Team Europe face the daunting task of a Ryder Cup in New York, and are doing everything possible in preparation for the hostile environment.
Europe hope to retain their Ryder Cup after their stunning victory in Rome two years ago, but they have a momentous challenge ahead of them. The New York crowd at Bethpage Black, one of the world’s toughest golf courses, is expected to be raucous.
One of the most difficult accomplishments in all of sport is winning a Ryder Cup on foreign soil. The Americans haven’t done it in over 30 years, and Europe hasn’t won in the States in over a decade.
With that in mind, Luke Donald’s Europe are doing something they have never done before in preparation for the event.
Europe are doing a Ryder Cup practice round in the U.S. for the first time
Europe has not come close to winning in America in recent years. Last time in the States, they were beaten comfortably 19-9 at Whistling Straits. But their recent win in 2023 has given them confidence and a blueprint to win this time around.
Donald selected a nearly unchanged side, and while Europe’s pairings are not set in stone, they share a familiarity with each other, and the event.
Former European captain Paul McGinley revealed on the Golf Channel Podcast that Donald organised a practice trip at Bethpage Black, marking the first time Team Europe has played a pre-tournament round on American soil.
He said, “We leave on Sunday night for a two and a half day practice trip in Bethpage. That’s never been done before by a European team away from home, and that will be another level of detail there as well.
“The last three losses we’ve had away from home have been not just losses – we’ve been beaten very, very heavily… Obviously, we’re not approaching things right. Maybe we’ve made some mistakes that we want to correct.
“One of them, we feel, is not getting our players together enough on American soil pre the tournament, once the 12 have been formulated. Our practice trip went very well going into Rome, where all the players went from Rome to Wentworth and vice versa.
“That was a really productive trip in terms of initial binding, sharing of ideas in a more detailed way, and getting a look at the golf course together collectively.”
Justin Rose said Europe are a closer team than America in the build-up to the tournament, and this is an example of why. They know exactly what to expect from the Ryder Cup, and are leaning on past mistakes and successes in order to prepare.
Rory McIlroy explains how Europe has used virtual reality to prepare for the Ryder Cup
Rory McIlroy has been focused on the Ryder Cup since The Open Championship, and wants nothing more than to win the competition in America. Rory McIlroy called the Ryder Cup the greatest event in golf in 2023, and is bought in fully to Donald’s preparation.
He revealed that the team have been using virtual reality headsets to simulate the environment on the first tee at Bethpage Black, in order to prepare themselves for the hostile road crowd.
He told reporters, “It’s better to try to desensitize yourself as much as possible before you get in there.
“They said ‘how far to you want this [heckling] to go?’ and I said ‘go as far as you want!’
“There’s a lot of us that have experienced playing away Ryder Cups and there’s a few of us that have experienced winning Ryder Cups [away]. We are doing everything we can to best prepare ourselves for what that’s going to be like, but nothing can really prepare you until you’re actually in that.
“You can wear all the VR headsets you want and do all the different things we’ve been trying to do to get ourselves ready, but once the first tee comes on Friday it’s real and I just have to deal with whatever’s given.”
Between the practice round the VR experience, Team Europe can safely say they have done everything to prepare for the New York crowd.