2025 Ryder Cup Recap: The 5 Best Players at Bethpage
Despite almost blowing a seemingly insurmountable lead in singles matches on the final day of competition, Europe once again won the Ryder Cup in 2025, beating the US 15-13 in front of a passionate crowd at Bethpage Black in New York. Europe, which has now won nine of the 12 Ryder Cups in the 21st century, carried a record seven-point lead heading into Sunday's 12 singles matches. Both sides gained a half-point after Europe's Viktor Hovland was unable to compete due to injury, giving Europe a 12-5 lead with 11 matches to play.
The result seemed inevitable early on, with many Europeans jumping out to early leads in their matches, but the tide gradually shifted and the Americans began building momentum. The Americans won the first three matches that were decided, closing the gap to 12-8, before Europe's Ludvig Åberg gained a full point with his win over Patrick Cantlay. This was Europe's only win in 11 matches, but they gained two more points by halving four other matches.
Shane Lowry secured the victory for Europe when he made a six-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in his match against Russell Henley. "I have a chance to do the coolest thing in my life here," Lowry recalled telling his teammates while walking up the 18th fairway. "The Ryder Cup means everything to me."
Here's a look at the top six performers from the 2025 Ryder Cup based on points won.
Tommy Fleetwood (Europe)
A 34-year-old native of Southport, England, Tommy Fleetwood capped off a career year at the Ryder Cup. During the 2025 season, Fleetwood won the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club, finishing three strokes ahead of runners-up Cantlay and Henley. This was his first career PGA Tour win after many near misses, including 30 top-five finishes in 163 career starts. With the win, he earned the FedEx Cup and $10 million.
Fleetwood played all five sessions in the Ryder Cup and led all players with four points. While he lost his singles match against Justin Thomas on Sunday, he was a perfect 4-0 in foursomes and four ball, teaming with Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy. He and McIlroy beat Collin Morikawa and Harris English 5 & 4 in the morning foursomes on Friday, while with Rose he scored a 1 up win over Ben Griffin and Bryson DeChambeau in the afternoon four ball. Fleetwood won both of his Saturday matches 3 & 2.
Rory McIlroy (Europe)
McIlroy led all European players with four points in the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy and had another impressive showing at Bethpage, recording 3.5 points. Like Fleetwood, he lost his singles match on Sunday, but was 2-0 in foursomes and 1-0-1 in four ball. He won both of his pairings with Fleetwood and, with Lowry, halved a four ball match against Cantlay and Sam Burns and beat Thomas and Cameron Young 2 up.
McIlroy also made headlines for the way he was treated by the boisterous and sometimes inflammatory American crowd. Fans chanted obscenities at him and some had to be removed for unacceptable behavior. Both Golf Monthly and Golf Magazine acknowledged that fans had crossed the line with their remarks and actions.
Tyrrell Hatton (Europe)
One of two players to go undefeated at the Ryder Cup, Tyrrell Hatton was 2-0 in foursomes, 1-0 in four ball, and halved his singles match against Morikawa. He and Jon Rahm won both of their foursomes matches, beating DeChambeau and Thomas 4 & 3 and Cantlay and Xander Schauffele 3 & 2.
Jon Rahm (Europe)
Rahm, who won his second consecutive LIV Golf individual championship earlier in the year, was 2-0 in foursomes with Hatton, 1-1 with Sepp Straka in four ball, and lost his singles match to Schauffele, contributing three points for his European team. He and Straka helped Europe jump out to a 5.5-2.5 lead after the first day, beating world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and 2025 U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun 3 & 2.
He was beaten 4 & 3 by Schauffele in what was the shortest match and most decisive victory for the Americans on Sunday.
Xander Schauffele (USA)
One of the lone bright spots for the Americans, Schauffele contributed three of the team's 13 points. In addition to his dominant victory over Rahm on Sunday, he won his lone four ball match, teaming with Spaun to beat Rahm and Straka 1 up on Saturday. He was 1-1 in foursomes, scoring a 2 up win with Cantlay over Hovland and Robert MacIntyre and losing 3 & 2 to Rahm and Hatton.
Schauffele's performance was much needed after a disappointing 2025 season in which the world No. 3 missed the TOUR Championship, a tournament for the top-30 players in the FedEx Cup standings, for the first time in his career. He had played in eight previous TOUR Championships. Schauffele missed two months due to a rib injury that clearly affected his game; he shot an 81 in the last round of The Players Championship and finished the year outside the top 100 in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee.