For the American’s to win, Scottie Scheffler needs to be a force, but Justin Thomas’s fire and grit could define the weekend at Bethpage Black.
Scottie Scheffler has a game that should make opponents wilt before a ball is struck. He’s the closest thing golf has to Dale Earnhardt in spikes. Relentless, unsmiling, an engine that never stalls. If the United States is going to win the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black this weekend, Scheffler has to play like The Intimidator drove and be a figure who makes Europeans grip their drivers just a little tighter.
But intimidation only goes so far. What the Americans also need is a heartbeat, and that’s where Justin Thomas comes in. The two-time major winner will be teaming with Bryson DeChambeau on Friday morning in foursomes, in the very first match of the event, and he needs to set the tone for the weekend.
It would be natural to feel nervous going out in the first match of a Ryder Cup, but Thomas has never been shy about nerves.
“Being nervous is great,” he said this week at Bethpage. “If any of us were out here on the first tee or in position to have a putt to win a Ryder Cup or win a match and weren’t nervous, that would be extremely concerning for our profession.”
He understands that pressure isn’t weakness; it’s proof the moment matters. That outlook, more than any strokes-gained chart, is why Thomas has become the emotional current of the U.S. team.
Across three Ryder Cups, Thomas has built a 7–4–2 record, collecting eight points. He’s undefeated in singles (3–0–0) and has proven lethal when paired with Jordan Spieth, his longtime partner in crime, but the Texan isn’t in New York this week. Instead, JT is playing Friday morning with DeChambeau, the most powerful golfer on the U.S. team. If DeChambeau’s brute strength can gel with Thomas’ fighting demeanor, captain Keegan Bradley will have what he needs from his leadoff team—tone setters.
And that’s what the Americans have lacked. Tiger Woods was the greatest player of his generation but never the emotional center of a Ryder Cup. Phil Mickelson talked plenty but often played inconsistently. Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka and even Scheffler have played roles, but none are built to light up a team room and rouse the passion needed to win a Ryder Cup. Europe, by contrast, has always had men like Seve, Poulter, Sergio and now Rory. They become larger than life during these weeks.
The Americans have needed their own spark, and Thomas is made to be it.
Asked this week if he sees himself as one of the leaders, the Kentucky native who starred at the University of Alabama hesitated. “I have a hard time viewing myself as that,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m quite ready to call myself the veteran. But I’m going to be anything that I feel like I need to be for this team, for certain players, for the captains. Yeah, I know that I’m one of the leaders on the team.”
The Bethpage crowd will test everyone, but Thomas is already leaning into it. “They expect us to play well and they want us to play well, and if we don’t, they’re going to be upset with us and disappointed with us and rightfully so,” he said. “New York is known as — they like their championships. They want to win. It’s no different for the Ryder Cup.” That blunt honesty is why the fans will feed off him and why his teammates will look to him when the noise gets deafening.
So here’s the equation at Bethpage: Scheffler has to dominate, but Thomas has to be the pulse of the American team. Scheffler can set the tone on the scoreboard, but Thomas sets the tone and create the electricity in the air.
Winning the RBC Heritage earlier this year mattered because it showed Thomas still knows how to win when his swing isn’t perfect. That stubbornness is exactly what the Ryder Cup rewards. This isn’t a competition staged in a bubble; it’s as closes as golf gets to street fight. Foursomes grind down swings, fourballs ratchet up adrenaline and singles expose nerve endings. Thomas, for all his ups and downs over the last few years, appears ready to embrace that chaos.
At Bethpage, America needs Scheffler to make Europe nervous, but they need Thomas to make America believe. As he goes, most likely, so will go the Americans. If his putts drop, if his fire spreads, if his energy infects the team room, the U.S. can ride his wave. If he sputters, the team could sag with him.
Scheffler may be the world’s No. 1, but Thomas needs to be the team’s pulse, and in the Ryder Cup, heart matters more than rankings.
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