The biggest, wildest, and most exciting event in golf, The Ryder Cup, will be played September 22-28 on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale. It’s about an hour’s drive from Westchester, but we’ll probably be able to hear the shouts from Long Island as the US team, captained by Keegan Bradley, tries to wrest the cup back from the European team led by Luke Donald.
Hank Gola, president of the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association and author of the forthcoming book, Ryder Cup Rivals (Tatra Press, June 2025), says “The grand stage that is Bethpage Black should only turn things up a notch in September.”
Gola says the long-running rivalry is perhaps the most intense in sport. “From its inception in 1927, when they went to battle with mashies and niblicks, the Ryder Cup has been about answering one question. Which side of the Atlantic rules the world of golf? If sleepy and rather one-sided at first, the argument has led to what is arguably the most passionately waged competitions in sports. Nothing in golf, not even the majors, exerts as much pressure on the players or induces as many goosebumps among the spectators.”
The US Ryder Cup team will be chosen after the BMW Championship on August 17, with the top six players on the points list joined by six players chosen by Captain Keegan Bradley. Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, and Jim Furyk have already been named Vice Captains of the US team.
The Black Course will be set up to provide maximum match play excitement, with a new tee on the first hole daring players to try to drive the green, and the deadly fescue rough mowed to a manageable depth to allow long-hitting players to recover and compete on every hole. The goal, according to Mike Hadley, Bethpage Black’s course superintendent, is more birdies than bogies. “That’s what this tournament really is,” he says. “It is all about more action.”
Still, with the course stretching to 7,500 yards, the teams will need their “A” games to win their matches on the Black. The course hosted the US Open Championships in 2002 and 2009 and was the site of The Barclays PGA Tour events in 2012 and 2016. In 2019, the PGA Championship was contested there.
Under the radar, but nearly as exciting, is the Junior Ryder Cup, which will be played in the days leading up to the main event. Six boys and six girls of high school age, chosen from their records in the Girls or Boys Junior PGA Championship, USGA Junior Girls and Boys Amateur Championships. will face off against a European team at Nassau CC and Bethpage Black.
More Great Golf for Your Calendar
- May 13 Hoffhine Memorial, Westchester CC
- May 27-28 Met PGA Women’s Championship, Connecticut GC
- Jun 9-10 103rd Westchester Open, Tuxedo Club
- Jun 16-17 WMGA/MGA Women’s Amateur, Sunningdale CC
- Jul 7-9 106th Westchester Amateur, Trump National Hudson Valley
- Jul 14 US Amateur Qualifying, Whippoorwill Club
- Jul 14 MGA Father & Son, Harrison Meadows Country Club
- Jul 29-Aug 3 MGA Met Amateur, Old Oaks Country Club
- Aug 5-7 Met PGA Pro Championship, Trump National Westchester
- Aug 13-15 Met PGA Senior Match Play, Westchester Hills CC
- Aug 25-26 MGA Senior Open, Fairview CC
- Sep 16-18 Met PGA Championship, Tamarack CC
- Oct 8 MGA Senior Masters, Anglebrook GC
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