Eight years ago, Team USA Captain Jim Furyk was hitting shots off the Eiffel Tower as U.S. Ryder Cup captain in Paris, as moderator Scott Crockett reminded him on Tuesday. That week ended in a one-sided European win. Now Scottie Scheffler and Team USA have just pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in Presidents Cup history, and Furyk still isn’t celebrating.
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Speaking alongside European captain Luke Donald at Adare Manor on October 6, the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup captain made his mood clear. “Yeah, I think the word that Luke used we use a lot in our organisation is evolve. Even the best players in the world, they are trying to stay on top of their games, they are trying to find ways to get better and evolve,” he said, per a transcription by ASAPtext. “We’re not real happy with the last two results, so, yes, change will be made. We’re going to evolve. We’re going to get better, noticeably, I guess, right off the bat, a new points system moving forward, a new analytics team moving forward. But a number of different changes coming and stuff that we’re very excited about.”
Furyk did not name any players. Still, it is hard to talk about Team USA’s recent struggles without mentioning Scottie Scheffler. The world No. 1 won three times in 2026 and claimed the FedEx Cup, but he went 1-4-0 at the 2025 Ryder Cup and was benched for one session at Medinah.
Furyk did not blame Scheffler directly, but the world No. 1 is still the biggest name on a U.S. team that needs to improve. Furyk was speaking at a Ryder Cup news conference, and his comments can be understood in the context of the U.S. losing the last two Ryder Cups, in Rome in 2023 and at Bethpage Black in 2025. That is an interpretation of his comments, not something Furyk said himself. Europe has now won nine of the last 12 Ryder Cups.
The Presidents Cup was a win, but the Ryder Cup is the event the Americans keep losing. The comeback at Medinah was real. The International team led 10.5-7.5 heading into Sunday, the first time they had ever carried a lead into singles on U.S. soil. The Americans then won 9.5 of the 12 singles points to take the Cup 17-13, the largest final-day comeback in Presidents Cup history. Scheffler won during the Sunday surge, and Jacob Bridgeman clinched the Cup.
Furyk saw it from inside the team room as one of Brandt Snedeker’s captain’s assistants. He also saw the earlier struggles, including a Friday when the Americans lost all five foursomes matches. Foursomes is the alternate-shot format, and the U.S. took just two points from nine foursomes matches overall.
The 2025 Ryder Cup showed just how damaging a slow start can be. Europe beat the U.S. 15-13 at Bethpage Black after taking a record seven-point lead into Sunday. The Americans fought back and cut the gap to three points with four matches still on the course, but they simply ran out of time. It was also Europe’s first Ryder Cup win on U.S. soil since 2012.
Furyk knows how painful a Ryder Cup loss can be. He was part of the U.S. team that lost to Europe in Paris in 2018. He has also been part of every U.S. Ryder Cup team since 1997 as a player, assistant or captain. Now, he wants Team USA to change how it prepares for these events. Two of the biggest changes will be a new points system and a new analytics team.
The new points system was announced on September 9. The 2027 qualifying race will begin at The American Express in January and end at the BMW Championship in August. It will cover 31 events. Results from the 2026 season, including the major championships, will no longer count. Points will also no longer be based directly on prize money.
Major winners will earn 3,000 points, while the winner of The Players Championship will get 2,850. Winners of Signature Events and playoff events will earn 2,250 points, while winners of regular full-field events will receive 1,500. The top six players will qualify automatically, and Furyk will choose the other six as captain’s picks.
The goal is simple. Furyk wants the system to show which players are playing their best golf close to the Ryder Cup, instead of giving too much weight to what they did months earlier.
Team USA has also changed its analytics setup. Golfweek reported in June that Furyk had moved away from Scouts Consulting Group, which had worked with U.S. teams since 2016. A new group led by Justin Ray and Hunter Stewart has now taken over. Furyk said telling Scouts founder Jason Aquino about the change was a difficult conversation.
The move also comes as Europe continues to make strong use of data through Edoardo Molinari, who has worked closely with the European team. In that sense, the Americans may be trying to close a gap that Europe has already spent years building.
Furyk is hardly new to this world. He led the U.S. to victory at the 2024 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal before returning as an assistant at Medinah in 2026. He also experienced the other side of the story in Paris in 2018. That mix of success and disappointment is important. Furyk has seen what works, but he has also seen how quickly things can go wrong. And now he has to put those lessons together as captain. The 2027 Ryder Cup will be held from September 17-19 at Adare Manor in County Limerick, Ireland. The U.S. has not won the Ryder Cup on European soil since 1993. That is the real challenge waiting for Furyk.
The Presidents Cup trophy was a great comeback, but it did not erase the questions around Team USA. Furyk knows there is still work to do. His message is clear: the team needs to adapt, improve, and find a better way forward. Now, he has less than a year to show that those changes can actually work in Ireland.