Justin Thomas says the greens crew ‘struggled’ with the US Ryder Cup team

Justin Thomas is currently recovering from A back surgery he underwent last month. But a tournament from September is still stuck in Thomas’s challenge: the disastrous 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

Thomas may not be able to play golf now, but he can still talk. And in an appearance in There are no extension podcasts, two-time grand champion the thought of the USA’s devastating loss in the Ryder Cup.

And in the most interesting moment, Thomas confirmed a suspicion of a contributing factor in the Americans’ lopsided loss: that the Greens were much slower than captain Keegan Bradley wanted. But he went even further, revealing that the American team “fought” the tournament’s green team to make the greens faster.

Slow Bethpage greens affect US Ryder Cup loss

Among the many variables that went into the European Ryder Cup team’s total dominance Friday and Saturday at Bethpage Black was course setup.

First, Bethpage Black’s infamous rough was cut, shocking many people because of that week. Rough was the choice of Captain Bradley. He and his team determined that the shorter one would benefit the American team with long shots.

The opposite turned out to be true and then Bradley admitted it was a mistake.

Green speeds at Bethpage Black that week are a different story. Bradley and the American team wanted the greens to be PGA Tour-level fast, which would have given the experienced Americans a distinct advantage in putting.

But when the game started Friday in Bethpage, Bradley and everyone else he realized the greens weren’t that fast the way they wanted to be.

Captain America revealed as much on Saturday night of Ryder Cup week after the Europeans defeated the American team for the second day in a row.

“I’ve never seen the Bethpage greens play so smoothly,” Bradley said that night. “Even when we’ve played here and it rains, that’s something I’ve never seen. Chip shots are rolling back.”

On Sunday, the maintenance crew finally got the greens running quickly and the American team flipped the script on the court, dominating the game and nearly coming back to win.

Thanks to Thomas’ appearance on No Laying Up, we now have insight into exactly what was going on with the putting surfaces during the Ryder Cup.

Thomas: US Ryder Cup team sparred with Bethpage staff over green speeds

About an hour after him interview with No Laying UpThomas was asked about the slow green controversy at the Ryder Cup, and he didn’t hold back.

The 16-time PGA Tour winner initially expressed his confusion and frustration with the situation.

“I don’t really understand it. I don’t know why (the greens) weren’t what Keegan (Bradley) was looking for at all. I mean, he had been very clear that he was looking for a certain speed and he wanted them fast enough,” Thomas began.

According to Thomas’ comments, the issue was not that the Bethpage crew members were unable to speed up the greens, but that they denied that the greens were playing slowly.

This led to backroom wrangling as Team USA pleaded with them to speed up the deployment surfaces.

“I saw them argue with us that they were 13 (on the Stimpmeter). It’s like, ‘Guys, we play golf every week, like, look on TV how many guys are leaving short shots. Nobody’s getting … You can’t have a putt, roll, three feet, four feet behind the hole. How slow these greens are, speed them up.’

He went on to explain the true impact of the dust up on the greens: it turned a distinct advantage for the home team into a disadvantage.

“It was just weird because that’s not something you’d expect in a Ryder Cup at home. And again, that’s not an excuse, (the European players) had to adjust to them as much as we did. We asked, so that was weird,” said Thomas No Laying Up.

Thomas confirmed that the greens were faster on Sunday. But that was a day too late. The Americans’ furious charge in Sunday’s singles could not make up for the first two days, and the Europeans reclaimed the Ryder Cup 15-13.

You can watch Thomas’ full appearance on the No Laying Up podcast here.

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