It all leads to this.

All the hype. All the rhetoric. All the speculation about whether Keegan Bradley would not only captain the U.S. Ryder Cup team but play on it, too.

It all leads to the first tee on Friday morning in what is going to be a Ryder Cup on steroids at Bethpage Black, a golf event larger than any the sport has ever seen.

The hype began with Rory McIlroy’s bold microphone-drop declaration at the close of the 2023 Ryder Cup post-match press conference following the Europeans’ 16 ½ to 11 ½ rout of the Americans in Rome.