FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The video made the rounds Tuesday for everyone who hadn’t yet arrived at Bethpage Black: Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau at the first tee, ignoring the fairway and bombing away toward the green.
Imagine that being the first shot of the Ryder Cup, in front of a grandstand packed with a majority of American fans.
“Like 365 (yards to the green), something like that. That’s nothing, right?” DeChambeau said Thursday. “Just a normal long drive shot.”
The hole is actually listed at 397 yards, but that’s a shorter par-4 for professionals in this day and age, especially from an elevated tee box.
It feeds into the prevailing sense this week that Bethpage Black, a course known for its brutal difficulty, has been somewhat defanged for its Ryder Cup debut.
As hosts, the United States team had the advantage of setting up the course to its liking, which has led to the rough being normal length rather than the 4 or 5 inches of length grown for majors like the U.S. Open.
Bethpage Black is long — 7,352 yards this week — and a demanding walk, with elevation changes aplenty. Yet the Americans and Team Europe are both preparing for a competition with more birdies than bogeys, and adjusting their strategies accordingly.
Harris English estimated that if this were a four-round stroke-play tournament, the winner might finish 18 to 20 under par.
“This is not the normal Bethpage Black we’re used to,” English said. “You’re going to see a lot more birdies out there than you normally would in the PGA (Championship) or the U.S. Open. I think that’s great. That’s what we’re ready for.”
“I think aggressiveness is probably going to be a good strategy,” Viktor Hovland of Norway said. “… Because I don’t think there will be too many holes compared to maybe Rome (in 2023), for example. Rome had a lot of birdie holes, but at the same time it had a lot of difficult holes where you could easily win by par. I think it’s going to be less of that this week.”
As for that opening hole, it might not devolve into a long drive contest after all. The rainy, cool conditions Thursday are expected to leave the golf course muddy and soft, decreasing the rollout of drives. DeChambeau and Spaniard Jon Rahm came to the same conclusion that the green No. 1 might be drivable if it plays downwind, and that’s about it, at least for Friday.
“I would need a little bit of firmness on the fairways for me to maybe reach,” Rahm said. “I don’t think that I have the carry that maybe Bryson or Cam Young or Rory (McIlroy) may have.”
Asked how many U.S. players could drive the first green, Ben Griffin named one.
“It’s a little rainy but I bet if Bryson went out now he could do it. I witnessed him do it two days ago,” Griffin said. “Everyone else is probably playing it to the left. I know I certainly am right now.”
Other holes to note include No. 4, a risk-reward par-5 measuring just 517 yards; the par-4, 539-yard 16th; and the par-3 17th, with its highly protected green surrounded by five giant bunkers.
“For those of us that played the PGA (Championship) here in 2019, the course is very different,” Englishman Tyrrell Hatton said. “… The course is going to be set up to reward good golf, and there will be plenty of birdie opportunities, as I said.
“So I think every hole is going to be important, and yeah, you just have to just keep going and try and be aggressive, to be honest.”
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
