Europe look divided ahead of brutal Ryder Cup contest

A split between LIV Golf and the PGA and DP world tours threatens the places of key players Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton in Luke Donald’s team

-  Lawrence Ostlere

“WARNING,” reads the famous sign on the walk to the first tee. “The Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers.”

Bethpage, New York, is the host of the 2025 Ryder Cup and its brutal 7,400-yard Black course will be the stage for USA and Europe to renew their rivalry. The long fairways are narrow, the greens sit on little plateaus protected by horribly dense rough, and the bunkers lie in waiting like some strategic network of punishment.

Add to that a layer of thick, sorry, a thick layer of American golf jocks dressed up to the eyeballs in stars and stripes, piped full of Michelob Ultra lager, shouting all their thoughts and goading every European golfer within an inch of their life, and you start to build a picture of what awaits Luke Donald’s team one year from now.

The Ryder Cup’s spiky atmosphere is part of its allure but it can be harsh and utterly relentless, as Patrick Cantlay found out when thousands serenaded him with “hats off, to your bank account!” as he walked down the 16th in Rome 12 months ago.

It can also stray too far: this reporter witnessed European fans making lewd comments towards Jena Sims, Brooks Koepka’s wife, which went way beyond good-natured sporting rivalry, and Team Europe should not expect well-lubricated American fans to be any more civil in reply.

Rory McIlroy will inevitably become a lightning rod for much of the stick in New York, just as he was at Hazeltine and Whistling Straits, but every player will cop some and it will test their mental resolve.