Xander Schauffele’s Open Championship win last week ensured that all four men’s major championships will rest in the United States of America for the first time since 1982.
It’s been a dominant period in the major championships for the American players but they must bring this success to the Ryder Cup.
Since a young vibrant American side steamrolled Pádraig Harrington’s European charges in the 2021 Ryder Cup in Whistling Straits, USA based players have won nine of the last twelve major championships including this year’s clean sweep.
Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele have all gone on to win major championships since.
It raises hopes for the Americans that the current crop of players on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf can finally wrestle the momentum back in the Ryder Cup and enjoy a similar period of dominance that the Europeans have.
It seemed like it was all a false dawn when Europe went on a record breaking run at last September’s Ryder Cup, winning out 16.5-11.5 in Rome despite losing a number of stalwart figures to LIV Golf and drafting in youth and inexperience.
Europe will head to Bethpage Black with the unenviable task of trying to win on away soil for the first time since the Miracle at Medinah in 2012 while the Stars and Stripes have found their feet at home winning in 2016 and 2021.
Home form has been crucial in Ryder Cups of late but as long as their hoodoo away from home, stretching back to 1993, continues then this crop will have gone unfulfilled.
Rich Beem said on Sky Sports last Sunday that winning all four majors will give the US Ryder Cup team a huge boost not just for Bethpage Black next year but for Adare Manor in 2027.
Europe will be afforded the opportunity to make some modifications to the golf course but Limerick will be one of the more suitable away venues for the Americans in three years time.
Crucially for the Americans, their four major winners of 2024, Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele can form the back bone of Ryder Cup sides for the next couple of editions.
While Europe were so impressive in Rome last year, they face an uncertain winter with the futures of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton far from clear.
Rory McIlroy has been LIV Golf’s biggest antagonist but urged the DP World Tour to amend its Ryder Cup rules to allow Rahm and Hatton to tee it up on the Saudi backed tour and the Ryder Cup next year.
“Jon is going to be in Bethpage in 2025 so, because of this decision, the European Tour are going to have to rewrite the rules for Ryder Cup eligibility,” McIlroy explained in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports in December.
“There’s absolutely no question about that – I certainly want Jon Rahm on the next Ryder Cup team.”
Europe certainly face a mammoth task heading to New York next September, a challenge that looks even more intimidating after the US clean sweep in major championships this year.
But the Ryder Cup has proven to be an outlier and the continent have managed to stave off threat of US dominance in the contest before.
With home form carrying such weight in the biennial contest lately, the USA last winning back-to-back Ryder Cups in 1991 and 1993, leaning on the home fans and that emotion has certainly helped Europe in recent editions.
The ball is in the court of this current crop of American players who burst onto the scene in Whistling Straits three years ago and while they have gone on to take the major championships by the scruff of the neck, they will head to Bethpage tasked with turning individual dominance into a sustained period of Ryder Cup glory.
“The American players push each other and are striving each and every time. We do take exception when we lose the Ryder Cup, even when it’s on away soil and this win just kind of helps solidify the fact that we know that our games can travel,” Rich Beem told Sky Sports last Sunday.
“I think that hopefully not only winning the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black next year but certainly when it gets over to Adare Manor, I think that’s going to be on everybody’s mind.”
Zach Johnson’s leadership was a disaster in Rome with leaks about dressing room unrest breaking out during the contest. Stricker seems like the only one who was able to get a tune out of this talented group and Keegan Bradley has been tasked with putting the wheels back on.
English and Belgian soccer fans will be familiar with the following term, but this is America’s ‘golden generation’ when it comes to Ryder Cups and Europe will do well to hold back the tide.
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