The 45th Ryder Cup begins on Friday at Bethpage, New York, with Europe looking to become the first away victors in the competition since 2012.

Thirteen years ago, a team captained by Jose Maria Olazabal triumphed by 15 ½ points to 14 ½ at Medinah, Illinois, with the five subsequent editions all being won by the home team.

Having cruised to victory in 2023 in Rome, Europe have kept faith with Luke Donald for a second straight edition, making him the team's first repeat captain in 30 years.

Masters champion Rory McIlroy was the only European to win a major title in 2025, and he will lead the visitors' charge alongside FedEx Cup victor Tommy Fleetwood.

Scottie Scheffler headlines the United States' team, with Keegan Bradley captaining the hosts, having decided against selecting himself to play after much deliberation.

Ahead of the most eagerly anticipated three days in the golf calendar, we dive into the Opta data to profile both teams and pick out the players and storylines to watch.

THE HOSTS – UNITED STATES

When the USA last hosted the Ryder Cup, at Whistling Straits in 2021, they racked up the biggest margin of victory in the modern era (since 1979), triumphing 19-9.

Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Harris English, Justin Thomas and Scheffler are the seven remaining faces from that team, with J.J. Spaun, Russell Henley, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young and Sam Burns joining them. 

Of those five introductions, all but Burns are Ryder Cup rookies, and this USA team is the second-least experienced this century, with just 56 previous Ryder Cup matches between them. That could be a good omen, however, as the victorious class of 2021 had just 49 between them ahead of that edition.

And in Scheffler, the USA boast the current world number one and the winner of two of this year's four majors.

Scheffler has won three of the last eight majors, triumphing at the Masters in 2024, as well as the PGA Championship and The Open this year. He was also the only player to finish in the top 10 at all four majors in 2025.

Since the last Ryder Cup, Scheffler has emerged as the dominant force on the PGA Tour, winning 13 tournaments. McIlroy has the next-most titles, with five.

But Scheffler underperformed in Rome two years ago and will be desperate to atone here. He took 2.5 points from three matches on home soil in 2021, then failed to win a single match in 2023 (two ties, two losses).

Spaun was the other American to win a major this year, beating Robert MacIntyre by two shots at June's U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Momentum is firmly behind the 35-year-old ahead of his Ryder Cup bow, having climbed 112 places in the world rankings this year, rising from 119th to seventh – that is the largest jump by any of the 24 qualified players.

There are six major champions among the USA team, compared to four in Europe's ranks. Schauffele, DeChambeau and Morikawa are also among them, and they are all appearing at the Ryder Cup for a third time, while Thomas is participating in his fourth edition, making him the most experienced player on the home team.

Thomas is also the only player on this year's USA team to have played in 10 or more Ryder Cup matches, and he boasts a perfect record in singles matchups (three wins). His fourball and foursomes appearances have been more mixed, as he has four wins, two ties and four losses.

Schauffele won all three of his fourball/foursomes matches the last time the Ryder Cup was played in the USA, and it would be no surprise if he is paired with Cantlay during Friday's opening session. 

Since 2019, no USA pairing has been used more often than Cantlay and Schauffele, across the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. The duo have played together 13 times, winning seven of their matches. The last three editions of the Ryder Cup have seen the victors build an opening-day lead, so making a strong start could be imperative.

Indeed, since 1979, only four of 22 Ryder Cups have seen a team overturn a deficit going into the final-day singles, in 1993, 1995, 1999 and 2012.

The USA have won 59% of singles sessions against Europe (13 of 22), but they have lost six of the last 11 sessions in the format, with one being tied, so the tide has begun to turn in recent years.

Bradley used two of his captain's picks on first-timers Griffin and Young, and both players will be desperate to ride their upward momentum into this tournament.

Griffin is one of three Americans to register multiple PGA Tour victories this year, alongside Scheffler and Brian Campbell, while his 11 top-10 finishes on the tour this year have only been bettered by Scheffler (17).

Young, meanwhile, is fittingly the youngest player on the home team, at 28 years and four months old. He won his first-ever PGA Tour event at last month's Wyndham Championship, while he has not finished lower than 11th in five outings since missing the cut at The Open in July.

The captain – Keegan Bradley

Bradley toyed with the idea of becoming the first playing captain at the Ryder Cup since Arnold Palmer in 1963, having represented his nation at the 2012 and 2014 editions. 

He ultimately decided against doing so, saying this week: "I feel like I've been called for a bigger cause here, to help our guys get ready to play and play at the highest level."

At 39 years old, Bradley is the youngest USA Ryder Cup captain since Palmer led the team to victory against Great Britain in 1963, as a 34-year-old.

Though both of his playing appearances at the Ryder Cup ended in defeat, Bradley's 80% win rate in the foursomes/fourballs format (four wins, five matches) is the best of any USA player this century. 

Only four USA captains have previously lost to Europe on home soil, with Bradley keen to avoid joining Jack Nicklaus (1987), Lanny Wadkins (1995), Hal Sutton (2004) and Davis Love III (2012) on that list.

THE VISITORS – EUROPE

While some believe the USA lack valuable Ryder Cup experience, the same cannot be said of Europe, who are a picture of consistency.

Eleven of Europe's players for this year also featured in 2023, with Rasmus Hojgaard the only new addition after replacing his twin brother Nicolai. 

That is the fewest changes from one Ryder Cup to the next by any team in the tournament's modern history (since 1979). Europe are also fielding their fewest Ryder Cup rookies since that memorable triumph in Illinois 13 years ago.

In McIlroy (eight appearances) and Justin Rose (seven), Europe boast the two players at this year's competition with the most previous Ryder Cup participations. 

Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick and Jon Rahm have previously played at three editions, Shane Lowry and Viktor Hovland have done so twice, while Sepp Straka and Ludvig Aberg made their first appearances in 2023.

Europe's players have a combined 128 Ryder Cup matches under their belts, with McIlroy accounting for 33 and Rose for 26.

McIlroy is appearing at an eighth successive Ryder Cup – the longest active streak by any player, and since his 2010 debut, he has played in every single session except the Saturday foursomes in 2021.

The Northern Irishman was the top points scorer at a Ryder Cup for the first time in Italy two years ago, taking four points from five matches, and he is hoping to cap a memorable year with a similar showing in New York.

In winning the Masters in April, McIlroy became the first European to complete the career Grand Slam. He has won four tournaments in 2025 across the PGA and DP World Tours – the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Players Championship, Masters and Irish Open. That is the most of any European. 

Rose was the man McIlroy beat in a dramatic play-off at Augusta National, and he will become just the fifth European to play in a Ryder Cup while aged 45 or over, after Bernhard Langer (2002), Miguel Angel Jimenez (2010), Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood (both 2021).

But Rose said earlier this week that his role was not to serve as Europe's "elder statesman", with points his priority. Rose has earned 75% of available points in Ryder Cup foursomes (7.5 from 10 matches) – the joint-best record in modern Ryder Cup history among players with five or more sessions, alongside Seve Ballesteros, Olazabal and captain Donald.

Rose's 1.5 points earned in 2023 were his fewest at any of his six Ryder Cups, though Europe did boast three unbeaten players at that edition, in MacIntyre, Rahm and Hatton.

Rahm, alongside Fleetwood, has the best foursomes record in modern Ryder Cup history, with both players winning all four of their matches in the format.

The nine different nationalities represented on Team Europe this year are a joint record, alongside 1997, 2002, 2014 and 2023, with three Scandinavians involved again.

With Denmark's Rasmus Hojgaard replacing his brother Nicolai, the Hojgaards will become the first pair of twins to both boast Ryder Cup appearances, while Norwegian Hovland is featuring at his third Ryder Cup and is the only European to have featured in all 10 sessions across the last two editions.

In 2023, Hovland partnered with Sweden's Aberg – then a Ryder Cup debutant – for a stunning 9&7 win over Scheffler and Brooks Koepka in the foursomes, the largest 18-hole victory in modern Ryder Cup history.

McIlroy's close friend Lowry has something to prove, having recorded a 41.7% scoring rate at the last two Ryder Cups – only Fitzpatrick (16.7%) has a lower scoring rate among the Europeans who appeared at both competitions.

Austria's Straka, meanwhile, is one of just two Europeans to clinch multiple PGA Tour titles this year, alongside McIlroy.

Europe will hope the experience in their ranks can propel them to a 13th Ryder Cup win, extending the gap to the USA, who have nine wins since continental Europe was first included in 1979.

The captain – Luke Donald 

Having led Europe to glory two years ago, Donald has appeared supremely confident since arriving in New York, feeling comfortable enough to take jabs at his opposite number during Wednesday's captain's speeches.

"It's not about prize money or world ranking points," Donald declared, after the USA changed the way players were paid for this edition. 

American participants were previously given $200,000 each for a charity of their choice, but they will now receive $500,000 – $300,000 for charity and a $200,000 personal stipend to spend how they see fit. Europe's players told Donald they did not want to be paid to play at the Ryder Cup.

Donald is the first European to repeat the captaincy since Bernard Gallacher led the team in 1991, 1993 and 1995, and with good reason.

He has won every single Ryder Cup he has featured in as a player (2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012) or as a captain (2023). As a player, he collected 10.5 points from a possible 15 (70%), the best scoring ratio of any European to have taken part in at least three Ryder Cups.

THE COURSE

Bethpage is the second venue in New York State to host the Ryder Cup, after Oak Hill in 1995. Europe might hope the choice of venue contains some positive omens, as they won that edition 14 ½ to 13 ½. 

But Americans have won all three of the major championships to be held at Bethpage. Tiger Woods won the 2002 U.S. Open at the venue, with Lucas Glover winning the 2009 edition, while Koepka was victorious at the 2019 PGA Championship.

At the first tee of Bethpage's Black Course, a famous sign reads: "WARNING: The Black Course is an extremely difficult course which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers."

The narrow fairway on that first hole will provide players with a baptism of fire, particularly the Europeans, who will be entering a cauldron of noise.

But will the brutal, par-71 course get a nail-biting finale reminiscent to the one we saw at Medinah 13 years ago?

Eight of the last 10 Ryder Cups have seen the victors win by five points or more, after the previous eight editions were all decided by three points or fewer.

But with Europe boasting more team experience and the USA having the edge when it comes to recent major winners, anything could happen, and at the Ryder Cup, drama is guaranteed.