Justin Thomas Clarifies Ryder Cup Green-Speed Comments After Reported Bethpage Staffer Goes Off On US Team

Justin Thomas has attempted to clarify comments he made about Ryder Cup green speeds earlier this week after a reported Bethpage Black staffer responded angrily less than 24 hours later.

More than two months after Team Europe's 15-13 success over Team USA at Bethpage Black, Thomas appeared on the No Laying Up podcast to discuss a range of topics - from the Ryder Cup to his injury and his past year on tour.

In amongst a fascinating chat was the two-time Major winner's comments about the pace of the putting surfaces at Bethpage Black and how they were apparently not what had been requested by the Americans ahead of time.

This, according to Thomas, caused an argument between members of Team USA and an external party and Team Europe took advantage of the conditions and more efficient preparation to put themselves in a commanding position through two days.

The home side fought back valiantly in the Sunday singles, led in part by Thomas' 1up win over Tommy Fleetwood, but it was too little, too late as Luke Donald's men clung on to victory.

Asked on No Laying Up if the greens were as slow as broadcasters had claimed on the coverage, Thomas said: "Yeah, I don't really understand that. I don't know why they weren't at all what Keegan had asked for.

"I mean, he had been pretty clear of asking for a certain speed and wanting it fast enough. I watched them argue with us that they were 13s [on the stimp].

"And it's like, 'guys, we play golf every week, like, look on TV at how many guys are leaving putts short. Nobody is getting... You can't have a putt, roll, three feet, four feet past the hole. Like these greens are slow, speed them up.'

"And it was just bizarre because that's not something you would expect at a home Ryder Cup."

Justin Thomas on the 2025 Ryder Cup | NLU Pod, Ep 1096 - YouTube

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Shortly after Thomas' thoughts went online, Rick Golfs (@Top100Rick) posted on X to say that he had received a text from an anonymous member of the greens crew at Bethpage.

Said staffer was extremely unhappy at the 32-year-old's take on the situation and spared no feelings in his riposte, saying: "They can argue with numbers all they want but these are concrete, collected numbers that cannot be argued with. Data is data, not an opinion. Player perception is an opinion.

“There was ZERO conversation between captains and the grounds crew during tournament week, and that is at the fault of Keegan.

"We would have welcomed him with open arms any day or time (we were there 24/7) and only spoke with him directly ONCE - weeks before the event.

"If there was a problem, it should have come from him in practice rounds (that they failed to play) when they would have realized they didn't like the speed.

“They still lost, and they still can't accept it. Two months later and the excuses keep rolling.

"The grounds crew wanted to win more than any player on that American team. Quite frankly, it meant more to the Bethpage staff and the state of New York than anyone else.

"Learn to practice and compete as a team, or JT will continue to scrap together excuses in 2026.”

Having seen the Bethpage staffer's comments, Thomas then went on the PGA Tour's Sirius XM radio to try and set the record straight - even going so far as to say he agreed with the anonymous staffer's feelings on a certain aspect.

Thomas said: "It's unfortunate things get lost in translation or the context is not there. I don't feel that I ever said anything about this being the greens crew's fault.

"This is all obviously to my knowledge, the captain doesn't have communication with, say, the superintendent or the greens crew.

"Obviously [the captain] knows them, but Keegan is not going to the superintendent at Bethpage asking what he's done because - I would assume - for certain reasons that could probably get out of hand a little bit.

"And the PGA of America is still setting up the golf course and doing things, so they need to know what's going on.

"It was more so with whoever the communication [was] with Keegan. And, honestly, I think the point that the greens crew made [in the text] is exactly my point.

"I know for a fact that Keegan was asking for a certain thing or a certain speed and the fact that never got relayed to them kind of proves the point I was trying to make."