There’s an old saying in golf: Don’t show up with U.S. Open pars when you’re invited to a Bethpage birdie party.
Of course, this is the first birdie fest Bethpage Black has ever hosted. The saying is only two days old, but it still counts.
Team Europe read the invitation sent out by the PGA of America and Team USA captain Keegan Bradley nearly a year ago — the one that read “Birdie Putts Required” — and have turned Sunday’s Ryder Cup singles matches into a hot, humid formality in front of angry American spectators. Luke Donald’s squad has an insurmountable 11.5–4.5 lead and a bunch of marquee players who rarely lose.
On the other side, the Americans have two things — a group of headliners that simply cannot solve match-play competition, and a proud Bethpage Black that has been forced to dance in the worldwide spotlight with a split in its pants. The Americans and their prized municipal golf course will carry these scars long after the 45th Ryder Cup wraps up this afternoon.
In theory, chopping the Black’s signature rough down by half, from four-plus inches in Majors to two-and-a-quarter this week, made perfect sense. Match play is a different beast, and excitement and anticipation are limitless when Team USA and Team Europe are standing over daring shots.
But in practice, a toothless Black Course features few if any daring shots. There are no obstacles. Even fallen branches resting on European balls offer no resistance. This Cup could have been played in a simulator. Or on the Yellow Course, if it hadn’t been turned into a bus depot for the event.
Take the newly built first tee. Moved 30 yards down the hill and left of the regular pad, the tournament tee was designed to make cutting the corner a viable, crowd-roaring option. And it did, for a brief moment Friday morning when Bryson DeChambeau, as if playing from a script, hammered an opening drive near the apron of the green and buried a birdie putt to give Team USA an early lead. That lead was gone by the turn, the match lost on the 15th, a 4&3 defeat to Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton.
Twenty-four hours later, basically to the minute, Ludvig Aberg attempted a similar shot against DeChambeau and left his drive nearly as close to the Green Course’s first pin as the Black’s. Any Bethpage veteran will tell you up-and-downs from that corner are nearly impossible, even for the world’s best players. A pitch from regular Bethpage rough to a short-side pin? Go take a walk!
But Matt Fitzpatrick pitched it to 11 feet as if dusting off his wedges on the range. Aberg matched DeChambeau’s birdie putt and set the tone for the rest of Saturday.
Ahead at #5, a formidable par-4 with a carry bunker and a plateau green offset to the left, players routinely hit the putting surface whether ripping second shots from the semi-blind left rough or out to the right. In Saturday four-ball, Shane Lowry popped a 167-yard swipe from the right rough to eight feet, then won the hole with a birdie.
Through the first three sessions of the tournament, only two approaches missed the green on the par-4 16th (a third American shot spun back to the front fringe), a 489-yard hole that tortured players in the previous U.S. Opens and PGA Championship. Every other shot left nothing more than a medium-length birdie putt.
Those missed birdie putts by the Americans, and the incredible consistency the Europeans demonstrated in draining them, will be the primary takeaway from this Ryder Cup. Not far behind though will be the treatment of the Black Course by its organizers and its European guests. With last week’s announcement of the 2033 PGA Championship returning to Bethpage Black, the course at least has a target date, albeit eight years down the road, to repair its reputation.