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Team Europe will be making a Bethpage scouting trip.
According to Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard, captain Luke Donald will be taking his squad to the “People’s Country Club” for a recon mission ahead of this month’s match between America and Europe. Following the DP World Tour’s BMW Championship (Sept. 11-14), the team will charter a jet from London for a two-day practice session at the Black course.
The team will spend the rest of the week in the United States to acclimate to the time-zone change, according to Hoggard.
The idea of a scouting trip is not necessarily new for either side, as the Europeans did the same in Rome in 2023 and the Americans in 2021 at Whistling Straits. The United States has not announced if they will visit Bethpage prior to the event, although 10 of the 12 Americans are in the Procore Championship field starting Sept. 11.
Rory McIlroy, set to make his eighth Ryder Cup appearance, stressed the importance of reps heading into the match earlier this week at the Irish Open. “These are two big weeks to make sure the game is sharp, but I think the only way to tell you’re as sharp as you want to be is getting yourself in contention under pressure and the business end of things on Sunday,” McIlroy said. “I think it’s important to do that. It’s important to give myself a couple of chances to win.
“Ultimately, winning, that would be lovely, but I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary going into the Ryder Cup. But it would be great to at least feel really good about my game and looking ahead to Bethpage.”
The 2025 Ryder Cup begins Sept. 26. The Europeans are defending champs but have lost three of the past four Ryder Cups on American soil.
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Main Image: Richard Heathcote
