Ryder Cup 2025: Team USA has a different feel this time

After wrapping up his final round of the British Open on July 20, Bryson DeChambeau addressed the media.

He was among the eventual Ryder Cup selections to receive a “pretty inspirational” personal message in his locker from U.S. captain Keegan Bradley. DeChambeau wouldn’t disclose exactly what it said, but the basis was clear.

“This year’s no joke,” he said. “We’re tired of it. We’re tired of losing.”

DeChambeau, one of six automatic qualifiers for the U.S. despite having limited opportunities to accrue points as a LIV Golf League player, is among a group of 12 Americans preparing for the 45th Ryder Cup, which begins on Friday at Bethpage Black.

The U.S. hopes to rebound from a disappointing 16 1/2-11 1/2 loss to Team Europe in Rome in 2023, a competition it never led. It seeks just its fourth Ryder Cup victory this century.

“This group of players, they're truly friends and they're friends off the golf course, which in my teams that I played before this, I don't know if we exactly had that as much as this group does,” Bradley said during a news conference Wednesday at the Procore Championship in Napa, California, which 10 of the U.S. golfers played in as a Ryder Cup tune-up.

“They really care about one another. And the thing that I've noticed that's most impressive is they really pull for each other and they want each other to do well. When I was playing, I wasn't really pulling for anybody … These guys, they're genuinely excited for their friend that wins a tournament and that's really great.”

Bradley, who played college golf at St. John’s, played in the Ryder Cup in both 2012 and 2014 and was perhaps the country’s most notable snub in 2023. This year, despite being the No. 11 player in the world, he opted against being a playing captain.

His team has a vastly different look from 2023 with six players who were not on that squad.

Joining DeChambeau as automatic selections: Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley and Harris English.

With his six captain picks, Bradley tabbed Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns.

Henley, Griffin, Young and Spaun, this year’s U.S. Open champ, are each making their Ryder Cup debuts. DeChambeau and English are playing for the first time since 2021.

Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Max Homa, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler each played in 2023 but did not make this year’s team.

The U.S. owns the edge of having the world’s best golfer in Scheffler. This season, the 29-year-old won both the PGA Championship and the British Open, finished fourth at the Masters and tied for seventh at the U.S. Open. Scheffler also won three other events in 2025: the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in May, the Memorial Tournament in June and last month’s BMW Championship.

“I think it's important to me because we're representing the United States of America,” Scheffler said at the Procore Championship. “That's what's really special to me, being able to put the flag on your chest and represent our country. It's really hard to put into words what that means.”

Schauffele, who won both the PGA Championship and British Open in 2024, and Henley each posted two top-10 finishes at majors this season. DeChambeau, the two-time U.S. Open champ, had three.

English placed second at the British Open and tied for second at the PGA Championship.

Thomas has the most Ryder Cup experience on the team, going 7-4-2 in three tournaments. Bradley called him the “heartbeat of our team.”

Griffin and Burns each have a track record of success in formats like the Ryder Cup. Alongside Andrew Novak in April, Griffin won the Zurich Classic — an event that features both four-balls and foursomes. Burns won the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in 2023. Bradley said Burns, who led the PGA Tour in average strokes gained putting this year, is “the best putter on the planet.”

Young, who tied for fourth at the U.S. Open, earned his first PGA Tour win last month at the Wyndham Championship.

Cantlay and Morikawa will each play in their third Ryder Cup. Morikawa, a two-time major champion, is 4-3-1 at the Ryder Cup. Cantlay, who missed three major championship cuts this season, is 5-2-1.

For the six players who were part of the 2023 loss, the sting remains. On American soil in front of a raucous crowd, they have a chance to erase it.

“You sit kind of through the rest of the fall thinking, man, this sucks,” Morikawa said at the Procore Championship. “That's two years you have to wait to hopefully make the team again. It lights a fire in all of us over there, but home crowds are different. Hopefully we can use that to our advantage as much as we can and just use that extra energy to hopefully sway a couple matches, and then those are sometimes the most meaningful ones.”

By Ben Dickson

benjamin.dickson@newsday.com@bendickson__

Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.