Ryder Cup lineups, like art and weather, are interpreted differently depending upon tastes and perspectives.
Just as some prefer abstract and others landscape, there are those who are OK with torrid heat and plenty who handle the ice and cold.
So to those who analyze the upcoming Ryder Cup and emphasize what is clearly a more experienced European Team, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley looks at it in a fashion that he embraces positively. You see 11 members of the European team who were victorious in Rome two years ago; Bradley says his team is totally different from 2023.
“This team is 0-0 and we want to go out this week and represent the country at Bethpage and the fans in the best way we can,” said Bradley.
Of the Europeans, only Rasmus Højgaard has never played in a Ryder Cup. The other 11 members of captain Luke Donald’s team have 32 Ryder Cup appearances under their belts. As for Bradley, he only has eight players with Ryder Cup experience but they combine for just 15 appearances and none before 2018.
Should you consider that a strong check in the European column, Bradley gazes at the same painting and offers a different perspective. “I think we have a really unique group of players in that we don’t have any super young players and we don’t have any older players. They’re all sort of the same,” he said.
To Bradley’s point, it’s interesting that the gap between the oldest players (Russell Henley and Harris English are both 36) and the youngest (Cameron Young and Collin Morikawa are 28) is just eight years. The Europeans, on the other hand, have the oldest player in the field – Justin Rose, 45 – and the youngest competitors (Højgaard is 24, and Ludvig Åberg 25).
Advantage Europe? Donald wouldn’t quite go that far, but from his vantage point he gushed about having a key contributor being Rory McIlroy, who at a still-young 36, not only is older than 10 Americans but he has seven Ryder Cups under his belt which is as many as the top four-ranked Americans have combined – Scottie Scheffler (two), Russell Henley (zero), Xander Schauffele (two), and Justin Thomas (three).
“He loves what the Ryder Cup represents,” said Donald of McIlroy, who has been on five winning teams out of seven appearances. “To have someone of his caliber, though, what he’s achieved in the game, is tremendous.”
What Scheffler has piled up in a short time (he is just 29, remember) is equally impressive but unlike McIlroy, there’s a quieter mood on the eve of his third Ryder Cup. Part of it might be owed to going 0-2-2 in Italy in 2023, but Scheffler’s personality is downplaying any sense of aura.
“Not really. I don’t have much to elaborate on that,” he said with a laugh, when asked if he thought he had a Tiger Woods-like aura.
Even Thomas, who at just 32 is the most experienced Ryder Cupper on the U.S. side (having played in 2018, 2021, and 2023) struggled with the question about Scheffler’s “aura.”
FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 23: Justin Thomas of Team United States speaks to the media prior to the Ryder Cup 2025 at Black Course at Bethpage State Park Golf Course on September 23, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)“It’s a good question. I don’t know,” said Thomas. “He doesn’t to me, but I also feel like I know him well enough that even if he did, I wouldn’t give him credit and let that get to his head because he’s competitive and can get chirpy enough – and that’s the last thing I need him knowing that I did feel that way.”
Then again, Thomas was speaking to that week-to-week competition when it’s a solo endeavor. This is a team effort and opposed to the Europeans – who don’t deny that they lean heavily on McIlroy and like their more seasoned look – the Americans appear to be embracing that their youth and their relative lack of experience works in their favor.
That’s why J.J. Spaun, a Ryder Cup rookie at 35, conceded that he never envisioned being in this competition and Henley didn’t mind telling the media at a press conference that he still pinches himself. “It’s still, like, wow, this is like a dream come true,” said Henley.
And it’s why Thomas, the most experienced U.S. team member “has a hard time viewing myself” as the veteran, even when he accurately fits that role. “I know that I’m one of the leaders on the team, but I don’t think that there’s necessarily one person on the team (you’re leaning on).”
Instead, like his captain, Thomas agrees that the closeness in ages of the American players is “a little bit different and special.”
It’s all about tastes and perspectives.