Brandt Snedeker fires warning shot at Europeans that U.S. will 'be a problem' at 2027 Ryder Cup - Golfweek
MEDINAH, IL – It didn’t take long for winning U.S. Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker to gift-wrap some delicious bulletin-board material to Team Europe ahead of next year’s Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in Ireland.
The U.S. had just secured the Presidents Cup for the 11th straight time thanks to a furious comeback on Sunday when Snedeker delivered an impassioned reply to PGA Tour Radio about what it meant for him to see that winning putt drop.
“It doesn’t mean anything for me, it means more for USA golf. I think we’re all tired of this narrative that we don’t care about each other, that we don’t know how to play team golf. I think this proves it. You don’t come back the way we did if these guys haven’t all bought into each other. This team is going to be a problem in Ireland. It’s going to be a problem.”
Snedeker didn’t specify what type of problem but given that the U.S. has lost the last two Ryder Cups and hasn’t won on foreign soil since 1993, it may have been premature to give the European side any extra ammunition. European captain Luke Donald likely already has shared it on the team text thread.
It was very reminiscent of when 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley delivered an impassioned, profanity-laced rallying cry in the U.S. team room after the 2024 Presidents Cup in Montreal, famously predicting that the U.S. would go to Bethpage and "kick Europe's ass," which was captured in the Netflix documentary “Full Swing.” That didn't end well — a beat down the first two days and an eventual 15-13 home loss.
In Snedeker’s defense, it’s been an emotional week for the captain, who nearly became the first American skipper to lose the Presidents Cup since 1998 and he admitted that it’s been a stressful job. His emotions poured out after his players bailed him out so he would at least be in the record books as a winning captain.
“I don't think anybody knows what’s the weight a captain carries on their shoulders all week. I don't think they realize that you're not just making a decision that affects you, you're making a decision that ripple affects the whole team -- people's families, people's lives. Every decision you make carries a serious consequence,” Snedeker said. “You think you know, but you don't until you've done it.”
Jim Furyk, who will serve as the U.S. captain in Ireland in 2027, took a more even-keeled approach — he's a pro's pro at this stuff — when he was asked what the lessons he learned from this week were that he could apply to Ireland next year.
“I've seen a lot of lineups; I've seen a lot of team rooms. I think you're always learning. I'm always trying to find ways, new ideas. We had some new people in the room this year. Always sharing ideas, always trying to learn, always trying to be a calming influence,” he said.
Will his U.S. team be “a problem?” At least Snedeker thinks so, but riling up the Euros with a fresh wave of bulletin-board material may be its own sort of problem, and something for Furyk to handle.
Adam Schupak is a Golfweek senior writer covering the PGA Tour and the Presidents Cup.
