The 19 biggest names to miss out on the 2025 Ryder Cup
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The Ryder Cup always delivers drama – and some of it comes weeks before play begins. With the teams now set, we round up the biggest American and European players to miss out on Bethpage 2025, from major champions to Ryder Cup legends.
The Ryder Cup always delivers drama, but some of the biggest fireworks come before a ball is even struck. With the teams for Bethpage Black now locked in, there’s no shortage of talking points – and no shortage of big names staying at home. Some of these omissions are surprises, others a sign of shifting eras, and a few highlight just how brutal the selection process has become.
Here’s my take on the biggest names who won’t be in New York this September.
Team USA
Keegan Bradley
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2012, 2014
Ryder Cup record: 4 (wins) – 3 (losses – 0 (ties)
Let’s start with the biggest will-he-won’t-he of 2025. After not getting a pick many feel he deserved in 2023, Bradley’s on-course performances this time gave the Team USA captain the ultimate conundrum of whether to pick himself as a player. He finished 11th in the USA rankings, but ultimately felt that playing would detract from his powers as a skipper. You could feel the hurt during the press conference where he announced his picks and explained why he’d left himself off the team.
“I grew up wanting to play Ryder Cups,” he said. “I grew up wanting to fight alongside these guys, and it broke my heart not to play, it really did.
“You work forever to make these teams, but ultimately, I was chosen to do a job. I was chosen to be a captain of this team, and my ultimate goal was to be the best captain I could be, and this is how I felt I could do this.”
Jordan Spieth
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2023
Ryder Cup record: 8 – 9 – 5
Spieth has been a Ryder Cup staple for the last decade, but his struggles on the course proved too much to overlook. The chemistry with Justin Thomas once made him a lock, but in 2025? Not enough form, not enough results. It’s a reminder that reputations don’t guarantee plane tickets.
Brooks Koepka
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2016, 2018, 2021, 2023
Ryder Cup record: 7 – 6 – 2
Remember when Koepka was the man you’d least like to face in match play? That aura has faded. He missed the cut in three of this year’s majors and suffered his first winless season on LIV – registering only two top-10 finishes.
Maverick McNealy
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: None
Has some right to feel aggrieved as the highest-placed player in the Team USA rankings not to make the team.
A strong run of form had pushed him to 10th in the rankings, but it wasn’t enough to convince Bradley to take a chance on the Ryder Cup rookie.
“To come so close to, and fall just short of, making the Ryder Cup team… hurts.” he said. “I wanted so badly to be in that team room, wear the red, white, and blue, and – more than anything – make that putt to win points for the USA. That said, Captain Keegan Bradley is bringing a stacked squad to Bethpage, and I am grateful to have even been in the conversation. He has handled one of the toughest responsibilities in golf with professionalism and enthusiasm, and I’ll be rooting hard for his team. I just wish I had executed a bit better on a couple of occasions.”
Brian Harman
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2023
Ryder Cup record: 2 – 2 – 0
The next highest player in the rankings not to make the team, 2023 Open champion Harman can feel unlucky not to be picked but may not be shocked by his omission.
He’s had a good season – winning the Valero Texas Open and finishing T10 at Royal Portrush – but Harman’s lack of length is seen as a real issue at Bethpage Black, a course that typically requires plenty of power.
Patrick Reed
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2014, 2016, 2018
Ryder Cup record: 7 – 3 – 2
Captain America has a great Ryder Cup record, including winning all three of his singles matches, and clearly loves the contest. He also won a FedEx Cup playoff event at Bethpage Black back in 2016. He’s been the seventh-best player on LIV this season, with one win and five further top-10s.
But all of that wasn’t enough to convince Bradley.
A better major season might have done it, but after finishing third at the Masters, Reed missed the cut at the PGA Championship, finished T23 at the US Open, and missed the cut at The Open.
Wyndham Clark
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2023
Ryder Cup record: 1 – 1 – 1
A run of good form that saw him sandwich a T4 finish at The Open between a T11 at the Scottish Open and a T12 at the 3M Open propelled Clark up the rankings and into contention, but ultimately his inconsistency seems to have proved too big a risk for Bradley to take.
Chris Gotterup
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: None
Like Clark, a late run of form pushed Gotterup into contention – especially after winning the Scottish Open – but he ended the season 20th in the Ryder Cup rankings and was always an outsider for a pick.
Only turned 26 a few months ago so still has plenty of time and Ryder Cups ahead of him.
Rickie Fowler
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2023
Ryder Cup record: 3 – 9 – 5
Fowler’s comeback story has been one of golf’s best in recent years, but it hasn’t stretched far enough to carry him to Bethpage. He’s won less than a third of potential Ryder Cup points, which suggests he won’t be a huge loss for Bradley’s team.
Max Homa
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2023
Ryder Cup record: 3 – 1– 1
Homa was Team USA’s star man in Rome two years ago, registering three wins, one loss, and one tie for the week, claiming the most points of any American player at Marco Simone.
With that record on his side, a half-decent 2025 season might have been enough to secure Homa a pick. Unfortunately, it was a year marked by numerous missed cuts, just one top-10 finish, and a fall outside the top 100 in the World Rankings.
Tony Finau
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2018, 2021
Ryder Cup record: 3 – 3 – 0
The fact Big Tone was never part of the conversation is a sad indictment of how far his stock has fallen in recent years.
He’s winless in more than two years and hasn’t managed a top-20 since May.
Turns 36 shortly before the Ryder Cup so still has time to refind his best and get back in the mix for future matches.
Team Europe
Matt Wallace
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: None
If you want proof of how much the Ryder Cup means to players, just watch this:
The Englishman’s bulldog spirit and strong end to the season – including a T2 at last week’s European Masters – saw him finish 12th in the European rankings and must have tempted Luke Donald, but ultimately it wasn’t quite enough, and Wallace’s tears suggested he knew it.
A shame, because his intensity at Bethpage could’ve been box office.
Nicolai Højgaard
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2023
Ryder Cup record: 0 – 2 – 1
A recent improvement in form – including a T4 at the Scottish Open, T14 at The Open, and T2 at the British Masters – wasn’t enough to prevent the Dane from being the only member of the victorious 2023 side not to keep his place.
Thomas Detry
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: None
The Belgian finished 13th in the European rankings but ended the season poorly, with no top-20s since June. Failed to impress at the majors, with two missed cuts and no top-20s.
Marco Penge
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: None
Penge finished 8th in last week’s European Masters and has won twice in a season that began with a three-month suspension, but it was all just too little too late for the man who finished 14th in the European rankings.
“It’s just great to be in the conversation, to be honest,” he said. “At the start of the year I was nowhere near thinking about Ryder Cup and [I have] only just missed out, so there’s a lot of confidence to take from that.”
Harry Hall
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: None
Hall will also feel he was in with a shot, having finished in the top 25 in 11 of his 12 starts since May – the other being a T28 at The Open, where he impressed for large stretches.
At 28, the Englishman has time to cement his place in future teams.
Aaron Rai
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: None
Finished 15th in the European rankings but ranks 157th on the PGA Tour so is likely a victim of the ‘Brian Harman exclusion’ – being too short to cope with Bethpage Black.
Thorbjørn Olesen
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 2018
Ryder Cup record: 1 – 1 – 0
The Dane has history in the Ryder Cup and plenty of flair, but a poor season saw him fall to 100th in the world and miss the cut at the US Open and The Open.
Sergio Garcia
Previous Ryder Cup appearances: 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021
Ryder Cup record: 25 – 13 – 7
And then there’s Sergio. Europe’s all-time Ryder Cup points scorer, the man who bleeds blue and gold. But a single LIV win wasn’t enough to justify a pick alongside a poor run in majors.
At 45, this may be the Ryder Cup curtain call for one of its greatest ever players.
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