US team needs way more from Scheffler to have any chance at Ryder Cup
- Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 golfer, struggled on the first day of the 2025 Ryder Cup, losing both of his matches.
- Scheffler cited his putting as the primary reason for his and his partners’ losses on Friday.
- Despite his individual success, Scheffler has a 2-9 record at the Ryder Cup and has not won in his last six matches.
FARMINGDALE, NY – What must be frustrating for the U.S. squad at the 2025 Ryder Cup is that they don’t need Scottie Scheffler to be a superhero. They just need the world No. 1 player to play as he normally does. And he showed up, eventually, here at Bethpage Black on Friday, Sept. 26.
Scheffler birdied holes No. 15 and 16 in the afternoon session, but so did Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka, respectively.
For the Americans, they better hope that Scheffler can figure it out before he goes to the first tee Saturday, although he won’t have Donald Trump to point at this time. Scheffler and reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun went on to win the first hole on Spaun’s birdie – and that was their lone victory for the rest of the match against Rahm and Straka.
“It really just came down to me not holing enough putts,” Scheffler said. “We put up a good fight at the end. The guys just really turned it on on the back nine, but it really came down to us not taking advantage of the holes early in the match that we needed to. But overall it was a good fight.”
Scheffler fared even worse in the morning session. He and Russell Henley, his playing partner in the Friday morning foursome (alternate shot) session, were throttled by Ludvig Åberg and Matthew Fitzpatrick and lost by five holes.
The nemesis for Scheffler on Friday wasn’t the opposition as much as it was his putter.
“We just didn’t hole enough putts early,” he said after the first match. “We had some chances.”
Since September 2021, Scheffler has won 19 of the 116 events he’s played in. In that same time frame, he’s 2-9 at the Ryder Cup. He hasn’t won his last six Ryder Cup matches (two ties, four losses).
The Americans don’t need him to be 9-2. But a serviceable performance from the best player in the world? Surely that can’t be too much to ask for.
The United States’ other stars didn’t fare well on Day 1 of the tournament, either. Bryson DeChambeau also turned in zero points, for example. But Scheffler is a four-time major winner who has been consistently at the top of his sport for years.
‘I think if you ask Scottie, he would say he’s excited tomorrow to go out and play his best golf,’ U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said. ‘When you’re the No. 1 player in the world, you have a day that maybe it wasn’t his best, normally you bounce back. We are not worried about Scottie Scheffler. He’s been in great spirits in the team room. He’s eager to get back out there tomorrow.’
Of course, Scheffler isn’t the first all-time great to lose his dominance in the team format of the Ryder Cup. Tiger Woods was part of a winning U.S. squad just once and has the most foursome losses in U.S. Ryder Cup history (nine) and the most fourball losses (10). (Woods’ overall record was 13-21-3).
Scheffler became the first No. 1 player since Woods to lose both his matches on opening day of the Ryder Cup since the latter did so in 2002 at The Belfry in England.
Rahm – to be somewhat trivial for a moment – is the European avatar of Scheffler, a multi-major championship winner with long stints as the world’s best player. But the Spaniard, unlike his counterpart, consistently shows up at the Ryder Cup and has a 8-3-3 record after Friday. Rahm is undefeated (5-0) in foursomes.
Scheffler is paired with Henley in foursome play again Saturday, proof that Bradley has ultimate confidence in his star. Now it’s time for the game’s best player to reward that faith and start reversing his Ryder Cup narrative.
