The United States team hasn’t won a Ryder Cup in Europe since 1993.
Captain Jim Furyk knows the Americans will be underdogs again at Adare Manor in Ireland next September.
“It’s us against the world at this point, or us against Europe,” Furyk said Tuesday during a news conference in Ireland. “There’s going to be 50,000 people making a lot of noise. The Ryder Cup is such a great atmosphere, such a great arena, but we know what we’re up against. We also know that it’s been 34 years since we won in Europe. There’s no secret.
“I’m going to hear it over and over again, so I’m going to embrace it.”
The Americans haven’t captured the Ryder Cup in Europe since Tom Watson led them to a 15-13 victory at The Belfry in Warwickshire, England, in 1993. The Europeans have won the Ryder Cup seven times at home since then, including a 16.5-11.5 victory at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome in 2023.
Furyk noted that European captain Luke Donald will be allowed to set up the Adare Manor course to suit his team’s strengths, giving the Europeans a built-in advantage.
“We’re the underdogs,” Furyk said. “I know it’s always been played [that] we come in, the Americans seem to be the favorites. This year, there’s no chance that that could happen. We’re the underdogs. We understand that. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
It won’t be the first time Furyk will attempt to end the U.S. team’s long drought on European soil as captain. In 2018, he was in charge when the Europeans ran away with a 17.5-10.5 win at Le Golf National outside Paris.
Furyk suggested Tuesday that most of his captain’s picks, who went 2-10-1 at Le Golf National, weren’t suited for the tight fairways and heavy rough. He can’t make the same mistake again at Adare Manor.
“I think I was left with a task there with my captain selections to pick some guys that were maybe playing very well at the time that were maybe not favoring the golf course, maybe a little longer, maybe a little bit more crooked style of play versus maybe shorter, straighter hitters that were either hurt, injured, or maybe not at the top of their game,” Furyk said. “And so, I knew what I was getting into.
“In hindsight, maybe we didn’t have the horses for the course. I love that team. They fought and every captain, like at the end of the day, I would take those 12 into battle again.”
Going into next year, Furyk has surrounded himself with a new analytics team. One of its first tasks will be trying to turn around the U.S. team’s poor performances in foursomes (alternate shot) in international competitions. The Americans are 8-26 in that format going back to the 2023 Ryder Cup.
“What’s interesting is it’s a recent thing for us in the United States,” Furyk said. “When I started playing the Ryder Cup, we felt [we] had an advantage in the foursomes. At that time, we were really struggling in the four-ball, so there’s an ebb and a flow. But it’s not an anomaly. There’s some issues.”
Furyk said U.S. team captains need to do a better job to “put the folks into good pairings in good positions” and “preparing for those matches in a proper way.”
The Americans were swept 5-0 in a foursomes session in last month’s Presidents Cup, causing them to dig out of a three-point hole in Sunday singles for a 17-13 win against the International team.
“I will promise you, we will be prepared,” Furyk said. “I’m going to ask this team to do more than any other United States team has in the past. We’ll be prepared. We’ll be ready to go in that format, and hopefully we can showcase our talent. We have too much depth to have that poor record in alternate-shot.”
The Europeans have won three of the past four Ryder Cups overall and nine of the past 12 since 2002.
Donald will attempt to become the first Ryder Cup captain to lead his team to three straight victories. After the rout in Rome, Donald guided the Europeans to a 15-13 win at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course on Long Island in 2025. That match wasn’t close until the Americans staged a valiant effort in Sunday singles.
“For us, underdog is a mentality,” Donald said. “We always want to prove something to ourselves, to the rest of the world. Yeah, we understand that being at home is an advantage, but we also know that the U.S. are very strong.”
