The 2025 Ryder Cup will see some of the biggest names in golf lock horns for the most prestigious prize in the sport. The field at Bethpage will feature Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and many other prominent names. While they possess incredible abilities to change the course of any event, each of them also has a big personality that has helped them achieve incredible individual success. But the Ryder Cup is a team competition, and they will have to keep their egos aside before they step onto Bethpage.

That’s what many have already advised them to do as both teams prepare to tee off in New York. Spanish legend, Jose Maria Olazabal, shared his wisdom about the Ryder Cup after competing in 7 editions of the tournament. Olazabal told Golfweek, “Through all these years, what I learned about the Ryder Cup is that you don’t play for yourself, rather you play for your teammates, family, friends, people that you don’t know, people that are watching from home, miles away.”

After two years of battling for individual glory, when pro golfers enter the Ryder Cup, they have to forget about personal goals. Their objective should be to achieve the best result for their team. Whether they play at home or away, it’s their job to give their best performance for their country or continent and help them as much as they can to secure a win.

The Spanish icon also added, “You have to leave your egos away and realize that the team is the most important thing that week. If you do all that right, the Ryder Cup builds relationships that will last a lifetime. That’s why it is so close to me. I had the chance to share wonderful moments with my friend Seve [Ballesteros] and many other players through the years. The relationship and the bonds that are created during that week will last a lifetime.”

As Olazabal suggests, the Ryder Cup dressing room is not a place where you bring your egos. You keep them aside and try to form a great bond with your teammates. Over the years, these relationships have made the tournament so memorable. He did mention his friendship with Seve Ballesteros. Together, Seve and Jose formed one of the most successful European partnerships in the Ryder Cup. They were paired 15 times together with a record of 11-2-2. Their team was known as the ‘Spanish Armada’.

Coming back to the conversation, Jose Maria Olazabal is not the only one who advised the Ryder Cup players to keep their egos aside. Team Europe captain, Luke Donald also had a similar suggestion for everyone going to Bethpage. During an interview for Sky Sports, Donald said, “Every team has big egos, big personalities. What we did so well in Rome was, we left those personalities, those egos at the door.”

Luke admitted during the interview that Team Europe approached the 2023 Ryder Cup as a unit. None of the players were bothered about their individual records or positions in the team. “We had assembled all of our great talents and tried to create a team that didn’t have a lot of hierarchy.” Despite everything each of them had achieved in golf, they all went in as equals and supported each other for the betterment of the team. Even Rory McIlroy, as Donald specifically mentioned.

“Rory was great at that. He doesn’t want to be looked up at. He wants to look side by side with these guys. He wants to share his knowledge. He is, very much, a team person first. And having people with that character is really, really special,” said the Team Europe leader. McIlroy’s accolades in golf are something many would envy. Yet, when it comes to national duty, he never looked at himself as a leader. He would rather be a vital contributor to the squad. Getting ready for his eighth consecutive Ryder Cup, McIlroy would certainly have a lot of wisdom to share with all of his peers in Europe.

Interestingly, this is what Team U.S. might be lacking at Bethpage this year. And their recent dialogues around the subject show how different the mentality is in both dressing rooms.

Does Team Europe have a better dressing room dynamic than the Americans?

Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, and seven other pros will take on Team Europe at Bethpage. On paper, that is a winning team if you just consider the sheer talent they possess. However, some of them might not fit the right dynamic to be suitable for team competition. For DeChambeau, he might constantly be in conflict about playing with PGA Tour players. The LIV Golf pro missed the call for Rome in 2023 as he didn’t accumulate enough points to qualify for a spot. But this year, he is the only player from his league to feature in Team U.S. Only time will tell if that creates any conflicts.

Despite the incredible season in 2024, Schauffele has been in terrible form this year. He made the squad through automatic qualification. But it will be interesting to see how Keegan Bradley manages him at Bethpage. But the Team U.S. captain would be less worried about the world #3 and more about Cantlay, who was involved in the Hatgate controversy in 2023. Bradley would only be the 33-year-old who doesn’t get distracted with another personal project in New York this year.

Lastly, Morikawa has been through a roller-coaster ride this season. His conflict with the media after the Arnold Palmer Invitational resulted in a lot of backlash from the experts and fans alike. Still looking to get back to form, the 2-time major winner will have a lot on his mind at Bethpage. In such a complex dynamic, how will the players of Team U.S. manage to leave their big personalities and egos aside and unite to ward off the European threat?