Fairway Rollin' - U.S. Ryder Cup Team Picks: Captain Keegan Chooses Not to Play

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

House and Hubbard are back to give their reactions to Keegan Bradley’s U.S. Ryder Cup team. They start off with Bradley’s decision to leave himself off the team and who most likely took his spot instead (00:00). Then, they discuss who is under the most pressure to perform on the U.S. team (18:05) and what the ratings increase this season means for the PGA (22:00). Finally, they compare the U.S. team to the European team (35:42).Hosts: Joe House and Nathan HubbardProducers: Tucker Tashjian and Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends, and welcome to this golf podcast, unlike any other. Yes, my friends, we've done it. We are back. This is Fairway Rolling. A golf podcast on the Ringer podcast Network, a special Rider Cup edition. I am your starter, Joe House, joined by our incomparable accomplice, our PGA tour boots on the ground. Nathan Hubbard, we have the captain's picks in. in hand. Kegan Murray has spoken from on high. Nathan and I are here to break it all down.

It's a two ball. Peg is in the ground. Off we go. Nate Dogg. Kagan Bradley, hero or goat? Magnanimous, selfless decision in hindsight. I guess it's the obvious one. And boy, if this guy takes it to New York. We'll just lump it in as part of New England and wins the Ryder Cup having given up his dream to play. He goes down as a champion of all time. What a great decision in hindsight house. We did speculate on this program a week ago that he might do the magnanimous thing. And we looked at the players like Ben Griffin and Mav McNeely, the guys, you know, that were around the hoop, Sam Burns, and that Kagan would effectively give up his spot for one of those guys. The way it played out to me, and I'm interested in your reaction to this, is that Kegan essentially

sacrificed himself playing in this so that Colin Moracawa could play in this. Because the way that the tour championship worked out and the way that Sam Burns played and the way that Patrick Cantlay played and Ben Griffin had a an absolutely uh, lock, slam dunk lock case to be on this team. It would have been an absolute tragedy for Ben Griffin to not be on the team. That Kalamorkawa, who has not played good golf since mid-May,

has not played good competitive golf since the middle of May 2025. And honestly, only made the tour championship on the back of two, second place finishes early in the season at the century and at the API where Russell Henley nipped him. But Kalamara-Kawa, there's a great case for him to have been left off this team. Do you agree with this assessment that Kagan sacrificed his own spot so that Kalamorakawa could be on? House, I want to say yes to you because I know how mad you were going to be if Colin made this

team. But I think that statistically, the guy is still the third best ball striker on tour. And I think that, you know, the guy still has some dog in him. He's a two-time major winner. Yes, his last three months have been dog poo. But no, I don't think they were such dog poo that it was a clear case that Keegan should have made the team over him. I think Sam Burns making the team, team makes sense to me. I don't think it was a lock. I think there was a lot of chatter house in the last 48 hours that Ben Griffin was not on this team. Now, don't know where that came from. Because at the end of the day, I think that was more golf, Twitter, Adjitas than reality. But look, the reality of this team house, if you really step back is it's the best player in the

world, Bryson DeShambo, and a bunch of guys that I don't really trust that way. that much right now. They're good players. But JJ Spawn is not going to strike fear into the hearts of the Europeans. So I really think he could have gone

in a lot of directions here. And my gut says at the end of the day, I believe him when he says that this process transformed him. I mean, let's just be clear. Kegan was not a particularly well-like guy on tour. And he just admitted that and spoke to that in the press conference today.

And he talked about how this journey for him has been a transformational one where he's learned from these guys how to actually care about other people on the course, how to actually build relationships with other people on the course. Guys did not like playing with Keegan because Keegan did what he admitted to today. He played, he looked at other guys as his competition,

he packed up and he went home. And I think what Keegan fell in love with through this process was being a captain. And good for him, because I think, you know, I think if it was crystal clear that Keegan was going to make the team better. He makes the call to put himself on. In hindsight, not doing that, letting him be in real

time making the hard decisions that a captain has to make is the right move for the U.S. And it's going to cement him as an all-timer if they win this thing. I couldn't agree more. He said himself in the press conference today that the decision not to play had been made some time ago that it wasn't up to the last minute where he was, you know, dealing with that sort of existential question. And I believe him, it would have been very rich if he had won the Tour Championship. Upon reflection, now I wish, you know, he had one so that this decision would have been even even more difficult. And we could speculate what that would have meant. Who would he have left off? Maybe it seemed like, do we, do we say that the, because,

of the order in which he announced the names that Sam Burns was the last person that made the team. I mean, Sam Burns has a very good resume for making the team. He is over the last 12 months, both his strokes gained are fine. You know, he's on the top 12 strokes games list for three months, six months and 12 months. He for sure plays long golf courses. Well, you know, we don't worry about him at Bethpage. So it probably was Keegan or Sam Burns, right? I think that's probably right at the end of the day.

I mean, you did start this by saying Morikawa shouldn't have been on the team. But I think that that's probably the right tradeoff that had to be made. I just think, you know, we talked about this last week. As the captain, you've got to be thinking about who your partners, are going to be. This is not a singles event until Sunday. And so if you're not thinking about the team holistically, you're not thinking about individuals and not partnerships. And Sam Burns is an incredibly important partner for one, Scottie Schaeffler, the best player in the world. And I think thinking about how to make sure that Scotty had somebody he was comfortable with could go out

and execute not in a traditional one-on-one format, but, you know, Scott. plus Sam Burns is a team that I think is, you know, I mean, it's going to hopefully become a consistent thing in the same way that Zander and Cantlay have become a team. I think that was a really big consideration. I think when you think about it as 12 individuals, you probably make different picks. When you think about it holistically, you know, I get, I get this decision. You're first and foremost, you know, he got asked Keegan did. You heard the question, and by the way, thank God for Kyle Porter, who's the only guy who asked a hard question this entire press conference. Nobody asked Colin Moracawa, you know, whether he deserved to be on the team, which is what you texted me going bananas about.

But you heard the question about, you know, it wasn't hard for Keegan to make decisions about the format and the order of four ball and foresums because the data really told him that. But that means that he's been spending a lot of time thinking more about, you know, what is the construct of this team? what's the right set of pairings than he has been about whether Sam Burns or Patrick Cantlay or Mav McNeely, you know, belong on this last spot. Yeah, that sounds right to me. And to your very astute observation, it's a massive undertaking to be captain in this, this modern Ryder Cup. And I think the data, the on the ground data, to go alongside with all of the,

analytics they're bringing to the table and thinking about the construction of the teams for the first sets of competition you need that on the ground data he needs you know as as captain if he's really going to fulfill that role to be out there gathering information about his team in real time how are these guys looking how do they feel to me how who's nervous you know who's ready to go um grab this thing who's eating up the crowd who's you know all of that kind of stuff you only get that observationally It can't be him saying, I'm playing in the very first match. Oh, what did you guys see in here to his vice captains? The vice captains will be doing that anyway.

But if he's going to really fulfill that captain role, then I do think he made the right decision. And if they win, he will be, you know, absolutely appropriately lionized for this decision for having it in front of him, the choice to play. and having had played before, you know, that's the thing to me, Nate. Yeah. I want to ask you just about a couple philosophical things that he mentioned in the press conference. The first was around what it takes to actually be picked as a rookie and that in most cases, you've got to play your way on. You don't get picked as a, you know, captain's pick as a rookie.

Now, Ben Griffin did that. But it's a little bit different than the way that Luke Donald handled it in Rome, isn't it? when he put Nikolai, when he put Ludwig, when he really started to plan for the future and stacking the bottom part of the team with guys who haven't been there before. Now, the truth is, in America right now, I don't know who are Ludwig.

I don't know who our Hoygard is at the moment. Maybe it's Jackson, Coy, the kid who's been playing lights out as an amateur. Maybe it's, I'm not sure we have the next great hope sitting there in waiting. But I just wonder if you had a reaction to that, philosophy from Keegan. Well, I think that Cam Young and Ben Griffin both kind of fulfill what you're describing in terms of guys on the younger side, guys that haven't played in this thing before, guys that may come reveal something about themselves competitively, where you say,

oh, wow, that was a great decision. Look at how well they've, they've competed in this thing. these are guys that we can now count on for the next, you know, series of President's Cups and Rider Cups because we've seen it. I think especially Cam Young, he's very well suited for this event in, in this place at this time. So I think, you know, he especially could come out, just be a big dog, get four points for the U.S. team, and cement himself as a Rider Cup, you know, stalwart for the next handful of years. And Ben Griffin, there's just nothing bad to say about him. He's across the board super high up in so many different categories that seem well suited for this. And so I think that Kagan has fulfilled the mission, which is to say identified through the captain's picks a couple of guys who haven't played before, but also tapped into some of the legacy and history and institutional support. that more than anything is the explanation of Colin Morikawa on this team because his game is in disarray.

His decision making has been in disarray. So he has an opportunity, and I'll ask you this question, who on the U.S. team do you think has the most pressure? Is it everybody has equal pressure? Does Scotty have more pressure because of how dominant he's been? Does Morcawa have pressure now having been, you know, essentially rewarded with, this gesture. Who would you say on the U.S. side has the most pressure, or is it equally split? No, I think you're right that there's some guys who are going to feel this.

And Morikawa is obviously the standout one. Morikawa, to me, is Spieth and Thomas in Rome, which is to say they're on the team for legacy and resume purposes. They're not on the team necessarily because of recent form. And so that pressure is going to be ratcheted up. I think a guy like J.J. Spawn has Wyndham Clark level pressure on him. You know, Wyndham was there because he won the U.S. Open and had played well, but it was really his first go-round.

And, you know, Wyndham was not great in that Ryder Cup. And so I think that, you know, if we're being honest, those are the guys who are going to have the most challenge in front of that crowd. They just haven't been in it before. and it's a different animal out there. So that's where I think the pressure is going to be. Well, unsurprisingly, I agree with the idea that Kalmorkawa has an F ton of pressure, an S ton.

All the tons are on Warcawa. Also an opportunity. Also an opportunity. And maybe he saves his season with an outstanding performance at Beth Page and sets himself up for a great 2020. I'm surprised by JJ Spawn. I get your comparison to the Wyndham Clark thing, but I feel like both Wyndham and JJ kind of had a free role.

And for JJ, he gets a free role at home. I mean, you know, he's in, I wasn't like, oh, my God, Wyndham Clark let us down in Rome. I mean, I would, I put way more of the blame on the shoulders of, in the first place, Zach Johnson, with his horrendous, you know, team building. But, you know, then, you know, I certainly put... We just didn't play well.

We just didn't play well in Rome. But he wasn't alone. I mean, Morcao went one and three in Rome. You know, Spieth and J.T. also get the play. But in any event, I like JJ Spahn this week. I like the way, you know, I liked him, honestly, as a dark horse for the tour championship. Now, who knows what was going on. He didn't play great.

I'm not worried about him in any way, shape, or form. The other part about JJ Spahn, that I, maybe it's recency bias, especially in the context of what a dick it's turned out that Wyndham Clark is or has been or he's behaved like a dick. I don't know whether he's a dick in real life or not,

but he certainly behaved that way. J.J. Spong got that dog in him. And I, and, you know, also seems to have a personality that is magnetic. He is beloved. And I never got the impression with Wyndham. again, maybe I'm misremembering that when he won the U.S. Open and the team stuff that followed,

that he was beloved. But maybe I'm misremembering. What's your sense? I think that's right. I think Max had a lot more energy. Max was part of the crew with Thomas and the other guys. So I don't think he ever fully got blended into that team room. And again, I think that's why Pat Cantlay and Sam Burns are here, because they are. blended into that team room and they're there to be partners to two of the most important golfers that are going to go out and play a heck of a lot around. So yeah, look, I think in the aggregate, I mean, look, you tell me, though, I mean, right now on this U.S. team, if you trust JJ and you think he's got the dog right now, who do you trust all these guys? Like when we look at

the other side house and maybe it's just because the European team is going to be the exact same team they were in Rome with just a different Hoygard, I'm pretty sure, unless Harry Hall or Matt Wallace get a surprise. It's going to be the same squad with the same captain. So there's going to be real culture, and maybe I've got you know, I got a

little bit of a bias because they beat the shit out of us in Rome and Bethpage can be super different than Rome. But do you look at this U.S. team now and just like step back from it? I think you still like your money that you bet on the Europeans. I mean, the biggest wild

card to me right now is God forbid, but we just feel like we're at this moment in time where the crowd is going to be right on the edge and where somebody could do something stupid that alters the competition in a way that doesn't be fit what a big spectacle and sporting event this is going to be. Kagan understands how big this thing is going to be. Tour ratings up big time. Tour championship ratings were up. NBC was up 50% year over year overall. And you know, you know, across the whole tournament. So there's going to be a lot of focus on this thing. I just, when I step back, it's the U.S. team that looks like it could have the shakiest

set of links. So this is a nice observation because when we're talking about the pressure, the pressure is really truly on the PGA of America. And I have not been blown away up to this moment. You know, the way that they rolled out, the ticketing approach, the way that they rolled out the pricing. They have announced, you know, this allocation of resources to breakfast at Beth Page,

hosted by Colin Jost with the, you know, alternate cast. Here's what I want them to get right. I want them to get right the logistics on the ground. And that's where the pressure really resides. And by logistics on the ground, it means how do people move? Now, they did just have a PGA championship there in 2019. 19. Lots of good opportunities for dress rehearsals at Beth Page Black in terms of moving people, providing security, and, you know, maintaining you want to foster the enthusiasm. And this is, you know, kind of, I'm sorry for going Captain Obvious here. Foster the enthusiasm, bring out the New York. But it's got to be in the context of competition. We cannot, cannot, cannot tolerate any kind of. of foolishness, and especially because of the point you just made, which is the moment that

golf is enjoying. This was an excellent summer for golf because there was nothing else going on. And so week after week, we didn't have the Olympics to go up against. There was not a world soccer event going on that golf had to compete with. And so from mid-July through August, golf got that stage, and the storylines revealed themselves. people fell in love with Tommy Fleetwood over these last, you know, handful of weeks. And we had, you know, casual sports fans tuning in and giving, you know, Tommy Fleetwood all of this love. So there is this moment right now in golf.

That's just one example. I mean, the excellent competition down the stretch in Memphis between JJ Spahn and, you know, my guy. Justin Rose. Justin Rose Excellent. And again, on the national scene, like, you know, people are paying attention. The Brawn's getting his tweets off. Patrick Mahomes getting his tweet.

People are getting their tweets off because that's what's on TV. These guys are on, you know, the big stage and they've earned it. The drama has been good. I mean, what do you take from the fact that two of the three events on the playoff were won by, Euro Rider Cup stalwart. Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose. But look, we just have to have it sized up and lined up to be the competition. I do think we do properly criticize.

Don't be a jackass if you go out there. Don't be a dumbass if you go out there. Well, I think I'm going to be there Saturday. I'm trying to get you to come along with me. If we're there, we'll go out and we'll do some crowd management. We'll try and keep everybody in the right place and on the right. sort of note. But the, you know, we've complained.

I think it's appropriate to talk about how dumb it is to continue to have this, you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, squarely at the onset of college football and pro football, neither one of whom will cede any territory whatsoever to this event. It's still out there that we could have this event during the week. We could have it. Whatever logistics things people want to. say there is a way to distinguish this but that's for decision makers down down the line we'll see how the ratings play out we'll see what the slate looks like college football wise and pro football

wise as it really gets close there will be though tremendous excitement the president of the united states will be there nate dog oh yeah at the invite of an organization that he didn't quote exactly properly but there'll be a lot of energy uh there for sure. Let me ask you this, though, House. I mean, just as we sort of wrap up this year, and we're not done, I just, you know, the Ryder Cup is going to be sort of the end of the big

season, but the ratings are just sort of undeniably high. And I wonder if in your mind, how do you wait the general pieces of what are contributing to that? Right. We've got Rory's win at the Masters very clearly, like, punched through a bunch

of noise and just percolated into places in society that just hadn't been paying attention to golf. But on the other hand, you also have this crescendoing wave of the YouTube golfers and the sort of injection of creators into the mainstream. And on top of that, you've got a whole, sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry, here we go. Three, two, one.

And on top of that, you know, you've got now the receding, let's just call it, of what was awful about golf. Like as Liv sort of settled in, and they had their season, and it was what it was. But we sort of stopped talking about everything that was wrong with golf, and the storyline started to bubble to the surface.

I'm just curious as you look at these ratings now that really starting with Rory's Masters win, all the way through the Tour championship, we're up roughly 30 plus percent year over year. What do you think is really driving this? Why is golf coming back? I think there's two things. In the first place, there is no denying that Rory winning the Masters grab the world, the world, not just the United States, not just folks that are interested in sport.

It was such a prominent storyline in all of sports and the way that he won it. In the course of the round, the depths of despair hitting a wedge from, you know, 80 yards out on number 13 with a tournament in his grasp and really looking like he intended to give the golf tournament. Like that moment, letting everybody on that Sunday afternoon go through what many of us have lived and died with in terms of the Rory experience. That I think did. It got LeBron James playing golf for crying out loud.

And it did like a kind of leveling up, right? Isn't that what the kids call it? Where you sort of took, you know, because the season up to that point was fine. It wasn't incredible. Scotty really wasn't playing any great golf up to that point. The winners on tour weren't folks that were like, oh, my God, this guy, you know, Russell Henley won the API, Thomas Detrie won in Phoenix. Like, you know, okay, nice, nice.

like regular golf stories. Ludwig won, you know, the Genesis, all like nice golf stories. Rory, winning, the effing masters, changed the whole trajectory to me. And that was like the reminder to casual sports fans

that golf can be like really dramatic. And then to follow that up with Scotty reasserting his dominance over the course of the PGA championship, the memorial, and then ultimately the Open Championship, plus you had the U.S. Open saved. I will save.

65 foot putt. Yeah. Saved because it was, you know, trending in a direction where people were like, what the hell is going on here? It's not that the, you know, anybody, the moment was going to be squandered, but if Robert McIntyre had won with a backdoor,

one over par, it was going to be, you know, but, but no, JJ Spawn saved that golf tournament with a birdie on 17 and a birdie on 18. And again, reminded everybody of how incredible, you know, golf can be, right? Yeah. Well, I ask you that question because I think that, look, the tour championship was much better this year with just a regular head-to-head format. it helped that Scotty was playing well. And so the best player was still in it versus the fears that everybody had that, you know, if Scottie had played like Rory, you might have been like, this wasn't really the best test of a season long thing.

And I still think they've got some work to do. But it was great to see Tommy win and it was great to see the Euros there. And all of the golf was great. But I still think one of the most interesting parts of the week was the new CEO Brian roll up in his press conference. Because what he told us in a. very confident and still listening and doesn't have all the answers, but is committed to that beacon on the hill, that North Star out there, is that we're moving towards a very, very different

PGA tour. And we're moving towards one that if you believe the chatter in the golf media, and you shouldn't always, because the chatter in the golf media sometimes says Ben Griffin's getting left off the Ryder Cup team. But it feels like we are moving towards a world in which there's really going to be two tours. and we're going to stop going to dumb places. We're going to start going to cities. We're going to start going to places where there's audience.

We're going to start playing courses that matter more to people. And we're going to start finding, you know, a season, as he talked about, parody, simplicity, and scarcity of these events. And, and they need to matter. And, you know, I really was taken by, I don't think he has all the answers now, but I'm pretty sure he knows where we're going. And so it is interesting to hear that against the backdrop of golf starting to come back and these ratings even in Minneapolis and the rocket mortgage and John Deere being up 30% year over year. I guess if you roll up, you look at that two ways. One is let's not mess with a good thing. And that's probably what the suits at Pontevideo have done for decades now and put us into a bit of this predicament.

if you roll at maybe you say I've got a lot of momentum I've got a mandate for change and I'm going to go do it any any thoughts on that part of golf as it relates to to this renewed surge of interest that we're seeing across the general populace so I share the direction that you're sort of going with this I share that sentiment which is to say it's an opportunity because we have now I think it's in the rearview mirror the little PGA tour thing. Maybe it will be the case that a couple more guys along the way here from the tour will go over to live and that will be fine. I think the tour has demonstrated that it can just proceed on its course and focus on

its product. That's the word. I like that word. It really is a guy who understands the entertainment principle in Rollap. Yes, it is a product. So let's go ahead and lean into that. and let's make it as attractive as possible. Let's have folks, you know,

ride the wave of the drama that this product can deliver when it's at its, it's kind of peak. And the way to do that is exactly through simplicity and scarcity, which has been lacking in the past and lacking in vision and lacking in approach. The great thing is none of this is going to happen in 2026. The tour is going to look, I think very much the same as what we just. watched. But what I am especially excited about as this as he bites down hard on some of these

concepts are things like the tour already has this golden kind of meritocracy in the form of relegation. What if we really go hard at that part of it? And so we've created there's already stakes. This is the thing that distinguishes the piece. tour product from the live product. We know what the stakes are with the PGA tour. It's guys playing for their livelihood. It's guys playing for history. We're going back to venues where we've been before.

Eat what you kill. That's right. That's right. That's right. So all of those things distinguish the two tours. And leaning into that, leaning into that legacy, but also leaning into like, okay, these guys, they're, you know, some household names are, are very, possibly not going to, you know, be around for the upcoming version of a season because they

didn't play well enough. That that also enhances the product. Here's Ben Griffin. Right, right. And the new blood gets, gets like really rewarded for their outstanding arrival. So all of it directionally feels great to me. I just can't wait to see the details. Like it's like a season of Wrexham. Right. It's like you can see it happening. People want to cheer for that advanced they want to, you know, mourn the demotion. It's the only thing that we have an American sport that's like it. But you said it's not going to change for 26. I think if you, you know, really speak your truth, you know it's going to change for 27 and they need it to change for 27 because why, House? There's a looming deadline out there isn't there that they got to make these changes for.

Yeah, all of this is with an eye towards the upcoming TV negotiation and, you know, having the product in the best possible place so that, you know, golf can, you know, land with partners that understand the, you know, best way to put this product on TV and land with partners that are going to shine at this light. You know, there is a mutual aspect to it. I have mixed feelings about NBC and the USGA going hand in hand, you know, sort of once again, when NBC put all of its resources into golf, like in the form of what we see at the players championship. And also I think,

you know, it was a good, I don't love, you know, I don't need nine people in, in multiple booths doing the thing. Give me like, you know,

couple guys the way they used to do it in terms of, you know, the commentary. But they, that can be sort of worked through and figured out yet. But, you know, NBC. I would like if Dan Hicks, who is great. Yeah. Dan Hicks is great. I would like his producers to please arm him on Sunday of the tour championship with the exact amount of money that guys are putting for in 18.

Can we just like, that's what this is. It's a money grab. It's a 30 person tournament. the winner gets $10 million. When Russell Henley is their putting, you got to know exactly how much money he's putting for. He might not even know it exactly. He knows it's a fuck ton.

Tell us. Tell us. Be ready with that. I don't put that on Dan Hicks. He's got a million people talking in his ear. They got to know this. Get that right. Nance would have had the number.

Emelman would have been online. You can hear him clicking, Immelman. I love him. He's the best. But you can hear he's so. click happy. He's getting so much information during the broadcast. Somebody there would have had it. And that's where NBC's got to get just a little bit better. Well, they were helped and bailed out on that point by Tommy. By Tommy. It was just the whole thing was, will Tommy choke this away?

I felt so much tension when he was on the 15T. It was an amazing experience. It was nerve-wracking. They stood there. They considered what club they had. After, Scott, he just hit it in the water. Holy cow. I was so nervous. It was so nervous. And then once he hit the drive on 16, Tommy, and I know that this is a quick aside, once he hit the drive on 16, I was like, oh, he's got it. Because 17 and 18, nothing to him.

I mean, you know, something like diabolical would have had that. Cantley would have had the Eagle 17 and 18, right? But, dude, did you see him on 8? His drive on 8 was so awful, so far right? after he'd made a birdie and seemingly separated himself that I was like, dude, no, this is, this is like Phil on 18 at Wingfoot. Like, it definitely could go in the, in the sponsor tent and he could double or triple, even 18, right? He gets too geeked up and puts it in the water and then starts to feel the pressure and, you know, shanks it or yanks it left.

Because he hit some squirrely shots. I mean, as he said, he did recover. And that's what was so great about that is he hung in there and found his swing again on 11. But good Lord, I didn't trust it. The betting markets didn't trust it. No, I lost money fading Tommy Fleetwood, but I'm fine. It was worth it. It was worth it

to lose what I lost because the outcome deserved it. Okay, let's go ahead and side by side these teams. And we've already sort of forecast, everybody knows. I've said it

however many times on this program that I've bet the Euro team, repeatedly over the course of the summer, based on the form that we've seen, based on who their guys are, based on the dog that they've revealed. And now as we enter, really into this last stretch drive

before the tournament actually starts, they, they're, those guys, that Euro team arrives as confident and as comfortable. And I'm very eager to see the stories about them out there quietly getting practice rounds. I wouldn't be surprised if we get a story sometime here in the next, you know, week, week and a half, two weeks about that whole team relocating to New York and like just doing a few weeks worth, a couple few weeks worth of bonding and playing together.

And it may not even be. They'll get their rounds at Bethpage. But wait until you start seeing these guys show up out on Long Island playing, you know, all of the sillies out there. Those are the stories I'm anticipating. Chinook. Right, right. Friars had, for sure. I'm with you on all of that,

except for one thing and one guy. I'm listening. And it is your boy, Rory McElroy, who I think is still not in the perfect frame of mind. He didn't deserve the shit that he took for finishing 24th, getting on a PJ and flying to go see Jokovic play. But it was noticeable that Shane Lowry was there

and that Justin Rose and his wife were there. to greet Tommy and his wife as he came off. There was a lot of Euro love. By the way, you know who else was there? Harry Hall was sitting there. So it was noticeable. I think Euro's team is firing on all cylinders, except for the guy who is the heart and soul of European Rider Cup.

And to whom, you know, we saw crying the last few rider cups, both in victory and defeat, because it means that much to him. So I, I, I, Rory's got a couple of times. couple weeks get his head on straight. I'm sure that's part of what jetting off to New York is about, and you're probably right, it's much ado about nothing. But if there is one Achilles heel right now, it's that Rory McElroy had the biggest story in golf of the year, and he's still a little punch drunk from that. He's still struggled to find it. You know, the half-full answer is that this

thing matters to him probably almost as much as the career Grand Slam did, and he's going to find a way to get back up for it. Yeah, I think that is undeniable now. That Rory, in terms of his sort of mark on golf, will include it's a point of pride. It's an elemental part of his identity that his Ryder Cup record be something that he can point to. You can't catch Sergio.

Nobody's as good as Sergio. I don't think he can catch savvy, but he'll be able to point to it and say over my era, my modern, this modern era, because he took the mantle essentially, I think from Sergio as the most prominent European golfer. John Rahm may yet be there, may yet do it. We've got to see it.

But for sure, I'm not worried about Rory getting his head straight come these next couple weeks. And I certainly do not begrudge him going up to the U.S. Open and supporting Yolkovic. No. well is there any doubt on this euro team it's set right i mean fitz patrick is on the team and and the last slot is not going to go to matt wallis and like it looks like in the point standing it would under normal circumstances it's going to john rom and that's the team and you know somebody between marco penj and and harry hall uh you know may have and matt wallace

i suppose may have a slight quibble but um for all the reasons of culture and previous victories at Rome, letting this team go back and defend with, you know, just a swap out of a twin brothers. Kind of cool, if I'm being honest. It's kind of fucking the way of shooting. Yeah, I mean, the only thing that that may yet sort of interrupt where we seem to be headed is this Omega European Masters that's being competed this weekend. If one of those guys wins it, right? And thrust themselves in and makes it a harder decision, you know, the guys that are vulnerable, are Fitzpatrick and Wallace, the two Matthews. And I'm sorry for Matthew Wallace. Because, because, yeah, that's Rom. Rom is on the team. So this is really just somebody coming up

and stealing Matt Fitzpatrick's, you know, place. And that would be, if Wallace wins, then Wallace gets Matt Fitzpatrick's place and John Ron, because John Rom's on, right? Exactly. Exactly. Something like that. Or Harry Hall wins. Yeah. Yeah.

And he knocks out Fitzpatrick. This team is locked. It's locked and it's loaded. I will tell you, as we've been recording here, my phone blowing up a little bit, people that are looking at this thing now see a competition. I'm not getting like the U.S. is going to come out here and blow these guys out of the water. That's not what I'm getting right now. They're not. Okay. No. Why would you? You got a bunch of rookies. You're betting your farm on JJ Spawn and Ben Griffin. And come on. This is, this is, you know, and that's why the New York crowd needs to do everything that they can, but not do the wrong thing. It's really the 13th man is going to be in full effect. And they just have to walk the line in the right way. It's going to be, it's a very scary proposition, man. I think that is all,

are going to be on how that tank look we had a fight in the parking lot in Rome and over a stupid hat coming off wait till you see what new yorkers can do oh yeah yeah that was the players and the caddies um well let's do our part let's you and i figure out a way to be part of that 13th man and see if we can't make you know the tiniest contribution ever by going into some uh you know tent and drinking our faces off well no no no i'm sorry tell you to take that back going and supporting the u.s. Nate Dogg, we've done it. The U.S. has done it. Keegan has done it.

Great job, Keegan, in terms of the assembly of this team. I really have no quibbles, no qualms. Would have loved for there to have been a way for him to play and be a captain, but I don't think it's wrong to choose the captaincy under these circumstances. Nate, dog, we're going to try and see if we can't come back here on Fairway, Roland, in connection with this event in Napa, because this event in Napa is the U.S. team's opportunity for bonding and galvanizing.

And, you know, the real drama between now and then is whether or not Bryce and Deschambeau can figure out a way to be in Napa for that event. Because it's important, I think, to have all the boys on the same page at the same time. It'll be, I'm sure he can get there and he can eat and drink with the team and do some team bonding. But it would be even better if he could play a little bit of golf out there with the boys. boys. But we are here, Fairway Rowland, monitoring all events as they develop, and we will be here on this very feed, giving you those updates as this Ryder Cup drops into our laps. My birdie buddies, my eagle enthusiasts, my parisaving pals, this is a sweet spot in golf season. If you're able to do so, throw a peg in the ground, and please, let's hit them straight out there.