The 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black may be over, but the drama surrounding it is far from finished. What was already a bitterly fought contest has now been thrown into deeper controversy, with fresh claims now suggesting that Team Europe may have secretly tampered with the course setup. Something Bradley ma have hinted at.

On the Fried Egg Golf channel, NBC Sports analyst Johnson Wagner makes a bold and perhaps very controversial claim. On the podcast, he talks about how Team Europe might have secretly tampered with the setup at Bethpage Black by “flooding” and watering the greens overnight to keep the golf field super soft. “I honestly think Europe went out and flooded them every night,” he said. “Maybe they hand-watered every green. I’ve played Bethpage 15–25 times, and I’ve never seen those greens behave that way.”

He made this bold claim partly due to how US Captain Keegan Bradley admitted how the setup played directly into the hands of Team Europe. In press conferences post Ryder Cup, Keegan Bradley addressed his shortcomings, “I think I would have set the course up a little differently,” and “I should have listened a little bit more to my intuition.”. These statements were mainly due to how the greens and the entire golf course as a whole acted after the light rainfall on Thursday.

He also adds on how on Wednesday, before the rain, the greens were firm, the balls were fast and bouncy, and acted the way they normally would on a course like Bethpage Black, but on Thursday after the rain, the course completely transformed into a soft mess, as witnessed during the Ryder Cup. This is where his speculations on someone watering the greens and manipulating the course truly came from.

Johnson Wagner also funnily added how the locals were angry and speculated on how the players had it easier during the weekend rather than on a regular Tuesday as Bethpage is a public course.  “All the local people out there, they were furious at how easy … they’re like, ‘This is the golf course I know. I play this place on a normal Wednesday. It’s harder than these guys are playing.’”He added. 

So it might be that this was just a simple case of unfamiliarity, and the best of the teams prevailed by the end of it, like how any event does.

So, while there is no backing for the bold claim made by Wagner on how Team Europe tampered with the field, it felt like he spoke out about the frustrations of everyone about how the field acted on game day. But ultimately, it came down to a single factor. Team USA wasn’t really taking advantage of the natural bite that a course like Bethpage Black had to offer. Whether through oversight or outside interference, the course played right into Europe’s hands, and America paid the price.

Data vs Intuition and how it reflected on Bethpage Black.

While speculation was made over whether Europe had a hand in the softened conditions at Bethpage Black, Keegan Bradley’s own setup decisions played a major role. “For whatever reason, that wasn’t the right way to set the course up,” he said as he spoke about how gut was telling him to preserve Bethpage’s traditional toughness.

Bradley later admitted that trusting his instincts might have preserved the course’s intended toughness. “My intuition was telling me one thing, and I went with the numbers. That’s on me.” His decisions of decreasing the rough, using softer pin placements, and using analytics and data had some major flaws. Johnson Wagner called it “golf without consequences” since this made recovery shots easier and much simpler in contrast to how Bethpage Black should usually play out. “It’s super easy up-and-downs. It was golf without consequences. It didn’t matter where you missed, even if you short-sided yourself. Shots that should’ve been difficult became really simple.” Wagner added. 

Keith Pelley also added on this topic, “While he was worrying about that, ours was creating a plan that was methodically thought out and looked like he’s executed it flawlessly,” he said, bringing in a strong contrast to the approaches between the two captains. Europe’s captain, Luke Donald, rather than relying on altering the course through placing pins on softer greens, focused on course management and player strengths, which was the ultimate deciding factor. 

This Ryder Cup gives a better and more valuable lesson to future captains. Analytics and data are indeed valuable, but they cannot replace instinct or the fundamental character of a course. By prioritizing data-driven adjustments, Team US neutralized the playing field of Bethpage Black being a tough course, giving away their advantage. As a result, the 2025 Ryder Cup turned out to be a warning signal of the need to correct the balance between modern strategic tactics and the need to retain the integrity of traditional courses.