when you’re playing on their course at Bethpage,” Bradley said last week during his team’s tune-up at the Procore Championship. “When you talk to a New Yorker, they have all these prestigious clubs, Shinnecock or Winged Foot. You ask a New Yorker what their course is, they all say Bethpage Black.”

The raucous crowds promise to be as much of a test as Bethpage Black’s narrow fairways and rugged bunkering, creating arguably the most extreme example of home-field advantage in Ryder Cup history. But it just won’t be the Europeans who will need to embrace the mayhem.

Bradley has four rookies on this year’s U.S. team – Ben Griffin, J.J. Spaun, Russell Henley and Cameron Young, who should have a softer landing at Bethpage having grown up in New York – and they will need to get up to speed quickly if the American side is going to wrest the cup away from the Continent.

“It’s probably going to be loud is what people are saying. There’s going to be some fans,” Griffin comically understated last week.

In Griffin’s defense, many contend there is no comparison to what players will face next week. The sheer volume, the jingoistic fervor and the unfiltered musings of the New York masses are poised to present the most unique test in Ryder Cup history for both teams.

“I just know it’s going to be pretty nerve wracking, but luckily it’s a driver so it’s on a tee and just swing away,” Spaun said. “I felt pretty uncomfortable at the U.S. Open, but I hit really good tee shots there coming down the stretch so I’m just going to really hone in on that.
“But the captains are going to do such a good job getting us settled in and giving us some words of encouragement before we go to that first tee.”

Bradley has filled his backroom with a collection of vice captains who not only know the unrelenting pressure of playing for your country but also the capacity of New York fans to step over golf’s delicate line on a regular basis.

“I’ve played two majors at Bethpage and it’s different. Going in it caught me off guard how big the place was,” explained Gary Woodland, one of Bradley’s five vice captains. “All I knew before hand was it was a public golf course, but showing up I was amazed how massive the property was.”

And then, there’s the fans.

“The fans in New York are some of the most passionate fans anywhere in the world. I’ve always enjoyed the louder environments and that’s exactly what I expect Bethpage to be next week,” Woodland said. “It will be different than the major championships played there before because our guys will have most of the crowd cheering for them.”

Last week’s Napa Valley training camp gave Bradley’s rookies a chance to get a jump on those mental preparations with a Tuesday dinner combined with plenty of time on the course with the team’s vice captains and veterans.

“Probably that everyone’s going to be nervous. You know, I feel like I’ve been expressing like the nerves, anxiety of going out there, and they’re like dude, everyone’s nervous, you’re not the only one that’s nervous,” Spaun said when asked what kind of advice he had gotten from the vice captains. “A tough couple holes maybe to start out, who knows, but eventually you’ll get the hang of it and realize you play golf for a living and you’re really good at it and things will settle down and you’ll get comfortable in your own skin.”

There is no way to fully describe what to expect at Bethpage, but the message was clear – it is going to be loud and legendary.

“I’ll tell the rookies to embrace the energy of the crowd and to feed off it,” Woodland said. “Also, it will be important to take a second and take a deep breath especially before swinging to help slow their heart rate down. It will be high energy all around and will be important to use that to our advantage.”

The collective experience on the U.S. side, including Bradley’s decades-long connection to Bethpage and his New England golf roots, will spend the early part of next week trying to ease the uninitiated into an experience that by most accounts has no history.

But preparing the U.S. rookies for the nerves and the noise and a crowd that will have no interest in golf etiquette or boundaries will only be part of the message.

“I’d tell them to soak it in. Focus, yes. But really soak it in and look around and just be thankful that you’re on this team,” said vice captain Webb Simpson. “Some guys can go too far down the rabbit hole of just trying to focus and block it all out. But it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some guys. I’ll never forget the three first tees I stood on and I’m glad I kind of enjoyed it.”