The Ryder Cup’s “envelope rule” has caused a stir. Another team activity has an interesting fix

The 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black has an unusual wrinkle.

When Viktor Hovland was injured in Sunday’s singles match, the so-called “envelope rule” was enacted. Under the agreement, each captain – Bethpage’s captains are Keegan Bradley (U.S.) and Luke Donald (Europe) – submits an envelope containing the player’s name before the singles match. If a player from the opposing team withdraws due to injury or illness, the opposing team’s envelope will come out and the person named inside will also miss the singles match, with each team receiving half a point.

When this rule was introduced in Bethpage, it aroused no small amount of scorn. Questions that arise include: Why should the U.S. team be punished because European players can’t play? Why would any player – in this case, Harris English – be denied a hard-earned opportunity to play on one of golf’s grandest stages? Splitting opinion is a sport, of course, but naysayers argue that now that the Ryder Cup has evolved from a friendly exhibition match into a high-stakes, high-energy event, the rule definitely needs a rethink.

A solution may be found in another team event taking place this week.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Skechers World Champions Cup, that’s probably because it was first held in 2023 and canceled due to inclement weather in 2024, meaning this week’s event at Feather Sound CC near Tampa, Florida is only the second edition. The event is the PGA Tour Champions’ answer to the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, with teams of golfers over 50 from the United States, Europe and other parts of the world competing in five matches over three days. Each side has six players, including a match captain and two vice-captains.

If there’s one player on each of the three World Cup teams you wouldn’t expect, it’s probably the eternal gym-goer, whole-grain-eating wonder, Bernhard Langer. Last weekend, however, Langer started feeling terrible (sore throat, pain, low energy) and by the time he arrived at Feather Sound, he still wasn’t feeling well enough that Langer decided it would be best to sit out the first day of Thursday’s game.

Every player will feature in every match of the World Champions Cup, so one of the tournament’s rules is activated: Europe captain Darren Clark can replace Langer with one of Clark’s two assistant captains, Soren Kelderson and Jesper Parnevik. Clark selected Kayederson, who took immediate action Thursday morning. The pair played alongside Alex Cjeka in the best-of-nine hole, making six birdies for a tie-high score of 10.5 points, before scoring a further 9.5 points in the afternoon’s improved alternating-shot format.

“Bernhard wasn’t great when we came here,” said Europe’s Thomas Bjørn, who like Kayedsen is from Denmark. “Soren, you could see he had an idea that he might play. He prepared well. I think that says a lot about him. A lot of guys would come in here as a vice-captain and just hang out and do nothing. Soren was prepared like he was going to play, and that’s why he came in and played well.”

sane and pleasure Rules, right? It makes you wonder if it should be included in the Ryder Cup as well.

One, it would add some spice to vice-captain selection (you want at least one player who can be ready to go at short notice), and two, it would remove the awkwardness of having to score points without playing at a crucial moment on Sunday.

If Bethpage implements this rule, Donald will have five assistant captains to choose from: Tomas Bjorn, Francisco Molinari, Eduardo Molinari, Alex Nolen and José María Olazabal. There was no question who Donald would choose: Nolen, who was so good in the second half of the season that many observers thought he could have been on the team as a player.

It would be great if the Ryder Cup was snubbed and had a chance at redemption. . . Ryder Cup!

Hopefully the US PGA and European Ryder Cup will be able to set the record straight this week.

” >