Is the Ryder Cup due for a close contest? Which new stars will shine? Will fans become a storyline?
Is it 2025 yet?
For golf fans across the globe the countdown to the 45th Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York, has already started despite the fact the 44th playing of the biennial bash between the United States and Europe is just one day in the rearview mirror.
For American fans, they want to wash away the embarrassing performance at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy last week. As for the European supporters, they want to ride the momentum of another win at home and avenge the historic loss at Whistling Straits in 2021.
A lot can happen over two years, especially in golf, but don’t let that get in the way of a fun thought exercise. Here are some way, way too early predictions for the 2025 Ryder Cup.
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He’s widely touted as the next star of European golf. But this week, he missed the cut.
As debuts go, it was a comparatively quiet and undeniably disappointing one on the PGA Tour for a man widely touted as the next star of European golf. But Nicolai Hojgaard is quick to point out that his American experience was not entirely unrewarding.
A month ago, Hojgaard claimed his second win on the DP World Tour, which moved him into the top 70 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Yet the young Dane—he turns 21 in eight days—insists that two missed cuts in the United States will make him a better player.
In his PGA Tour debut at last week’s Honda Classic, Hojgaard shot 76-72 to miss the weekend. Things weren’t any better in his second start, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. After opening with 75, he battled to within reach of the cut line with an eagle at the par-5 16th, before a closing double-bogey guaranteed an early exit. But he was far from deflated.
“Results-wise it hasn’t been good, but from a different angle it’s been good learning,” Hojgaard said. “The course set-ups are different compared to Europe. It’s tougher. The rough is thicker, the greens are firmer and faster. You have to play from the fairway, play certain angles and all that. You don’t do that in Europe that often.”
Invitations ensured that Hojgaard’s first starts stateside came at two of the schedule’s most challenging venues. He says he knew about PGA National’s fearsome reputation in advance but admits he was surprised to encounter the same at Bay Hill. “I wasn’t aware that it was this tough,” he said. “But this is a fair set-up. It’s playing really good. It rewards those who hit fairways.”
He gave a genial shrug by way of admission that he had failed to do just that. “I enjoyed it.”
Hojgaard found just six fairways in Thursday’s first round and improved by only one on Friday. He ranked among the longest hitters in the field, but outside the top 100 in driving accuracy (at PGA National, he was 11 of 28 in fairways hit). The waywardness had knock-on effects: he hit 21 of 36 greens. From those numbers, he finds positivity.
“I think I’m going to be a better player when I get back home. It’s quite obvious there are certain things I need to work on,” he offered philosophically. “I’m a better player even though I missed two cuts.”
At face value, that might seem an odd statement for a rising star who won on the DP World Tour just a few weeks ago.
He explained it thus: “It’s about understanding the game a little bit more when you play courses like this. You don’t have to hit perfect shots, you don’t have to bomb it, you don’t have to hit it close. You have to be strategic a little more. That’s what I learned this week. Whereas in Europe sometimes it’s been a little bit more ‘dart’ golf. That’s what I take from this.”
Hojgaard’s reward for two missed cuts is two weeks off back home in Denmark. He’s hopeful for another PGA Tour start later this month at the Corales Puntacana Championship, possibly alongside his identical twin brother Rasmus, also a recent winner on the European circuit. The twins are considered by many observers to be future stars in Europe’s Ryder Cup firmament, after a little more seasoning.
“They have everything,” former Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn recently told The Guardian about his young countrymen. “They have the game, the willingness to learn, they are hard workers and don’t get ahead of themselves.”
For Nicolai, the willingness to learn means spending more time on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean.
“I want to play here full time, but mix it up on the DP World Tour,” he said. “Be a bit of a global player but have my focus here.” His reasoning comes down to course set-ups in the U.S., which are often dismissed as one-dimensional by PGA Tour regulars.
“I really like the set-up, the conditions, the courses,” he said. “The golf over here is more rewarding if you play good. You get punished if you’re not playing well, so I think you become a better player if you’re playing here.”
He snapped on his wristwatch and zipped up his bag, unruffled by his early exit. “It’s been a good two weeks,” he said, with a broad smile. “But I really want to play some weekend golf as well.”
The LPGA has the Korda sisters. The European tour has the Hojgaard Brothers.
Wait, you might be thinking, didn’t Højgaard win on the European Tour last week?
Indeed, one did. A week after his twin brother Rasmus won in Switzerland, Nicolai Højgaard made history on Sunday, dropping a short birdie putt on the final hole to capture the DS Automobiles Italian Open at Marco Simone Golf Club. That gave the Danish duo the distinction of being the first brother tandem to win consecutive events on the Euro Tour.
Nicolai, whose previous best showing was a second-place finish at the 2019 KLM Open (when he finished just behind Sergio Garcia), shot an even 71 to hold off Tommy Fleetwood and Adrian Meronk for the title.
Højgaard admitted his nerves were getting to him as he stood over his final putt, a short-and-straight 3-footer.
“I’ve been nervous many times before but nothing like this. I almost couldn’t move the putter to be honest, so I was really nervous,” he said. “But you’re trying to get yourself a chance to win and I gave myself a chance today. … I’m really happy and can’t wait to celebrate.”
While Nicolai was tapping in the winning putt, brother Rasmus stood just off the 18th green with each of the brothers’ girlfriends. It marked an incredible stretch for the combo — Rasmus’ win in the Omega European Masters at Crans-Montana was his third on the Tour.
And Nicolai admitted after Saturday’s round that he was using his twin’s victory as inspiration.
“Seeing Rasmus win is a big motivation. I’m just trying to follow in his steps a little bit,” Nicolai said.
Højgaard held the lead after 54 holes and was in good position until making a pair of bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes. He responded with good looks on both 16 and 17 but failed to capitalize before and approach on 18 gave him a short putt for the win.
“To finish it off with an up and down, it’s perfect, it’s what I’ve dreamed of. It’s what I’ve been working on all my life so I’m really pleased with it,” Højgaard said.
While the stars prep for Augusta National in two weeks, there are plenty of storylines for someone to grab the spotlight in Bermuda.
A year ago, Brendon Todd arrived in Bermuda as a down-on-his-luck journeyman PGA Tour pro winless since 2014. By Sunday he had blitzed the field at the Bermuda Championship, victorious by six strokes, won the next event too, and racked up another 10 top-25 finishes last season as he resurrected his career.
When asked how he would have responded if told prior to the start of last year’s tournament that he would improve from outside the top 500 to No. 41 in the Official World Golf Ranking this week and be the highest ranked player in the field, he said, “I probably would have laughed and said, ‘I’ll take it, give me more, right?’ ”
While much attention already is being devoted to the Masters, which begins in two weeks, for the 132-man field this week and next at the Vivint Houston Open, these starts mean everything. Todd, who is making his 200th career Tour start, took advantage last year making seven birdies in a row in the final round, beginning on the second hole, to coast to victory.
“I felt like I was kind of walking on clouds and that’s a really special feeling to have,” he said.
For some of the special invites, this week could change the trajectory of their career. Take Camiko Smith, a 35-year-old native of Bermuda who is making his Tour debut after winning a 36-hole local qualifier played earlier this month. Until Todd came along and shot one of three 62s at last year’s tournament, Smith shared the course record of 64 with Adam Scott. Smith grew up along the fourth hole of Port Royal Golf Club in Southampton, so close to the Robert Trent Jones Sr. design, in fact, that a ball pulled left will end up out of bounds in his family’s yard.
“I actually hop over a fence and I’m right on it,” said Smith, who had been teaching golf in Orlando and Dallas prior to returning to Bermuda and working at a local glass company for the last four months. “I used to get kicked off for doing that, now I’m sitting here playing a PGA Tour event in my backyard, so it’s pretty awesome.”
Danish teen sensation Rasmus Hojgaard has already won twice on the European Tour, becoming its first champion that was born in the 2000s. The 19-year-old, who has PGA Tour aspirations, played in the U.S. Open in September and jumped at the chance to make another PGA Tour start.
“It was a no-brainer for me to come over here and play,” he said.
Left to right: Brothers Ben, Luke and Ollie Schniederjans enjoy a walk in Bermuda. Photo by Mark Williams/PGA Tour.
The Bermuda Championship also has a couple family affairs as 64-year-old former Players Championship winner Fred Funk and son Taylor, 24, are grouped together Thursday (12:15 p.m. ET tee time) while brothers Ollie and Luke Schniederjans, who also benefited from sponsor’s exemptions, will be playing in their first Tour field together. It didn’t hurt the chances for the brothers, who both attended Georgia Tech, that Bermuda Championship tournament director Sean Sovacool is also a fellow Yellow Jackets alum.
Ollie, 27, a former No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, lost his Tour privileges after finishing No. 180 in the 2018-19 FedEx Cup point standings and spent last season competing on the Korn Ferry Tour, while younger brother Luke, 22, is making his Tour debut. (Middle brother Ben has caddied for Ollie for the past year.)
“I always dreamed of us playing a PGA Tour event together,” Ollie said. “All three of us brothers out here walking around, it’s pretty incredible.”
Someone will leave Bermuda with a trophy, $720,000 added to their bank account, a two-year Tour exemption and a berth in the 2021 Masters among the spoils.
“There’s probably going to be somebody this week that finishes first or second who is a great player and has shown great form either in the last year or in a previous year that changes the curve of their career,” Todd said. “That’s what’s so cool about some of these events that don’t have the top-ranked guys in them.”
Danish rookie Rasmus Hojgaard became the third youngest winner on the European Tour on Sunday.
BEL OMBRE, Mauritius – Danish rookie Rasmus Hojgaard won a three-way playoff at the Mauritius Open with an eagle to become the third youngest winner on the European Tour on Sunday.
The 18-year-old Hojgaard overcame two bogeys in his opening nine and birdied the last hole in a round of 4-under 68 to get to 19 under overall, tied for first with Antoine Rozner of France and Renato Paratore of Italy.
In the playoff, Hojgaard and Rozner both birdied the par-5 last hole as Paratore made par.
Both Hojgaard and Rozner birdied again on the 18th before the Dane won the title with an eagle.
