Preview:Preview: The Ryder Cup

Friday will mark the beginning of the 45th Ryder Cup, as Europe head to New York seeking to retain their trophy and record a first away win for either side since their own triumph at Medinah Golf and Country Club in 2012.

The overhaul of the European team brought about by several high-profile departures in the early stages of the LIV Golf tour proved to be a successful one, as they regained the cup on home soil in Italy two years ago.

Winning captain Luke Donald was quickly confirmed to be staying on in search of a victory across the pond, while the USA turned to Keegan Bradley, a notable playing omission from the unsuccessful 2023 bid under Zach Johnson.

He will now bid to regain the cup for Team USA after a dominant outing in their last home attempt, having picked up a 19-9 win at Whistling Straits in 2021, with Bradley having featured in two losing matches in 2012 and 2014 as a player.

Here, Sports Mole previews the latest edition of the bi-annual event at Bethpage Black.

RYDER CUP 2025: TEAM SELECTION

Team USA, decided by six automatic qualifiers and six captain's picks, is one which has seen six changes from the 2023 Ryder Cup, arguably not surprising given the convincing defeat in Rome.

Their side includes four rookies, two of whom qualified automatically in the form of Russell Henley and JJ Spaun, who won the 2025 US Open, and Ben Griffin and Cameron Young receiving captains picks after their victories and impressive form at the back end of the 2025 PGA Tour season.

They are led by Scottie Scheffler, who has enjoyed another year of dominance in 2025, moving to within one major of a career grand slam by adding a PGA Championship and The Open to his trophy cabinet alongside four TOUR events including his most recent outing at the Procore Championship in mid-September in a field containing nine of his teammates.

Xander Schauffele has also racked up two majors since the 2023 defeat, winning the PGA Championship and The Open in 2024, and he, Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa return for their third Ryder Cup appearances.

Bryson DeChambeau also features for the third time, having last turned out in 2021, and he has since featured for LIV Golf, while winning the 2024 US Open and finishing in the top 10 of three of four majors this year.

Harris English, another member of the winning 2021 team, was the final automatic qualifier alongside Scheffler, Schauffele, Spaun, Henley and DeChambeau, while Keegan Bradley opted for the experience of Justin Thomas, who leads this team with three Ryder Cup appearances under his belt already, and selected Sam Burns to end the speculation of himself appearing as the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963.

Europe head to New York with historically few changes to their team, including at the top with Luke Donald remaining as captain after their triumphant 2023 bid in Italy.

Rory McIlroy, who completed his career Grand Slam with a historic Masters win in April, again heads up the automatic qualifiers and will make an eighth consecutive Ryder Cup appearance, while fellow qualifier Justin Rose is the only other member of the team to have featured in the win in Medinah in 2012.

The four remaining automatic qualifying spots ended up with Tommy Fleetwood, who is ranked seventh in the OWGR and finally earned a first PGA Tour win at the Tour Championship in August, Robert MacIntyre, who debuted in 2023 and won the Scottish Open and RBC Canadian Open last year, Tyrrell Hatton and Rasmus Hojgaard, the only rookie in this year's team in place of his brother Nicolai Hojgaard.

2023 stars Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg and Jon Rahm required captain's picks, with Aberg having scored two points on debut, Hovland racking up four in Italy and Rahm earning three from four matches in his third appearance in the match.

The continuity from 2023 remained present in the other picks, with 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry, 2022 US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick and Sepp Straka, who won twice on the PGA Tour in 2025, keeping their places for the trip.

Lowry, Fitzpatrick, McIlroy, Rahm, Fleetwood, Hatton and Hovland all featured in the 2021 defeat at Whistling Straits in their last away trip.

RYDER CUP 2025: 2023 EVENT

With a new-look squad including four rookies, Europe regained the Ryder Cup trophy in impressive fashion at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in 2023, stretching their run to seven consecutive wins on home soil with a 16.5-11.5.

That was in no small part down to a dream start, leading 4-0 after the Friday morning session and 6.5-1.5 at the close of the opening day.

Points on Saturday would be shared at four apiece, as the hosts again dominated foursomes before the USA bit back with a 3-1 fourballs victory, setting up a final day in which Europe led by five points - a deficit never overcome on a Sunday in the event's 96-year history.

They would fail to claw away at Europe's lead in singles, instead sharing the remaining 12 points equally with Tommy Fleetwood taking the hosts over the line and onto 14.5 and eventually confirming 15 points in the penultimate matchup against Rickie Fowler.

Europe have the option to revert to several fruitful partnerships from 2023, given the singular change in their team selection, with three pairings each managing foursomes wins on both Friday and Saturday.

Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm, who also team up for Legion XII on LIV Golf, played first on Friday morning and recorded the first point of the event with a 4&3 triumph over Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, before beating Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay 2&1 in the second foursomes session.

Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, now ranked as Europe's top-two players in the OWGR, also joined forced on the mornings of Friday and Saturday, beating Schauffele and Cantlay and Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth respectively.

Viktor Hovland joined rookie Ludvig Aberg for both morning sessions, with the Scandinavian duo beating Max Homa and Brian Harman 4&3 on Friday and dishing out a historic 9&7 thrashing to Brooks Koepka and World Number One Scottie Scheffler on Saturday.

USA, meanwhile, after wider changes to their team, may turn back to the pairings of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns.

RYDER CUP 2025: COURSE

In 2013, it was announced that Bethpage Black would play host to this iteration of the Ryder Cup, marking the second time that the competition has been held in New York and the first since Europe won 14.5-13.5 at Oak Hill County Club in 1995.

Bethpage is a public golf course in Bethpage State Park, Long Island, and hosts five courses including the Black on which the weekend's matches will be played.

The course has hosted three major championships in its history, firstly the 2002 and 2009 US Opens won by Tiger Woods (-3) and Lucas Glover (-4) respectively, before two editions of The Barclays tournament took place in 2012 and 2016, won by Nick Watney (-10) and Patrick Reed (-9).

Major championship golf then returned to Bethpage Black for the 2019 PGA Championship. The course played as a 7,459-yard par-70 and was won by Brooks Koepka at a score of -8, two shots clear of second-placed Dustin Johnson with just six players recording scores under-par.

That record certainly shows the course to be a tough one even for elite professionals, albeit with the rough set to be more forgiving for the Ryder Cup action, which could allow for birdies in higher volumes.

It is set to play at 7,401 yards for the weekend's match, and the teams will tackle four par-threes and two par-fives, with one of the latter recorded at 446 yards, making that more than reachable with a second shot.

RYDER CUP 2025: PREDICTION

Europe surely head to the United States with by far their strongest hopes of an away win since Medinah, given the stability in their squad and continued growth in strength and depth.

The hosts' firepower, world-class quality and home advantage will, as ever, require something special to overcome though, and bookmakers have USA as favourites understandably, with each of the last five iterations ending in home victories.

While a 14-14 outcome is certainly in play and would see Europe retain the trophy, we see a slender victory for Keegan Bradley and his side at around 15-13.