Скачать или смотреть Justin Thomas Says U.S. Ryder Cup Team ‘Fought’ Bethpage Staff Over Slow Greens: ‘Just Bizarre’

Justin Thomas is still stewing over the 2025 Ryder Cup — and not because of anything that happened with a golf club in his hands.

The two-time major champion, currently sidelined after back surgery, revisited the Americans’ lopsided loss during a recent appearance on the No Laying Up podcast. And according to Thomas, one of the biggest factors behind the U.S. team’s poor start at Bethpage Black wasn’t strategy, talent or even Europe’s momentum — it was the greens.

More specifically, greens that were far slower than the American side had requested.

A Setup Gone Wrong

Before the matches began, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley had made two key calls: shortening Bethpage’s notorious rough and asking for fast, PGA Tour-level green speeds to give his team a putting advantage. The first decision backfired. And as Thomas revealed, the second one triggered a full-blown standoff.

“I don’t really understand that,” Thomas said of the sluggish putting surfaces. “I don’t know why the greens weren’t at all what Keegan had asked for… he had been pretty clear.”

Thomas went further, confirming rumors that the U.S. team and the Bethpage maintenance crew clashed behind the scenes.

According to Thomas, the staff insisted the greens were rolling at 13 on the Stimpmeter — a claim the players flatly rejected.

“I watched them argue with us that they were 13s,” Thomas said. “Guys are leaving putts short all day… You can’t get a ball to roll three or four feet past the hole. These greens are slow. Speed them up.”

A Lost Home-Course Edge

Thomas said the entire situation felt surreal for a home Ryder Cup, where the host team traditionally dictates course conditions to its advantage.

“It was just bizarre… that’s kind of a fun advantage you generally have,” he said. “And it was so frustrating that we were being fought with and argued with on the speed of the greens that we asked for.”

By the time the greens were finally sped up — on Sunday — the damage had already been done. The Americans dominated singles play but couldn’t fully erase Europe’s massive lead, ultimately falling 15–13.

For Thomas, the whole episode remains a lingering frustration — one more unexpected twist in a Ryder Cup that still doesn’t sit right with many on the U.S. side.