Team USA laid an egg at this year’s Ryder Cup, losing, 16.5-11.5, in Italy.
During the event, reports emerged that there was dissension in the U.S. team room. Sources said the split was led by Patrick Cantlay, who was allegedly not wearing a hat to protest players not being paid to play in the Ryder Cup. U.S. team members and captains vehemently denied the report.
However, Lucas Glover, who wasn’t in Italy but was a strong candidate for a U.S. captain’s pick after rattling off back-to-back wins in August, gathered some intel about Team USA’s rift and was heartbroken about what he heard.
“It broke my heart the week after to hear about how splintered the room was and things about money and different things,” Glover told SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio this week. “That’s not at all what the Ryder Cup stands for. And I’m not just going on what I’ve read and been told, I’ve talked to some people who were there in the fight, and it breaks my heart to hear that because that’s not what it’s about, that’s not what it stands for and it’s not why I want to play on that team.”
Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, has never played in a Ryder Cup. But many thought the 43-year-old was deserving of that honor this year after he alleviated his decade-long putting yips and won the Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship consecutively.
When U.S. captain Zach Johnson announced his six wild-card picks in late August, he said his respect and admiration is “thick when it comes to Lucas and his family.” Ultimately, Glover received a call from Johnson before the selections were made, but the news on the other end wasn’t what Glover wanted to hear.
The Ryder Cup didn't fall the Americans' way, but the result isn't the only thing about the event that saddened @Lucas_Glover_.
— SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) October 20, 2023
He talked about the drama on the U.S. side w/Taylor Zarzour.
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“I could tell by [Johnson’s] tone at first that I didn’t make it,” Glover said, “and I didn’t want to put him through any more than he was already going through calling guys, so I just kept it short and told him I understood — even though I was probably lying.”
Glover added that making a Ryder Cup team is “the only thing I haven’t done and I still want to.” Maybe if he was in Italy, the end result — and chemistry amongst the U.S. team — would have been different.
“It’s easy to say three weeks after, two weeks after, and unfortunately they lost, but yeah I would have liked to have been there,” Glover said. “I think I could have brought some different things to the table.”
However, the goal for Glover now shifts to making the U.S. squad in 2025 at Bethpage Black in New York — the site of his U.S. Open triumph.