Captain Jim Furyk on Why America Keeps Losing the Ryder Cup — and What He Is Going to Do About It The United States has not won a Ryder Cup on foreign soil since 1993. That is not a talent problem. The Americans have had the best players in the world for most of that stretch. It is something else. And Jim Furyk — the newly named US Ryder Cup Captain heading into Adare Manor in 2027 — knows exactly what it is. Trey sat down with Furyk for his first major interview since taking the captaincy. This is not a press conference. It is a real conversation about what has gone wrong, what needs to change, and what the plan actually looks like to finally bring the Ryder Cup back to American hands on European soil. Furyk has been part of this event since 1997. He has played on 16 teams. He captained the US at Paris in 2018 and served as a key figure in Montreal in 2024. Nobody in American golf has more experience inside this event than Jim Furyk. And he is not sugarcoating anything. The foursomes problem is real and he names it directly. One and seven in Rome. Two and six at Bethpage. Even in the blowout win in Montreal, the US was three points down in alternate shot. Furyk breaks down exactly why that has happened — from the golf ball situation to the pairings to the communication breakdown between captains and players — and what specifically changes under his watch. The organizational overhaul goes deeper than most people realize. Furyk is not just picking 12 players and sending them out. He is building a pipeline. He named Stuart Appleby and Justin Leonard as vice captains early — not because the job needs filling now but because he wants them inside every decision from day one. The goal is continuity from Ryder Cup to Ryder Cup. A program that learns and grows rather than starting over every two years with a new captain who has never run the operation before. The 2018 Paris lessons are specific and honest. Furyk talks about arriving in France exhausted — one day after the Tour Championship ended, Tiger's emotional comeback win still fresh, everyone running on fumes. He talks about underestimating the executive nature of the captain's role. How you spend more time managing 75 to 100 people — players, caddies, spouses, coaches, staff — than you do watching golf. He will not make those same mistakes at Adare Manor. The team arrives early. They get comfortable. They know the course before they tee it up in competition. The LIV qualification question comes up directly. With Bryson DeChambeau missing the cut at two straight majors and the future of that tour uncertain, how do LIV players earn their way onto the US team? Furyk addresses the point system overhaul, the captain's picks structure, and what he is actually looking for beyond just ranking. And then there is the culture question — the one that US golf fans have been asking for years. Why do the Europeans always look like they are having more fun? Furyk pushes back on that directly. He tells the story of 2008 at Valhalla — watching the Europeans on the 18th green on Saturday night, quiet and tight and concerned — and leaning over to his wife and saying they look like us every other year. Winning is fun. The US needs to get back to winning. The Ryder Cup is the greatest event in golf. Jim Furyk has spent 30 years inside it. Here is what he is building. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related