Maverick McNealy on Ryder Cup: “My Goal isn’t to Be at Bethpage. My Goal is to Win Points at Bethpage.”

Maverick McNealy finished 2024 with a bang, earning his first PGA TOUR win at The RSM Classic in November. And that stellar play has continued into 2025.

Across six starts so far this year, McNealy has three top-10 finishes highlighted by a silver medal behind Ludvig Aberg at the Genesis Invitational. He’s suddenly risen to No. 12 in the Official World Golf Ranking and is No. 5 in the United States Ryder Cup ranking. Meaning if the team was announced today, McNealy would be one of the six automatic qualifiers for Keegan Bradley’s squad.

But McNealy’s goal isn’t just to make it to New York.

“My goal isn’t to be at Bethpage. My goal is to win points at Bethpage,” McNealy told Skratch’s Dan Rapaport on this week’s episode of Dan On Golf. “I don’t wanna show up and put up a donut. If I’m the right guy for the job, I will be so excited to be there. I just wanna be a problem for those guys. I just wanna annoy people with my putter.”

Through the Cognizant Classic, McNealy isn’t just one of the best putters on TOUR—he’s 20th in Strokes Gained: Putting—he’s also been one of the best irons players, sitting at 13th in SG: Approach. A deadly combination Bradley could lean on come late September.

“When I’m playing good, I’m always in every hole because I feel like I can make any putt. It’s hugely motivating for me. I’m going to work extremely hard this year and if I’m the right guy for the job, I’ll be there and I’m going to try and make life miserable for those guys.”

McNealy wasn’t the only guest to join Dan on this week’s show. Renowned golf coach Sean Foley stopped by to discuss the mental game—you’re not going to want to miss that, by the way—Alan Shipnuk answered some questions, and Rick Gehman gave his pick for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

You can listen to the show whenever you get your podcasts and watch each episode on YouTube.