“Are you bleeping ready to go?” - Ryder Cup veteran Hunter Mahan offers valuable insights for Team USA and improvement tips

US Ryder Cup veteran Hunter Mahan felt that the American team's lack of enthusiasm and absence of anyone with leadership qualities resulted in their embarrassing loss last week.

The US was beaten 16.5–11.5 in the 2023 Ryder Cup. Except for the Saturday fourball and Sunday singles, the visitors never really looked at the game. Apart from Max Homa, no US player was able to collect more than two points over the three days.

In the latest episode of the Loop Podcast, three-time Ryder Cup winner Homa spoke about what went wrong for the US team in this year's event. He said that the visiting team didn't have anyone to take up the leadership role who could help ignite the fire in the players and give them a wake-up call.

The six-time PGA Tour winner was quoted as saying, via Golf Digest:

"It might be the most important thing. You don't even need the captain to do it. But someone on the assistant captain side to bang on the table on the morning of and be like 'are you bleeping ready to go?' You saw it on the US players faces. Like, they were all just kind of there."

"They weren't matching the energy of the fans. It was like 'let's just go out there and play our game and play smart' and it's like, no dude, this is not a normal event. We have to start treating it like it's not normal, and you got to start banging on tables, and you've got to get pumped up and you've got to be excited."

Mahan made his Ryder Cup debut in 2008, when the US beat the Europeans 16.5–11.5. The then-26-year-old golfer went unbeaten on his debut and earned 3.5 points with two wins and three losses.

Hunter Mahan was part of two more Ryder Cups in 2010 and 2014 but couldn't replicate the magic of 2008. The US team also didn't taste success in both editions.

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How many professional titles has Hunter Mahan won in his career?

After turning professional in 2003, Hunter Mahan earned a PGA Tour card for the following year through qualifying school. It took him three years to win his first PGA Tour title when he beat Jay Williamson in a playoff to claim the 2007 Travelers Championship.

This win helped him break into the top 100 of the OWGR, and within a few months, he was in the top 50. He recorded six top-ten finishes that year and finished 15th in the FedEx Cup standings. His incredible performance that year earned him one of two picks from US President's Cup captain Jack Nicklaus.

The next year, Hunter Mahan made it into the top 30 and became one of the four captain's picks for the Ryder Cup. Two years later, he won the Waste Management Phoenix Open, beating Rickie Fowler by one stroke. A few months later, he triumphed at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, beating Ryan Palmer by two strokes.

Hunter Mahan's sixth and final PGA Tour win came at The Barclays, the first of the four FedEx Cup events that year. He reached as high as fourth in the Official World Golf Rankings.