It looked like a blowout — until Sunday. Europe clinched a 15–13 win at Bethpage, but the margins were razor thin. Using the same analytics you find in Tangent, you can see a handful of pairing and setup choices that likely swung a few halves. Here’s how better data decisions might have changed the scoreboard.

Quick disclaimer… I am clearly biased towards the Americans. The Europeans played unbelievable golf. But, just as I use Tangent to review and improve my golf, we’ll use data to review and criticize how the Americans blew a home Ryder Cup.

At Tangent, we believe data can help you make better golf decisions. Whether it’s selecting targets with the Smart Caddie or determining what to practice on with the Smart Coach, Tangent takes mountains of data to deliver key insights to drive better decisions.

In the Ryder Cup, it is no different. Data can be used to make decisions on pairings, matchups, and even course setup. In fact, the Europeans have enlisted Eduardo Molinari as a key data strategist to help with every decision they make. The Americans have been less transparent about how and if they use data… and it shows. Let’s dive in.

The Ryder Cup begins with two formats that put strategy and pairings under the spotlight: foursomes and fourballs. Both are about more than just talent—they’re about matching skillsets, sequencing, and making decisions backed by data.

Foursomes (alternate shot): Two players share a single ball, alternating shots. That means every drive and approach shapes what your partner faces next. The smartest captains use strokes gained data to build complementary pairings—linking a driver who gains strokes off the tee with a teammate whose iron play excels from those distances. With Tangent-style metrics, you can go even deeper: deciding who tees off on odds vs. evens based on the course layout. If the odd-numbered holes feature long par 5s, give the bigger hitter those tees. If the evens demand precise iron shots into par 3s, let the sharpshooter lead there.

The Americans made some questionable decisions from the very first session.

For starters, one of the Foursomes pairings was Collin Morikawa and Harris English. In addition to Morikawa being in poorer form recently, Data Golf ranked this pairing as 132 best pairing out of 132 options… Read that again… It was literally the worst possible option the Americans could have rolled out.

Not a good look. You have 12 players and only have to play 8. It might not have mattered with the buzzsaw that was Rory and Tommy… But they basically threw them to the wolves.

If that wasn’t bad enough… They rolled them out again Saturday morning. And while they battled better, I wouldn’t recommend sending out the worst statistical pairing you could have…. twice.

Would it have changed the outcome? We’ll never know. But on a week that requires a lot of energy from the stars, I would have liked to see Rory and Tommy be a little more tested than they were.

It’s a little like hitting 5 iron off the tee of a 600 yard par 5. You dug a hole before you even got started.

In true alt shot, the hole order matters. You want your longest hitter to hit tee shots on long holes.. Not rocket science. And your more accurate player to be hitting iron shots on the toughest holes. So it was very curious why Russell Henley hit the tee shots on the Odd holes in their first match.

Again, referencing Data Golf’s analysis:

At its core, these early sessions aren’t just about momentum—they’re about maximizing probability. That’s what Tangent does every round: quantify tendencies, highlight strengths, and guide strategy so that pairings and targets aren’t guesses—they’re backed by data.

Would they have one that match if they flipped evens / odds? I don’t know. But if they had… That point is the difference between winning and losing the Ryder Cup in a match they lost by a single hole.

In the Ryder Cup, the home team has control of the course setup. They have the ability to tweak the setup in their favor with knobs such as rough length, green speeds, and even pin positions.

After Day 1, Max Homa joined the No Laying Up podcast and detailed exactly how Europe did this two years ago in Italy. He described how they chose tee locations to give the Americans as many shots as they could between 175-225 yards where they felt Europe had an advantage. And it worked. Europe won that Ryder Cup 16.5-11.5.

In fairness, a tremendous amount of rain on Thursday softened up the course this year, but the forecast called for rain and they were watering the golf course beforehand.

Why did that matter? Well if you watched the first two days you saw Americans struggling to control spin into the super soft greens from the fairway, while wayward shots in the rough were rewarded by minimizing spin.

The US was losing holes from the fairway.

These were some of the flattest greens I have seen on a championship golf course. It consistently seemed like players barely had to aim outside the hole. Which led to a ridiculous amount of putts being holed, particularly by the Europeans.

Through 2 days, the Europeans had gained 19 strokes putting on the Americans! That’s not an aggregate quirk — in match play those strokes often arrive at critical moments (holes 16–18, foursomes pressure holes).

As an American… This was extremely frustrating. It was obvious to me that the Americans were consistently over-reading almost every putt. Time and time again I watched them miss on the high side. They were seeing break that wasn’t there… The other miss… was short. I lost count of how many critical putts the Americans left short of the hole.

This was made even more painful when we had a chance to make the most epic comeback of all time. Russell Henley (one of the best putters on tour) had two putts inside 15 feet on 17 and 18 to close out Shane Lowry and keep the US in it… and both of them came up short.

It’s easy to be critical. I also tend to miss short when I’m nervous. However, it was a consistent difference throughout the teams. Europe was consistently giving putts a chance in key situations where the Americans came up short. In stroke play, this makes sense. You want to avoid 3 putting… but in match play, with matches on the line… you just have to give the putt a chance.

Even worse… I don’t think they were aware of the tendency. But you can be! Pro tip: Enable Putt Details in the Tangent app and you can track your green reading so that you know how you tend to miss and know what to work on.

In the end, the course setup did not help the Americans and Keegan Bradley knows it. The course simply played too easy.

Not everything can be predicted.

You can take two players strokes gained data and say they would make a good pairing, but year after year the Euros performance seems to get amplified in the hardest formats. I was absolutely in awe watching teams make 8 birdies in 13 holes in ALTERNATE SHOT! One of the toughest formats and the Euros are playing better than they would in individual stroke play. Truly incredible. The way every European player seems to elevate in Foursomes and Fourballs is a joy to watch.

I got beat up on X for posting this, but even through Saturday I thought the Americans truly battled. Getting absolutely thrashed, but it felt like they fought for every point thru Saturday afternoon when it would have been really easy to give up and get swept.

After Sunday’s performance, I feel even more justified. This team showed heart. They fought really hard. It wasn’t good enough. Europe was too strong. But this team should be really proud of the way they grinded out every single shot, something we preach at Tangent and on The Good Miss.

In the end, execution always plays a large factor in results. You can choose a bad target and hit a great shot… You can choose a great target and hit a poor shot… But stacking up good decisions saves you those fractions of a stroke that can be the difference between better golf and frustration.

The Americans got out-executed. The Europeans were better. Kudos for a well earned victory on the road.

However, being a data guy… I believe that part of why they were better is the way they embrace data. Having a consultant like Eduardo Molinari on the team is critical. It is clear that the Europeans agonize over every decision from pairings to matchups.

📲 Subscribe to Tangent today to get more out of your golf. Tangent has the data to help you cut those fractions of a stroke that leads to wins, just like team Europe did this year at Bethpage.

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