The eternal and only question on the eve of the Ryder Cup is who will win on Sunday. Thirteen facts from the official database (Elias Bureau) create more uncertainty about this.
The last five editions of the Ryder Cup, since the one held at Gleneagles (Scotland) in 2014, have been won by the home team. This matches the longest such streak. The first five editions of the Ryder Cup, held between 1927 and 1935, were won by the team playing on home soil.
2. Luke Donald will attempt to become the second European captain to win two consecutive Ryder Cups, joining Tony Jacklin (1985, 1987). The only US captains to win two consecutive Ryder Cups are Walter Hagen (1935, 1937) and Ben Hogan (1947, 1949).
3. The European team is the first to repeat 11 players from the previous Ryder Cup. The only change in the 2025 team from 2023 is Rasmus Hojgaard, who replaces his twin brother Nicolai. The previous record was 10 returning players from the previous Ryder Cup, by the European team in 1973. (It should be noted that only nine of the 10 returning European players participated in the 1973 Ryder Cup, as John Garner was ruled out by captain Bernard Hunt due to his questionable form).
4. Keegan Bradley won the Travelers Championship in June. He will be the first man since 1963, on either side, to win an official PGA TOUR tournament and captain a Ryder Cup team in the same calendar year. Arnold Palmer, who was playing captain of the U.S. team at Atlanta Athletic Club in 1963, won seven times that year before the Ryder Cup.
5. Keegan Bradley, currently ranked 13th in the world, is the first man to captain a Ryder Cup team while ranked in the top 20. Prior to this year, the highest-ranked captain (from either team) was Tom Watson, who was ranked 27th in 1993.
The last time the Ryder Cup was played on US soil, the US team won 19-9 at Whistling Straits in 2021. It was the highest score by either team in a Ryder Cup under the current 28-point format, which began in 1979.
7. The prevailing belief seems to be that Europeans dominate the foursomes format (alternate strokes). The truth is that the home team has won the foursomes battle in each of the last nine Ryder Cups. The European team held the advantage in 2006 (3 wins, 1 loss and 4 draws in Ireland), 2010 (4-3-1 in Wales), 2014 (6-0-2 in Scotland), 2018 (6-2-0 in France) and 2023 (7-1-0) in Italy. The US team had the advantage in 2008 (3-2-3 in Kentucky), 2012 (5-3-0 in Illinois), 2016 (5-2-1 in Minnesota) and 2021 (6-2-0 in Wisconsin).
8. The Americans lost the cumulative fourballs battle in 2010 (2-4-2), but have not lost it in any Ryder Cup since, even in their heavy defeat (16.5 to 11.5) in 2023. They won in 2012 (5-3-0), 2014 (4-2-2), 2016 and 2018 (4-4-0), 2021 (4-2-2) and 2023 (3-2-3).
9. Bad memory for the United States on the last Friday of the Ryder Cup. The European team had a historic start in 2023 in Italy. They swept the opening sessions (foursomes) with a 4-0-0 result and did not lose a single match in the four-ball session that followed (three draws and one win). It was the first time in history that a team did not lose a single match in the first two sessions of a Ryder Cup.
10. The US team currently has seven players in the top 10 of the official world golf rankings. This is the second best result for both teams since the creation of the OWGR in 1986. The Americans had eight players in 2021 and it translated into a resounding 19-9 victory in Wisconsin. The world ranking in this edition is distorted: Jon Rahm is 73rd in the world condemned for playing in LIV.
11. There will only be three players currently outside the top 25 in the World Ranking competing this week, all of them on the European team: Matthew Fitzpatrick (No. 29), Rasmus Hojgaard (No. 58) and Jon Rahm (No. 73). It will be the first time, since the creation of the ranking in 1986, that at least 22 of the top 25 players in the world compete in a Ryder Cup (including Keegan Bradley, the captain). The previous record was 21, set in 2018.
Six of the 12 Americans have won at least one major (Scheffler, Schauffele, Spaun, Thomas, Morikawa, DeChambeau), compared to five Europeans (McIlroy, Rahm, Rose, Fitzpatrick and Lowry). This will be the 44th consecutive Ryder Cup in which the US team has as many or more major winners than the European team. The only exception was the inaugural edition (1927), when the Americans had two such players (Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen), while Great Britain had three (George Duncan, Ted Ray and Arthur Havers).
Europe has won the last four Ryder Cups in which it led at the end of the first session (2002, 2004, 2006 and 2023).
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