Fairway Rollin' - Ryder Cup Recap: Europe Holds Off the U.S., Cameron Young Shines, and Team Chemistry Lessons | Fairway Rollin'

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

Joe House, Nathan Hubbard, and Mark Hubbard break down an unforgettable Ryder Cup as Europe defeats the U.S. 15-13. The crew dives into Cameron Young’s breakout performance, examines why Europe continues to thrive with superior team chemistry, projects the next American captain, and highlights key takeaways from the American team’s resilient effort despite falling short. 0:00 Ryder Cup Recap - Europe Defeats US: 15-1319:00 Cameron Young's Emergence28:40 Why Do The European's Have Advantages in Team Chemistry?40:05 Takeaways from Team America's Resilient Performance The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available.Hosts: Joe House and Nathan HubbardGuest: Mark HubbardProducer: Tucker Tashjian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends, and welcome to this golf podcast, unlike any other. Oh, yes, my friends, we have done it. We are back and we are ready. This is Faraway Roll. A golf podcast on the Ringer podcast Network, my birdie buddies, my par-saving pals, my eagle enthusiasts. I'm Joe House, your starter. This is your rider cup, recap. I am, of course, joined by our incomparable accomplice.

Our PGA tour boots on the ground. Nathan Hubbard and special guest, speaking of boots on the ground. This man's boots were on the grounds today at Beth Page Black in New York. And this man's boots are on the PGA goddamn tour. Mark Hubbard, along for the ride. We are breaking this whole thing down. It was a day to remember. Gentlemen, it's a three ball.

the pegs are in the ground, and off we go. Nate Dog, be honest, whose name is in that envelope? Whose name is in that envelope? I mean, the guy who was there, however long the list was, the guy who was there and could have stepped into play was Mark Hubbard. I think he might have been the only available guy who, I mean, I guess kids, but you're ahead of kiss.

You're ahead of web. Way ahead of kids. Come on. Yeah, we honestly, we talked about it all day because every other tournament, there's an alternate list. And it doesn't matter if you're a hundredth alternate on the list. If you're on site, you're first on site. So I would have been first on site today. If I happened to be European, I think I would have been in.

But let's just back it up, House. You and I've been talking about the Router Cup for actually over two years because because we were talking about this Rattuck before Rome. And we have been talking for over two years about the fact that this might happen. And I know in our wrap-up show, we were a little... You say this? What's this? What might happen?

This is a European win. Today was one of the... Listen, I've seen almost every sporting event in the world. Today was probably a top 10 for me. It was that good. And I had a music festival in New York that I was supposed to get go to and leave. And we just kept sort of delaying, delaying, delay.

And we'll talk about it. But I think the inevitability of the European win. Today, the U.S. team showed a lot of heart. So many things had to happen, especially with the Victor rule that we just talked about, so many things had to happen for the U.S. to win. It was an inevitability that Europe was going to win. But we have been talking about a European win for a long time. And I think you made a lot of money today.

And so I want you to, like, there's all the stuff that we can. can dial into, which is, did Kagan do a good or a bad job? You know, was the course set up, you know, would the results have been different if it didn't rain so much on Thursday? And we did lift, clean, and place all the way through the end of this event. You know, if the PGA of America had done the hospitality differently and not served hot dogs and chicken fingers for 40 million dollars per suite, would the crowd have been more into it? Was the crowd, all that stuff like we can get to and dissect. But at the end of the day, you knew, and I suspected, but you knew that Europe was going to win this. So just start from what you saw. And at the end of the day, are you surprised

that this is the result? I mean, let's be honest, from the get-go, I didn't know anything. And I still don't know anything. I just had a conviction based on what we are observed in terms of preparation and the level of seriousness, the resources, the cohesive, coherent approach that Europe uses year after year after year, they don't arrive with a game plan that was formulated six months ago. This has been years in the making. Some, they would say decades in the making. They say they attributed to Sevee, changing their mindset, changing their mindset, changing their approach. And, you know, the informing thesis in the first place is the camaraderie, is the, team building, the believing in themselves, right? What? House, I just think so much of the conversation

now is like, blow it all up or, you know, I just think everybody's overthinking it. Like, I don't, Mark, you were there today. You watched. What I saw was a team play like generationally great golf and put their fucking faces off. And I get the desire to dissect. And yes, we can dissect it. And should Colin and Harris have gone out? I don't, but like, these got their three best players played unbelievable.

And that was like a putting performance for the ages. And I know people want it to be not that simple. But I think it is that simple. Like these guys just showed up and put their mouths off. I don't know. What did you see? Yeah, I mean, we talked about it all week. like there are definitely things that I might have done differently.

There's definitely things you can criticize. But at the end of the day, like Europe just played unbelievable. You know, talking about Scotty and his record and, you know, should the number one player in the world have a better record? And it's just like they birdied half the, yeah, we talked about it before he played today. It was like 66 holes and they were 32 under against them. It's like, what are you going to do when they burdied half of the holes against you on and the third hardest course

I've ever played my whole life. Like, it was just crazy how good they played. And to a certain point, like, yeah, maybe there was some stuff we could have done differently to turn the momentum or different, whatever.

But it's just like they played so good. It really is that simple that they just played unbelievable. The thing that I want to ask you about because like we were on the ground today and we'll tell you about the energy and sort of what happened. There was this one brief fleeting moment

where, Everybody on the course suddenly believed. Cam Nails the putt. J.T. nails the put. Bryson somehow, who was five down and everybody on the course was just killing him in conversation, suddenly is clawing it back. And maybe if he can flip it, like you and I'm not texting on the thread and on a broader group text. Like, I think it's come down to Bryson. If he wins, this thing might go our way.

but but i i guess i just um you were there on saturday and the thing that you know for me when we history will look at rory's comments after they won in rome saying we're going to come to rome and we're going to win and that by the way he didn't use an expletive and it was not as sorry come to new york and win it was not he didn't use an expletive the way that kegan did which by the way if you saw shane lowry's post tonight he posted a picture of him in like a floaty, pool floaty, with the Ryder Cup in his lap

and the Keegan quote in the background, which is we're going to kick their fucking ass the thing that got posts on Netflix, which to everybody was, hey, man, this guy's different, but also, like, secretly, this is a little cringy, but Keegan and his comments

and the way that he handled himself in the early days, and I thought he did a great job, and we'll talk about that, but like, it motivated the Europeans. I guess my point is, just. It has seemed for a very long time like winning on foreign soil was the sort of holy grail. And to get there, you were always, always, always going to have to walk through the fire of Saturday in Long Island with the fans going bananas. And I thought yesterday, I was not here

on the ground, but I thought yesterday that when I read all the sort of hoi-poly-poly golf media people, and I don't know what you saw on your Twitter feed, but everybody to a man who was on the ground was pearl clutching in my view because I wasn't there and saying, oh, this is the worst stuff I've ever heard and they're saying terrible things. And then today I saw the video of Erica,

Rory's wife, getting hit with a fucking drink. And I texted House, who is my friend who is one of the most tolerant, open-minded human beings in my life, but who also doesn't put up, he suffers no fools. And I said, House, I assume this was bullshit. But you were on the fucking ground yesterday. And you saw inside the ropes these fans.

Tell us what you saw. Yeah, it was over the line. I mean, honestly, what I shared with some friends on another group threat is like going to a crappy NFL team home stadium. and a crappy NFL game where the fans show up not for the purpose of rooting for their own team, but for the purpose of getting as drunk

as possible, and then going in and looking to provoke some kind of a fight. And that was the vibe in the afternoon. Raiders home games. You said Raiders. I mean, you know, I don't know. I don't know. Would the Broncos ever down long enough

to have that kind of energy? No, they weren't. he's just sort of reveling in the fact that the Broncos haven't been down. And he just loved the Raiders analogy. That's all. Because Raiders fans are terrible. Chargers. Chargers lost to the Jackson Dart Giants today.

I mean, come on. Nobody's a Chargers fan. Nobody believes the Chargers is not the right analogy. That's, but look, man, it was bad energy. What did you see?

It was bad energy. But you don't get offended easily, House? Nah. Well, I mean, you know, there's basic, like, sports etiquette. And,

like, what were they saying? that's the part of it that was offensive. Just fuck you, Rory. Like it wasn't really. There was no imagination. There was no thoughtfulness. And it was like, you know, directed in a manner to alter the playing competition.

Like that's the line. That's what distinguishes golf, right? But that's what we were worried about when we walked into this. You and I talking about, hey, this could be great. They could finish. And somebody's going to sway the competition. It sounds like they were actually trying to. to do that.

I mean, but that's their job is to be the 15th club. It had the desired effect in the sense that Rory was definitely impacted. And honestly, she played better. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Like,

I don't know that it had the desired effect. I think, honestly, I think we all as golfers appreciate when someone is thoughtful and creative, even if they're talking shit to us. I appreciate it when the heckling is good. When it's bad, it's just annoying and it's not fun. And I think this Europe team, like, who was already playing super well,

I think they took that and they used it as motivation. Whereas if we were more respectful and had, you know, better insults and more thoughtful things might have gotten there in their head and said they used it as motivation to just be like, F these dumb Americans and they just played lights out because of it. So I think it almost backfired. Is that what it felt like on the groundhouse? Well, here's the thing.

What I'm describing was the Saturday afternoon. We were already down what we were down. But that was the fire that they had to walk through, right? They had to get through Saturday afternoon because everybody was off work. They were going to be drunk, right? Like you expected that. Today, it was much more reasonable. And I mean, I'm sure they were out of line guys.

But like yesterday it felt like they walked up to the edge and maybe half the crowd, I don't know, you were there. They went over the line. I wouldn't say half, but I mean, you know, there was a vocal minority, I guess is the way to say it. But part of this is the whole deal, right? Like, this thing isn't, I'd like the PGA of America to have a think on how they want to present this thing going forward. No more hot dogs for the sweets. That's the least of it.

all of the nonsense at the first T with the music and the and the MC and the fuck Rory chance. I mean, it was like just missed the mark. And look, I said this is my brother in the car at home. And don't get me wrong. Honestly,

some of my favorite tournaments I've ever played in have been the PJ championships, like great courses, historic venues. Like, it's been super fun. but you know like as players we always were we're golfers so we're always looking to complain about stuff so we complain about the tour and then we go play the u.s open and we bitch about the usGA and all their problems and then we go to the pga championship and we are dealt or we're dealing with the pga of

america and honestly then we're in a position we're like shit actually the usGA is kind of doing a pretty good job i don't know and like i i like i i i i i did feel that today. Like it was, I walked on site and it was immediately like, holy cow, this is the biggest event I've ever been to. I mean, probably more people at waste management or maybe, you know, like I played with Scotty at Valhalla. Maybe there was more people there that day after, you know, the whole arrest and stuff

like that. But the energy at this place was incredible. And something about the logistics of all of it. And like Nathan talked about with the hospitality, it was just kind of like, oh this is it doesn't feel as big as it should because of the PGA and it it weirdly made me

you know kind of appreciate the PGA tour a little bit and appreciate the USGA well that that's a big part I think of what drove the Saturday you know negativity is just there were there are too many people they sold too many tickets

like the venue is vast so they could have tens of thousands of people, but there's so little golf. And so everybody is, it's, it's eight to 12 deep on every T-box and every green. And there aren't natural sight lines. That's not, that's not different than the Masters. Yes, it's radically different. But no, no, but eight to 12 to 20 deep is not different. It's the sight lines, the ingress and egress and the rest of the experience, right? You can see at the Masters. There were many, many. holes where it wasn't even really worth walking up to because you really couldn't see shit.

It does that. It is different. It's the amount. It's the amount of pairings. It's a hard thing to do. Like, I know we're, you know,

I know we're hating on them right now, but it's a hard thing to do. I think they could figure out a better way, but it is a hard thing to do. It's a weird in between where you obviously want this to be the biggest event in golf, which it should be and it is. Felt like it today.

A hundred percent. But you also, you know, especially in the, in the Friday, Saturday, you only have four tea times going out. So it's like, how do you accommodate the amount of people that you want to feel big and powerful and impactful, but also make it a good viewing experience? It's a really hard thing to do.

Okay. I'll accept that. Can we just back up for a sec? Because I really want to focus on the U.S. fan, which like you and I set up, like, the big storyline this week was, were they going to go too far? Was there going to be a jackass who ran out of the stands and tried to tackle Rory? or somebody do some crazy. Like we're in a weird.

Yeah. We're in a weird moment, right? And so we were worried about something physical. I didn't actually think it was just going to be a bunch of guys saying awful things that everybody. I didn't sort of calculate that. But like, should we be embarrassed? Like, did we, were we, I mean, Rory in his press conference said, hey, that's not golf. He said, today, I heard, even today, he, he said,

was talking about Sunday. He said, I heard more people, way more people, denigrating me than cheering for Scotty. And, you know, to be honest, that's what we heard on the course. Like, there was more fucking, like, and maybe that's the moment that we're in. I mean, maybe that's... Maybe it is a reflection of our society right now. Like, I don't want to get too deep on this fun pot. Well, you're not capable of that either, but yeah. With my friend and my brother, but like, it is a little bit of a reflection of where we are. And I think that's at the core of what Roy was saying is like, that's why we love golf. Golf is such a reflection of life. And unfortunately, right now we're in a position where it is a reflection of life

not in a great way sometimes. Or it is. There was a lot more hate than love this week. Yeah. And I say this apolitically, like I think the president coming on Friday was kind of cool. like he came out and there was some real energy and Bryson was fired up and like he's one of the two most important players on the team and like he came out and did it. But listen, we're, you know,

he has authored a version of politics that is combative and that denigrates the enemy and goes, and I'm not, but like the, the vibe out there was that. The vibe out there was how negative can we be? And by the way, the vibe was, the problem was that that, that played through to a lot of shit talking the players instead of just being like,

hey, let's go support Russell Henley as hard as we possibly fucking can. Do you know what the Europeans did all day? All they did was support Rasmus fucking Hoygard, who will be a forgotten asterisk in this thing. Maybe he's going to turn to something great, but like not in this Ryder Cup, right? He's going to be a, oh my God, that guy played a Ryder Cup. But they were all in for Rasmus all the time.

And I just think our culture and society right now is not doing that. Again, not to go too deep, but like everything in this current moment was on display. And by the way, you know what else was on display? Americans never fucking give up. And through all of the bullshit, like this was one of the most inspiring things to watch happen as we were about to leave to go to a fucking music festival in New York City and having a debate about, you know, should we go? definitely not winning. And then all of a sudden, it looked like Cam Young, who, you know, suddenly was

like choking away a three-up lead was going to come down 18. And Mark looked at him and was like, let's just stay and watch. And he comes down 18 and the energy, just this cresting wave crashes over the entire 18. And he comes up and they both basically hit the same shot and the dude nails a 20-footer. And I'm going to tell you that that was a top 10 sporting mom. for me because he nails it. The fact that he made it is the reason that J.T. made his part, and it's the reason that Bryson came up on absolute fire. And again, I think if Bryson flips that match, and this is not a knock on Bryson, because

he came back from five down, the knock on Bryson would be why did you get five down in the front? But like, if Bryson flips that match, I think we win the Ryder Cup. That is the energy and the overwhelming thing that happened. was an incredibly inspiring performance that is candidly uniquely American. And I give credit to the Europeans today when they all were interviewed. Like the first thing they said, you know, Shane Lowry, he cries and then he says fair play to the Americans. Like we expected them to come out, not like this. And there just was something wonderfully patriotic about watching these guys go out and never fucking give up today. Yeah. So that's what I would say is our secret sauce.

and this goes back to something we were talking about earlier. The reason that I point to the Europeans, you know, cohesion and, you know, the having the plan part, I think that really is secret sauce. And I think that really does propel them. They have a belief. And they show up with a belief. They arrive this year with a belief. And it's because it's the same fucking guys that did it in Rome two years ago. Now, that is like a circumstance that hasn't been, you know, it's unique in the history of the Ryder Cup.

to have that same captain with basically the same team that, you know, performed so well in one place and showed up at another place. And we're just ready to, we'll talk about some of the strategy stuff. I do think we have to, have to have to recognize that our home course advantage was completely neutered. And, you know, there was a, an idea, a concept. We just wasn't well executed. Didn't deliver the results.

So if there's no rain on Thursday that absolutely Dale uses the course, what do you think the strategy was for Kagan? I'm not sure. I mean, that's part of the thing. He never really articulated what the strategy was. Yeah, I mean, historically, we definitely like to cut the rough down, give our bombers an advantage because historically, We have been longer than them.

Even though they've been more accurate, we've been longer. So that's been a normal strategy. We had Russell Henley and Harrison. I saw a lot of U.S. players playing from behind. Totally, yeah. I mean, I think we had a different team than normal. So I'm not entirely sure with that. Yeah.

You know, I've only played Bethpage once. It played a lot different this week. It was pretty crazy how soft it was. And I do think that helped. the European team like they're very accurate there's a lot of good iron players and you know if anything if i'm going to criticize strategy like some of the guys that didn't get to play enough like a jj spawn is it and and a bend they're great iron players and so if you've got a soft course or you can take advantage of that um you know i think they should have played more whereas you know i i guess i just

like for me i agree that it was a weird setup i think the the greens got so soft that every everybody was spinning back in like uncomfortably like it just was a very weird thing to watch on the greens but I also feel like today it's not like they figured it out you know what I mean no it's so played lift clean place it rained a lot like yeah there's only so much that they could do like it weather permitting I think I think I think it was kind of like one of those perfect storms where it was like they had a decision. They chose to, you know, cut the rough and they were expecting to be firmer than it was, and then it rained.

And so now you have no rough and soft greens. But, I mean, when I play there, it was super firm and fast. Every hole, the greens are elevated. Right. If it's firm at all, it's really tough to get it close to the pins. And, you know, you saw guys spinning back five-eye. But the reason the Europeans won this Rotter Cup is because of Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McRoy and John Rob.

like that's why and the reason that those guys played so great is they didn't miss the fucking fairway and Tyrell hadden yeah i'm not so sure about she like i okay great fine fine but like all those guys hit a ton of fucking fairways so like what was the purpose the the first hole is is actually the enigmatic thing about this rider cup where almost nobody hit the fairway by the way not one time Did a U.S. polar hit the green, nor Europeans? So it's cool that it was strategic to get as close as you could

to the neck of the green. But it's not like, you know, at Whistling Straits, where Bryson drove that green and then raised his thing and the whole place went bonkers and he made the eagle putt and it's like, here we go,

and we went off and stomped everybody. Not one guy actually could reach that green. And so the strategy became, put it in the rough because it doesn't spin coming out of the rough and the greens are so soft that like that's the play. I just think,

I don't knock Keegan for it, It's just like I don't totally understand why you would turn it into a putting contest. This was analogous. Like when you played this course, I don't know who won, but I'm telling you that an overpar score at Bethpage Black is nothing to be ashamed of. And in this tournament, an overpar score at Bethpage would have put you in the Harris English Colin Moracawa sort of, you know, a closet of shame, right? And so I just think I don't get why you would turn it into the Amex

putting contest, which is what they did because guess who's great at putting, apparently, is Justin Rose in the fucking rider cup. And Tommy Fleetwood in the rider cup. And Rory McAwell, I mean, House, I don't know, you tell me, what was the point

of this, like, if you could go back, what would we do differently? Should we have grown up the rough? Like, guess what Wingfoot was? Wingfoot was a Bryson Deschambo layup. Absolute layup, because it was thick and I mean you couldn't play out of that thing and so so you know now we got a couple guys who

hit it big but I just this thing it was that it was the Amex in in Palm Springs I don't get it well it clearly missed the mark in terms of whatever the advantage was it was supposed to confer and one of the things that I heard and Keegan has fallen on that story yeah I and he did a great job of that at the press conference yeah today there were reports that they were watering on Wednesday, even though they anticipated the rain on Saturday. And the complaint that I heard today was that, you know, they never really got the greens as fast as they were hoping to get the greens.

The greens were slow. Well, who plays on slow greens all the time, the Euros? Now, look, all those guys, for the most part, are playing on the U.S. tour and playing on U.S. green. So it's not like, you know, there's a huge thing there, but these guys on those greens, they had no problem. There's also guys that have shown us

lots of acumen on Poe O'Reans on that team. I mean, there are a lot of good go-putters on that game. By Sunday, those two putts that Russell hit on 17 and 18, he's going to get unfairly maligned because his stats actually were pretty good this week. Not third in the world great, and we'll have a conversation about what should happen in the official golf world rankings,

which is they should go in the toilet because it's over. Rom is a better player than number three, Russell Henley, and that's not a knock on Russell. is just like where we are, let's stop pretending. But like Russell played better than he got credit for this week. But like leaving those two putts short, you know, that's not the conditions. Sorry, that's the nerves. And what were we concerned about?

This is an incredibly tense high pressure tournament. And we came in with our top six guys, Scotty Sheffler and Xander was a question mark. And you had Harris English and Russell and JJ, who actually, played better than they deserved. And you know, you get a lot of guys who we didn't totally trust. And I don't think those guys actually let them down. And in fact, I think a lot of Kagan's captain's picks in hindsight performed super well on a relative basis.

But I do think that, you know, this was not a tournament. We brought a few cats to a dogfight house. And it just looked like it. I don't disagree with that. Let me ask Mark Harbor this question. This is something I was, I'm curious. about wondering about why is it that what's your your thought on why the europeans have such an advantage at foursums because the thing that i and it's been this case for 25 years now they have

an enormous advantage if you'd look at you know the net differential the number of points they've won in fours compared to us it's like in the 21 22 point advantage for them um now this is where you know, to me it's some of that secret sauce element that I keep sort of pointing to for the Europeans where they have a whole process around the guys that we think are going to be simpatico. And it feels like, it feels like because we on the U.S. side have this churn, right? Like there are six new players on the U.S. team that didn't from the 2021 win at Whistling Straits. We have, you know, half the team has been turned over. And the same is true, you know, from Rome, right?

From Rome till now, considerable, you know, sort of turnover, finding that, that chemistry, and I don't, maybe that's the wrong word. This is exactly why I'm asking you. Is it chemistry or is it just, you know, doesn't there have to be a comfort level? Yeah, no, I think it's two things. And I think one of them is chemistry. We talk about it all the time, like the DP tour, the Europeans are a little bit closer than we are on tour. That's not to say that there's not a bunch of really cool, awesome guys on the PJ

tour that everybody gets along. But it is definitely a little bit lonelier. You know, like I've been up and down on both tours. I've played DP stuff. I've played a ton of the play PJ tour. Like, it can be a little lonely on the PJ tour. And they are very prideful about how, you know, almost like union they are and how they stick together and how there's just, there is more chemistry. So I I think there's no way that you can discount that when you look at how good they were at foursomes and four ball and then how we just absolutely dominated a day on singles. Like there's no way that you can discount that like, hey, guess what? The Americans are really good when we're playing by ourselves.

And we're just not as good as them when we're doing team stuff. I think also just like from a technical standpoint, if you know, you've wanted to get into the nitty-gritty, So they are more accurate. They are really good putters. And so when, you know, that Zurich, like I've played alternate shot, that's what you want. You want someone where, you know, they're going to hit the green, or if they miss the green, they're going to leave it in a pretty easy spot. And you want someone who you know is going to make the four footer coming back.

It takes a ton of pressure off. You know, I was telling a ton of people after Zurich this year, like, I don't know if I ever want to play in a rider cup because alternate shot is so scary. It's so tough. But if you're playing with a partner that's, you know, is going to hit most of the greens and you know is going to hit that three footer every time coming back, it's not that scary. And I feel like you got a lot of guys on Europe that are just great iron players and they're great, gritty putters and short game people. And it's like, okay, now it's not that hard anymore. And yeah, between the two of those things, it's tough to beat them, but we got them in singles. So this begs the big macro-level question for me,

which is I think about Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood. And right now, to be honest, John Rom, not Rory, really, but a little bit Rory. And the rest of the Europeans, as guys who, you know, when it's in the clutch, JJ Spone won the U.S. Open. Like I can't think of the European guy like that, who Danny Willett won the mass. But like, I don't think of those guys as incredibly intimidating, awesome individual players who've outperformed what they could have done in the majors. But they all outperform in this culture.

And what I don't understand and that I'm dying to sort of get my arms around is why in this environment, what is it? Is it Luke? It's not just Luke because this has happened sort of traditionally, right? But like, why in this environment are they awesome and hard? to beat. But when they're on their own, I'm betting on Sheffler. I'm betting on Xander. I'll take 10 Americans before I take Justin Rose to win another major rate. I'll take 20 probably before I take Justin Rose to win another major. But out there on Saturday, Justin Rose was going

to make every single put. He was the most terrifying guy I've ever seen on a golf course. Do you understand? Like, what is it? He did win the U.S. Open. He wasn't a playoff for the fucking masters this year. Justin Rose. He was in the playoff to win the Masters against Roy McElroy. This year.

He's not a scary guy. He's not a scary guy. Okay. It's practice. It's practice. It's practice. Yeah. They practice.

We're talking about practice. We're talking about practice. We talk about practice. They do it. They do it year round where they are feeling pride. Not to say that we're not prideful for our country.

We are. it's a different level. They are, they come from a place where they feel like they're not part of the tour. Like they're DP tour players playing on our tour. And so they come from this place where they are sort of in a team environment year round and we are playing for ourselves year round. And then we come together once every two years to play as a team.

And it's just, it's not the same. And I don't really have the answer on how to, to change that. But like it's, it is noticeable. Like, it's noticeable how they hang out, how they do stuff. And it's, it's different. Okay. So House, all the guys saying blow it up, we should rethink everything. Don't, they seem to be like my kids. Like, they come to me with a problem, but not a solution. Is there a solution to that? Like, do you think we should be blowing this up? Or does 1513 tell you that the Europeans just put better and next time we'll

get them like is there a big change that's afoot I don't strategically have a piece of advice here I'm not sure I don't think he can did a bad job why'd we send out more cow more like yeah okay fine but like these guys just fucking played better that's all it is I can make well it's not just that it's not just that though Mark just made the point they practice it's continuity they they like they've been preparing for this Since the moment that they woke up after being in 2027.

Do you give it to Tigray? Do you give it to Phil? Tiger doesn't want it. Tiger could have had it at any point Tiger could always have. He doesn't want Jackson Coyvin on the team along with like it's thank it's it's it's thankless. Like he's not doing that work. Tiger was going to do that work.

Get the fuck out of here. You want to give it to MJ? He's never been scared about anything. No, I'm not giving it to anybody. You ready? Here's the answer. The answer. Who, Tiger?

Why wouldn't Tiger want it? Yeah. I know he's got nothing to gain from it, but. That's the answer. That's why he doesn't have a winning Ryder Cup record. He doesn't give a shit about this thing. He's not a team guy.

He's Tiger. That's awesome. I don't have any problem with that. He's a badass. He asked, you know, the famous Tiger quote is, tell me Jack Nicholas's Rider Cup record. What was his record? And they're like, okay, all right, point taken.

Okay. So the answer is Keegan Bradley. The answer is Keegan Bradley. Yeah, what do you gain by rolling in? It's either that or somebody who won, like Steve Stricker, like Paul Azinger. The least exciting thing of the entire Rider Cup was when they'd show the captain's huddles. And you had Keegan, Kiz, Kis, Snedd, Gary Woodland, and Webb Simpson, who, Collectively, that group has won three majors, only one each for the three guys who won,

and arguably a very, very lucky, you know, sort of fortunate, not quite Ben Curtis-type win, but like, you know, these are not people who show up at majors and freak you out. Now, Gary Woodland probably would have had he not at his health stuff, but, like, this was not an intimidating captain's room. So I'm with you. Like, continuity seems to be potentially the way to go. Do you, do you think that? Keegan Bradley, if he'd made different decisions, could have won this Rider Cup? I think that there needs, and this is part of the continuity element to it, it is apparent that whatever the team that's been assembled that is like giving the feedback, giving the input,

there's something in terms of the decision-making structure that isn't working here. There's a communication problem. There was a story that emerged that Ror, that Scotty Schaeffler and his caddy had to talk to two different vice captains to get the answer on who's teeing off on the odd holes in one of his force of matches well it had to be the first one because he should not have been teeing off on the even holes right scotty sheffler should have teed off on the on the first hole of the first fucking foursum's match of the rider cup like you know mind-blowing shit but the fact that there was this this breakdown in the communication the fact that he didn't

didn't know that answer six fucking months ago. Like, what are we talking about here? The European team knew it. The thing to me that jumps off. We set up the fucking course for the euros. Like, hey, we have the number one player in the world. Like the rest of the roster, I don't know, but Scotty Schaeffler, why don't we just set up the course so that Scotty can win five fucking points instead of going one and four? It seems like a good idea. The thing that I want to bounce off with bark and it goes to the observation he made which is you know the instinct for the u.s player is um an own ball kind of instinct why wouldn't we start with four balls the goal of four balls is to go out and make as many fucking birdies as you can on your own ball and it's awesome if you get hot

for a little bit and your teammate is with you and like boy i'm rolling now and your team you it's all you're dapping each other up and the birdies get going it's not that tense it's not that ass of alternate shot that you just described Mark Hubbard. Like that to me strikes me as like low hanging fruit. Now we're going to have to wait four years because we're going to Ireland and you know what they're starting with. You know what, you know, I don't know who is. Who's it going to be Justin Rose?

Whoever the captain is, welcome to forces in Ireland. It might be Luke. Is Luke really stepping down? I don't know. Justin Rose might play the way that he he. He played this week. He should. But statistically, Justin Rose was one of the three best golfers in this tournament.

No argument. I mean, if we want to play, let them play. I'm just saying, when we arrive in Ireland, we are going to be playing foursms Friday morning. That much I'm sure of. Yeah, I mean, let me preface this with that. I don't know that there's a single thing we could have done differently this week. That's just how good Europe played. It ended up being really close because we were awesome today.

we definitely outplay in Radeh. The energy was awesome. It was great. But, I mean, they just, they played incredible. They put it incredible. So all of this is, you know, speculation. I do think the thing that frustrates me is that with Kagan, like, the whole point was like, let's mix it up. And I don't feel like we did at all.

Like, we just picked the same. same pairings we picked the same like there was no like he didn't pick himself which after the press conference i understood like i i wanted him to play personally just because i love his energy and it would have been cool but i get it that he didn't but that was opportunity number one to mix it up didn't do it and then with like the pairings and everything like it would just seem like the same thing over and over again that we've been doing and it's like we're not going to be these guys especially if they're making every 10-footer if we're doing the same thing over and over again.

So that was the frustrating thing for me. Yeah, I just want to say that in your scenario, he is a player captain, and then it's Webb Simpson making decisions about whether Harris and Morikawa play the second round. I think there definitely needed to be, yeah, he would have had to pick someone else. Like I said, I didn't mind him not playing himself.

I just thought it would have been very cool. the energy and where it was in the country. I thought it would have been really awesome. But I totally got it. And the way you handled the press conference, I was all on board with his decision, 100%. Now, in hindsight, it's just kind of one of those things where, again,

where it was just like the reason we chose him was to mix it up and do things differently. And it seemed like it was just another writer cup like it's been for the past, whatever. I couldn't agree more, but even more importantly to me, we needed that dog. We needed that dog.

a mother effer who was going to go out in that environment and be a goddamn dog. We didn't have enough dogs on that team. The famous college coach quote, I don't need cats. I need dogs. We needed dogs. That was like if there's anywhere on planet earth that we need the player that gets that energy, that understands that energy and can take that energy and turn it into a positive on the golf course, it's fine. He was not in the cart, not in the cat's cart on the golf course. It's that man under those circumstances. Am I right? Yeah.

And I think all due respect to Russell, who actually hit the ball great, you know, he left two putt short and he's going to think about that for a long time. And I love Russell Henley, but like he's not a dog in the same way that like, you know, how else he put us out there. Is that he quite literally a dog? No, he's a Georgia dog. He is a Georgia bulldog. But I don't want to name names. Go ahead. But I do want to name names.

You know I do? I mean, but that, that, that, you know, I think that got extended in the wrong way. Like there were guys out there who did not step up and meet the moment in the same way. And in fact, they shied away from putting Ben Griffin out there. Ben Griffin has been a top four U.S. player for the last two months. And Ben Griffin won today. And he won as a like, Ben should have been out there more in hindsight. Again, all these things, though, we can nitpick.

That was not the problem. was not going to change the fact that Europe just played better. And so I hear you on the, hey, you know, House, I think we should just restate it. Your point is actually, do not blow this up. Because there's a lot of people like, just blow it up. We've got to do the whole thing. Like, everything's got to be reexamine everything. You're like, actually, the thing is we need consistency. The reason that, you know, you don't fire Mike Tomlin is that, you know, when he goes nine and eight again, you know, is that, Like you're trying to build consistency in an organization. And, you know, is there a guy who is incrementally going to deliver something that is different?

And when you look at the range of guys who are the vice captains, I don't want one of those guys running the U.S. Rider Cup team in 2027. I want Tiger. And if you don't have Tiger. You have to radically think about Phil. And I have to be honest. I don't want. But like you have to think about it.

No, you don't. He's fucking crazy. we don't be a crazy person? What are you talking about? I get it. But like those are the two guys. And Phil should not get the captaincy because I just think again,

we don't got to go there. But like maybe someday. But like it's not him. It's not to give it to Keegan again. I'm with you. I think you made the right point. Consistency is what this team has been lacking. And I think that these guys actually played their best for Keegan.

And today of all days is an example of how they gave a shit. Yes. And they cared. Did you see all the guys walk out on the putting green when these guys teed off and when they came in? Like they cared and Keegan's decision to not play himself, sign them all up for, oh, this is about something more than me. And I just like, we got to care about the thing, not ourselves. And I think these guys actually did. They just got out putt, man. Give us. Well, I, yes, they did get out putt, but that was also by design. I just don't, I'm not going to say that it was like variants. I don't think it was by accident that the European showed up and were comfortable on this golf course.

But give me Jackson Coivan and a couple of other, give me Jackson Coivan and a couple of the rookies to replace a few of these clowns. Give me Speeth. Even without that though, House, do you think that this exact same USA Rider Cup team could beat the European team? Where? Either place. No. And the reason is because, King and Bradley needs to be on the team.

Keegan Bradley is one of our 12 best players. Keegan Bradley should have played. I don't in any way, shape, or form criticize him for the decision that he made. I just wish that he played because he's one of our 12 best players. I wish that he did selfishly from a fan standpoint. I understand why he didn't. Me too. After watching today, I absolutely believe that this exact same team could go to Ireland

next year and win. I do too. The U.S. team, you mean? Yep. This U.S.S. team could go to Ireland. The exact same team. You said next year. Two years from now?

Yeah. Two years from now? No, no. I mean, there is a difference. It's been a day, okay? So give me a break. No, no. But no, I'm not correcting you.

I'm saying. Two years. Yeah. Yeah. I think you transport this team. I think the weird thing is that we've been talking about it back and forth this whole time. And it's like, we want. continuity the same way they have it,

so you can't blow it up. I'm on board with this. You can blow one thing up. And you can't say this. Well, maybe you can, but I'm not going to make you say it. In House and Mize text threads, the thing that we were talking about is that most of this U.S. team is not particularly likable.

And part of the reason that the crowd went negative instead of positive, in my view, is that Scotty is wonderful. And he's just meh loved in the big picture. And Justin they love and Bryson they love. And the rest of the team, they feel somewhere between neutral to actually negative on a lot of those guys.

Spieth wasn't here. There was obviously no Tiger. There was no Ricky. There was no Ricky. Phenal. Right, exactly. Like they're just were not people who, you know, I say this in the music business,

like you go and you watch an artist and you look around and see if people have tattoos of these artists or lyrics or something on their body. There is not a golf fan who is out there this week, either in front of or behind the camera, meaning on-site or watching at home, who was going to fucking tattoo their body for anybody other than maybe Scotty, maybe Tom,

these guys. I have Russell Henley's face tattooed on my body. Yeah. We're not. It was a weird, it was a weird night. I will say. It was in Bangkok. But, uh, the guy.

Like, they're not lovable house. That's like, just speak to it. They're not. And that had something to do with the, was, um, Cam Young. And Cam Young, he got it. Fucking great. He showed up.

He showed out. He had the energy for it. You know, he's been. Was only himself, didn't try to be somebody. He wasn't. Yeah. Yeah. But what that was was was a.

baller. I mean, he showed up with game that was absolutely, yeah, dog. It was very, very, very. And by the way, Captain's pick over guys like Mad McNeely and, you know, where there's, you know, there, I don't know how much of a debate there was, but like Cam Young was one of the last guys on. And he played, he was statistically the best American and it was not that close. So, you know, great pick. But I, I do think that this group of guys for their sort of blandness. It's why we saw so much Thomas this week, and JT was great on the weekend, but like, we saw

Thomas just because if you didn't have Thomas or Bryson, like, who is bringing this team? Like, who's bringing the Justin Rose arguing with the caddy? And that's why we need to Keegan, because that's that energy, right? And there's, you can't just dismiss it.

You can't just say, well, look at the strokes gain and look at the performance in the tournaments. There is an element to this that is that, that, you know, we keep using a lot of different euphemisms for it. But, you know, that having the energy to meet what the moment requires. And Kegan undoubtedly has it. That's why they named him the captain. But he should, I wish he played. I'll just leave it at that. Do you think it changes the outcome? If Kegan played, yes. Yeah. I do. You think the U.S.

wins? Yes, because I don't think that where we end. up down the way we were down Saturday night. Because Kagan plays better or because a collective group of captains talk him out of shit like Morikawa Harris? I think it's both. I think he plays well

and then I think he also gives us more energy than we had. I do. I do think it's tough to say because today was just such a comeback. And so I don't necessarily know that I can say, okay, we for sure win,

but we definitely don't enter the day as far down as we did today. So then if we play the way that we do in singles, then it's a whole. You're just saying guys, you're saying that guys make putts, but like our guys didn't miss that many putts. It's that every single time

the Euros had a putt that mattered, they made it in the first two days. Intimidated, they're not scared, they're not, the energy was on their side on our soil. Up to the moment. They were up to the moment. They were not afraid of the moment. There was no clenching.

They showed up prepared. I don't think one guy. It is harder to make a put after someone has made a putt and gotten everybody fired up and the crowd is loud. It's just it is. Yeah, I just don't believe that Keegan,

like I'm not sure that he changes that dynamic fundamentally because I feel like what happened in this golf tournament is that three of the best, fuck the world rankings, and they can go fuck themselves and we've got to stop talking about them.

Well, I mean, the reason to talk about them is like, how are we creating a mechanism by which to get our six auto qualifiers? If we're going to do auto qualifiers. It was a really great work. What are we using? It was a great week for DataGolf.

Blow it up. We need to blow up the world rankings. Yeah, DataGolf cannot predict a cut. They cannot get a sense for the wind is up so we should stop. But we look at it every single round. my entire career. Me too.

I mean, I do too. It was a great week for data golf. Good job for data golf. Horrible week for the official world golf rankings because three of the five best players on that course were John Rom, Roy McElroyd, Tommy Flewood, and it wasn't particularly close. Maybe Bryson and Scott, he belonged in that conversation. I think Zander will get back.

And we saw a great round from Zander today to go after Rom because, I mean, that was, Yeah, he, he, I think Rom ran out of gas and part of, you know, I think if you really, there would have been different decisions if it was closer about who plays when in, in Saturday afternoon. But, but look, at the end of the day, I, I, I don't know how, I just, I think that Europe had better players who just played great. And I don't think when you overthink it and over-dissect it and over-serve analyze, you can lead yourself. down a rabbit hole of bullshit. Here's what happened. They played better. And yes, can we do things to make our guys play better? Yes. And that's the question is what is the cultural sort of structural setup that Tommy and Rory

and Rom who have all, over the last three years, had a really hard time winning majors, really hard time winning majors. Forget the masters. Like, that was the hardest major that's ever been won. Like, these guys have struggled. But when they stepped in this situation, they made every single put plus, you know, Justin Rose, what is the environment and the culture and the sort of vibes that helped to make that happen?

I think they know the answer. Well, let's see, because does it make you think differently? Because we're done with the season. We got Mark's playing Jackson this week. We're going to go play some golf in Atlanta tomorrow. And then he goes to miss. Same crowds as this week. But like, so the.

So the season's basically over, and you got, you know, you and I are going to talk about the major season next year. And, you know, coming out of this event, the question is, does this, Tommy Fleetwood seems to have changed since he made this breakthrough, even though, you know, Mark and I talked about that fact, it's only 30 people. Like, you know, does this change the way we think about who could win these majors next year? I come out of this event being like, well, Tommy Fleetwood, absolute major contender. like if he doesn't win one next year, I'm going to be surprised. John Rom, absolutely back in the saddle. Rory is only going to get up for the big moments, but boy, does he seem to get up for the big moments.

He also has a hangover. So, you know, he's going to have a hangover from this, not winning. Scott probably pissed coming in. So to me, there's, and then there's Xander who had a great Sunday and feels like, okay, maybe he's back and beating Rom, there's a thing. I don't know that there's people outside of those five who belong in the conversation right now. For what? For winning majors?

Yeah. Okay, that's fine. I mean, I would put Terrell Hatton in there just because he kind of put himself in there at the U.S. Open. Yeah, I mean, for winning majors, I don't know, for having great seasons. I mean, there's a couple guys, especially on our team with Ben and JJ, who had seemingly out of the blue incredible seasons. But if you look at people who have played in the Ryder Cup before and what they've done after, I think it's only going to get better for those. too, which is pretty wild that they can rocket ship themselves of that status and then also the sky is the limit afterwards. And I think Cam Young, I think

we've all been waiting for him to reach the status. And I think for me, like, I the sky is absolutely the limit for him. As well as he's putting right now and just the level of confidence he's playing with,

a guy who hits it that far. Like, for me, that's probably my biggest takeaway from this whole tournament is that, holy shit, Cam Young is good at golf. Now he has confidence. He's won. Now he's stepped up and been our best player on the Ryder Cup team. Like, the next season, I'm not allowed to bet. Like, I have to take bullshit courses online and do all this stuff for the tour.

But, like, if I could or, you know, maybe tell one of my nieces to play some bets for me, which, again, violating those courses. So I'm not. doing that. You are definitely not doing that. I'm definitely not doing that. But man, I think he is going to have a huge season. Here's my only counter to that. Max Homa watch this. He's my brother, so he's going to have it. Max Homa watched this Rider Cup from home. Just Jordan Spieth watch this Rider Cup from home. Those are two dogs that we...

Two guys that could be on our team in Ireland. I would welcome both of them. I hope both of them play well enough over the next two years to be on our team. That's what we need. Those are dogs. That's exactly what. what we're after. How's he won a lot of money? What a great day. I'm so proud of you. You knew this from the beginning.

This is, you've been telling everybody. It was just a mismatch of the price available in the betting markets compared to what the experience of the Europeans suggested was a potential outcome. That's all. I didn't do anything. All I did was gamble and win for once. Dinner's on you, buddy.

Dinner's on me. Gentlemen, that was magnificent. Thank you for. being on the grounds today Sunday watching that with your own eyes the takeaway here is continuity how do we how do we get that in the U.S. side I can't wait to see

if there's anything that I think it's team I think it's team Baker's Bay trips because honestly I haven't seen a long time and it's like I saw you yesterday so I think we need USA team Baker's Bay trips yes team USA I mean, it fits.

They've been there before. They've been there before. They just need to expand it. That is the answer. Yeah. Let's make sure that this week, starting tomorrow, we don't start seeing any of these like anonymously placed hit pieces, right? Then we'll know that something is up with the U.S. side.

If there's any like these, oh, you know, there's a story in the New York Times that the old guard really. Run it back. You're right. Run it back. Really hated Keegan. I'll be disappointed. I'll be sad if that's.

the kind of shit that we see this week. Let's make sure that doesn't happen. The reason it's not happening is twofold. Phil loves Kagan and M.J. Tiger loves Kagan. Tiger loves M.J. And so there's not nobody's undercutting Kegan this week. We're good. I think Tiger likes M.J. I mean, likes Kegar likes Kee. Yeah, because Tiger loves MJ. Yeah. And M.J. loves Keg would do nothing to underlie. My Eagle enthusiast. And Mark Hubbard. House loves Mark Hubbard These are the things that matter My part saving pals

We all love you Thank you for joining us on this Fairway Rowland Ryder Cup recap The US will be back in two years Hopefully with some more dogs We need to get some more dogs on the team We will be back here on these very airwaves

Right around the corner We are doing all of the fall golf season here On fairway rolling I'm trying to pick some winners It's our favorite time of the year honestly, because the big dogs are all, you know, at Baker's Bay. It's time for us little guys to try and make some money. Great, great onset of fall here in the mid-Atlantic up to northeast.

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