The U.S. Ryder Cup team is playing a quiet PGA Tour event for very specific reasons

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NAPA, Calif. — There was Russell Henley, the ever-low-key 36-year-old veteran, shouting down the gantlet to his vice captain as the birdie putt fell on the final hole, dapping up his partner J.J. Spaun.

“Come on, Gary!” Henley belted with a staredown.

Jocularity ensued. Banter continued. Gary Woodland, 41, was playing in the match with the No. 1 player in the world, Scottie Scheffler, and he hadn’t birdied a hole all day. The former U.S. Open champ set up 20 feet away from Silverado Resort’s ninth hole and sank the lengthy birdie.

“Career Grand Slam!” the 2019 U.S. Open champ boasted to his three-time major-winning teammate. “We’re the career Grand Slam. We just complete each other.”

On the other end of the green, Keegan Bradley and Jim Furyk laughed together as practice continued. In the group behind them were another four Ryder Cup stars in a playful little Tuesday practice round game of their own. This is a little different vibe for a U.S. Ryder Cup team. A younger captain and vice captains who still play high-level golf. New faces are getting closer to the game’s biggest stars.

Oh, and they’re (almost) all here, at the Procore Championship in Napa, playing a low-level fall PGA Tour event as a team-building opportunity two weeks before the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York. Ten of the 12 U.S. Ryder Cup players are in the field in response to the deflating 16.5 to 11.5 loss to Europe in Rome.

Tuesday night, those 10 players — plus LIV golf star Bryson DeChambeau, who was not allowed in the field — met for dinner at an extravagant house where captain Bradley and vice captains Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, Woodland and Furyk are staying for the week. They all gathered for a buffet-style dinner with caddies and family, simply spending time together as Bradley spoke to the team about taking in this experience. The only player missing was Xander Schauffele, as he and his wife, Maya, welcomed their first child recently. This whole week has been in the works for months, something Bradley pushed for, and stars such as Scheffler and Schauffele led the way in gathering the top U.S. players for an event they normally don’t play.

So, why was this all so important?

It began two years ago, when the U.S. got shell-shocked in Rome, and the conversation centered on how unprepared the U.S. seemed. Its games looked less sharp. The partnerships seemed contrived. The European team played the BMW PGA Championship in England two weeks before the Ryder Cup (and is doing the same this week), whereas other than a quick scouting trip, the U.S. golfers hadn’t played competitive golf since the end of the PGA Tour season the month before.

Good vibes for the U.S. Team @ProcoreChamp 🇺🇸

Prepping for Bethpage Black in wine country.@RyderCupUSA | @RyderCup pic.twitter.com/aUk4Zy1zyx

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 9, 2025

“I know, for myself, I didn’t feel like I was as prepared a couple years ago even though I put a lot of work in those four weeks,” Collin Morikawa said.

“The conclusion that we came to was it would be nice to have some competition going into the Ryder Cup,” Scheffler said. “And it would be unusual for me to have four or five weeks off before the Masters or the U.S. Open or something like that, so there’s no reason that I should be doing that going into the Ryder Cup.”

That’s how Bradley, Woodland, Henley and Cameron Young found themselves in a 20-deep line for a local Burgerdog food truck. Scheffler and caddie Ted Scott were a few spots ahead of them. A little behind them were Furyk, Spaun and others. In the middle of this sleepy tournament, otherwise filled with grinding journeymen and rookies all trying to better their status on the PGA Tour for next season, was the side event existing in plain sight: the United States attempting to build a team.

According to people in the room, there was a clear focus to Bradley’s message at Tuesday’s dinner: Soak it all in.

“You never know when your last Ryder Cup is. My last Ryder Cup was the deciding point with Jamie Donaldson, and I certainly didn’t think that was my last shot in a Ryder Cup. You really want to enjoy every second of these because you never know when it’s done,” Bradley said.

The idea is that weeks like this are a large part of building the sort of team that lives in the moment, and whether it’s fair or not, the U.S. has a reputation for being more individualistic and detached. “Just based off historicals, the Europeans definitely have this persona of having a better culture than the Americans,” Ben Griffin said. “And I think we’re doing all the right steps to make sure we’re kind of on the same page with them there.”

It’s the constant narrative, and each year, those Americans maintain how close they are, but when a team loses, pundits point to any reason they can find.

“We all know each other, yeah, but we’re trying to get beyond golf,” Woodland said. “We’re trying to get these guys to understand, trust each other a little bit, build their relationships, because when stuff hits the fan, you want to trust the guy next to you.”

That’s why DeChambeau has been the unseen star in Napa, with players and captains crediting him constantly for the effort he has made to be part of this. As a LIV golfer still suspended by the PGA Tour, he couldn’t play in the event (even if Bradley wishes he could). DeChambeau won’t show up at the tournament, even as a spectator, but he was involved in team activities.

“He’s been more than willing to go above and beyond for this team,” Bradley said.

But it goes for the new guys, too. Griffin was a breakout star this year, with two wins, two major top 10s and a big personality to go with it. Woodland said they have to ensure Griffin, 29, is comfortable around the others because “we don’t want Ben to be anybody other than Ben.”

Justin Thomas, right, and the rest of the Ryder Cup team are hoping to be sharp for Bethpage. (Mike Mulholland / Getty Images)

As for the golf, the 10 players in the field spread out across the day on Tuesday in groups that may or may not mean something in New York.

Early in the morning, Morikawa played with Harris English and Simpson. Then, the Scheffler, Spaun and Henley group played with Woodland. Right behind them — with Bradley and team manager John Wood bouncing back and forth — was a foursome of Young, Justin Thomas, Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay. Griffin arrived in town slightly later in the day and played in a twosome with Snedeker.

History has trained us to stop attempting to make much of these potential pods — until you notice the tee times for the Procore Championship this week. Those pairings primarily stuck together. Scheffler, Spaun and Henley are in one threesome. English and Morikawa are with Simpson in another. Young and Thomas stuck together, this time with Griffin, and Burns and Cantlay will play with Woodland.

Bradley said they are “90 percent” finished with their pairings for foursomes and four balls sessions. “One of our goals was to have the guys prepared, ready to know who they’re playing with. Especially in alternate shot, I think that’s more important. I think best ball, you can have a little more leeway there, but we’re pretty set here with what we’re going to do.”

It’s clear how different this all feels, the youth in leadership, the change in preparation and the added focus on developing relationships. That was all intentional.

“Me being the captain isn’t really the status quo of what the U.S. side has done,” Bradley said. “I remind myself and the vice captains all the time that we were picked to do this job because we wanted a little shift in what we were doing.”

(Top photo of Keegan Bradley, left, and Scottie Scheffler: Mike Mulholland / Getty Images)