Ryder Cup 2025: 10 questions you might ask if you were a time traveler attending this year’s match at Bethpage

This morning, out of nowhere, a middle-aged man appeared in the kitchen of the Golf Digest AirBnB on Long Island while the rest of us were eating breakfast. As you might imagine, everyone was pretty shaken—this was our first time seeing the laws of physics violated so blatantly—but nobody was quite as shaken as the man himself. Whatever bizarre sequence of events had transported him to our house clearly left him in a state of shock, which quickly gave way to panic. He began to foam at the mouth, and after 30 minutes of writhing that didn't seem to be letting up, we had to waste one of our company-issued horse tranquilizers to calm him down.

When he regained his senses, he told us he had been hanging Christmas decorations in his living room when a kind of vortex appeared. Because he wasn't the type to ask a lot of questions, he stepped into it and voila—Long Island, 2025. In the rambling monologue that followed, in which he complained about the “Game of Thrones” season finale, tried to sell us on the phenomena of AirPods and TikTok, and got upset about Felicity Huffman's kid going to college, it became clear that he had come to us from late 2019. We made the mistake of telling him it was 2025 now, at which point he ran into a wall and forced us to burn another tranq. But when he woke up, it turned out he wasn't a bad guy and was actually a huge golf fan. When he found out we were at Bethpage for the Ryder Cup, he had a few questions.

1. Why is this Ryder Cup in 2025?

"The Whistling Straits Ryder Cup was supposed to be in 2020. Right? Shouldn't Bethpage have been in 2024? The last time the Ryder Cup got delayed was for 9/11. Did something happen? Did something bad happen? Why are you all looking at each other?"

2. Is Phil Mickelson the American captain?

"It's the perfect story, right? I know it's been telegraphed for a while, but some things are just meant to be. Phil taking the reins in New York as the beloved uncle of American golf is such a tremendous narrative arc that nothing could set it off course … right? Right??"

3. Who's the European captain—Westwood, Poulter, Garcia or, at a stretch, Henrik Stenson?

"You've got a golden generation of Europeans aging out of their playing prime and into that late 40s, early 50s, a sweet spot for the captaincy. Each one of these guys is a kind of legend in their own right, and Europe's captaincy succession is secured for literal decades. So who's taking the reins this time?

4. Has Tiger gotten to 18 majors?

"I know he had a few down years, but this year’s Masters was the greatest thing I've ever seen, and I know he's back. The only question is whether he could tie Jack. Did everything go OK for him in the last few years? Is he coming to Bethpage?"

5. Have golf's top executives continued to strengthen the Ryder Cup by expanding the game globally?

"I'm thinking specifically of Jay Monahan here. Deane Beman quelled the last real significant player rebellion in 1983, and Tim Finchem's reign at the PGA Tour was basically a golden age of growth. I assume Monahan has continued to expand the game's global reach over the course of a relatively smooth tenure? Has he brought in money and interest from any unlikely places looking to make a big splash?"

6. How has reigning Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler fared at the next level? Any chance he made Bethpage?

"I'm always interested in seeing how the careers of the promising young guys pan out, and I liked watching Scheffler last season. I'm only too aware how hard it is to succeed on tour even when you've had a nice season on the KFT, but I'm curious if he's managed to keep his card. Wait, why are you laughing?"

7. Is the American captaincy pipeline still intact and coherent?

"I know Jim Furyk and his guys struggled in Paris, but in general the work of the task force seems to have at least introduced a measure of stability into the process and created a logical chain of succession for captains, such that each new leader has a few vice captaincies under his belt and can benefit from the wisdom of those before him. It sure beats a rogue out-of-left-field decision every two years, like Ted Bishop picking Tom Watson. Where do we stand there?"

8. What's up with Donald Trump in the world of golf?

"Did he ever get his major championship? Wait, he's going to be at Bethpage? He's … say that again … he’s still president? Didn't he just get impeached? IS THIS HIS THIRD TERM? IS THIS DONALD TRUMP'S THIRD TERM??"

9. Who is that film crew out there on the street? Why are they with Bryson DeChambeau? Why is he taking a huge sip of Long Island Iced Tea in between attempts to hit a Nerf golf ball at a rescue dog to try to make it jump into an open mailbox, all while he's dressed like the Statue of Liberty and being followed by a guy with a banjo?

"Isn't he a very serious man of science?"

10. Anybody interested in some exotic bat meat from my recent business trip to Wuhan Province?

"Why is everyone running? It's not that bad, guys! It tastes like chicken!"