DeChambeau and Cantlay provide intriguing fire and ice combination for US Ryder Cup quest
Patrick Cantlay of Team United States sits down for an interview during the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage State Park on Tuesday, September 23, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/PGA of America)
Patrick Cantlay bears no ill will towards European fans for the way he was vilified in Rome.
"Hats off to your bank account," they cried, but he had the last laugh after it emerged he was in dispute about being paid for playing, rolling in three putts on the last three greens to at least save US blushes in the Saturday afternoon foursomes win that briefly stemmed the European tide two years ago.
"No, I think the fans being so passionate and tribal this week has become such an integral part of this event," he said, denying that he was bitter. "It's just to be expected at this point. I think it makes the event fun."
The fact that he said it with a smile on his face, his head covered by a presumably made-to-measure USA cap that was conspicuous by its absence in the Eternal City, spoke volumes.
It wasn't a beatific smile but the kind of smile that doesn't reach the eyes, something you might expect from a young assistant bank manager as he tells you that you have absolutely no chance of getting that personal loan.
In an American team replete with rookies and what US skipper Keegan Bradley described as an over-abundance of "calm, mellow guys", Cantlay looks like a man who's comfortable donning the villain's black hat and bringing the ice to Bryson DeChambeau's fire.
After Rome, he was described as "a dick" by Rory McIlroy — a dig that has its origin in boardroom politics on the PGA TOUR.
But as far as his teammates and the US fans are concerned, he's "Patty Ice", the cold-eyed assassin who made clutch putt after clutch putt en route to victory over DeChambeau in a six-hole playoff for the BMW Championship in 2021.
He won the FedEx Cup that year, starred for Steve Stricker in the 2021 Ryder Cup rout at Whistling Straits (three and a half points out of four), and the 2022 Presidents Cup before using "hat-gate" as fuel to deliver one of the better US performances in Rome.
With four rookies in his side, Cantlay is a player Keegan Bradley sees as key this week.
"Quite simply, Patrick was born for the Ryder Cup," Bradley said when handing him a wildcard.
Those rookies include low-key personalities like JJ Spaun, Ben Griffin and Russell Henley, who named Cantlay as "the first person I think of when I think of Ryder Cup."
Bryson DeChambeau of Team United States reacts to his putt on the third hole on the Black Course during the 2025 Ryder Cup Practice Round at Bethpage State Park. Photo by Scott Taetsch/PGA of America
"I played a lot of amateur golf with him, and he beat me in the U.S. Am; he was No. 1-ranked amateur in the world when I was in college, and we played the Walker Cup together, played the Palmer Cup together," Henley said. "Just a guy who I feel like thrives in these tournaments."
Europe might hope that the PGA of America's decision to give US players a $200,000 stipend, as well as a $300,000 charity donation, will backfire and turn the crowd against them should Europe threaten to retain the Cup.
But Cantlay neatly sidestepped that landmine with the cool of a Wall Street investment analyst dismissing a blip in the market.
"I think one of the great things about these team events for me is there's always such a big charitable component to it, and so I'm going to donate the money to my charity," the world No.22 said.
When it comes to providing some explosiveness in the US team room that might ignite the crowd, it's clear that world number one Scottie Scheffler is not the big key for Bradley, but Cantlay's icl cook and the fire of the divisive DeChambeau, who this week credited President Donald Trump with saving the Ryder Cup.
"Thanks to President Trump's decisive leadership, the Ryder Cup experience will be everything fans and the golf community deserve," DeChambeau said, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, when revealing that Trump had issued an Executive Order preventing a strike by the Long Island Rail Road that could have crippled the New York City area and Bethpage.
Whether a loose cannon like DeChambeau—described as a "captain's nightmare" by analyst Brandel Chamblee—can help Bradley win back the Ryder Cup, remains to be seen.
But the US skipper Bradley sounded more than impressed yesterday.
"I think Bryson, just his golfing ability alone is an X-factor for our team, but also, he's a really fiery player," Bradley said. "When you come to a Ryder Cup, you don't want guys to try to be something they're not.
"We have a lot of calm, mellow guys, so we need the energy from Bryson, and he brings that every day in practice rounds, in the team room, and hopefully in the tournament competition too."
It's Bradley's job to mould 12 wildly contrasting characters into a team and Xander Schauffele sees DeChambeau as a lynchpin.
"I feel like Bryson could be like the difference for us in a strange way from the standpoint of feeding into these fans, the style of golf he plays," Schauffele said. "I'll make a putt, and you won't see too much of a reaction….
"But Bryson is like, this is his arena. If he views himself as a gladiator golfer, this is as good as it gets. He's been awesome. He's been awesome in the team room.
"I'm excited to sort of see what he can do, and hopefully get a lot of points up on the board because his points might hit harder than maybe my points, for example, just because of how he might celebrate and get these fans into this tournament quickly."
