What's at Stake the Next Three Days at Bethpage

All the talk. All the anticipation. All the headlines. Once balls are in the air Friday morning, none of it matters. The only thing that will live on in the annals of history are which polos are champagne-soaked and cigar-stenched.

Keegan Bradley’s task is simple: defend home soil, which has been pretty easy for the Americans over the last decade. Nine years ago, they took care of business at Hazeltine, winning 17-11. And five years later, they dismantled the boys from across the pond, 19-9. It was never close.

But this year—this Ryder Cup—feels different.

Luke Donald is back behind the wheel, and the only player missing from his winning team in Rome has been replaced by his identical twin. And not only do the Europeans own the continuity advantage, they’ve been gifted a rallying cry thanks to the PGA of America.

Ryder Cup: How to Watch | Format Schedule

Each player on Team USA has been gifted a $200,000 stipend on top of the $300,000 they’ll give to charity that they’re free to use however they like. And though it seems they’ll all be giving it away, the Europeans have morphed it into motivation.

“We’re fueled by something money can’t buy,” Donald said during the Opening Ceremony on Wednesday.

But as Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch elegantly put it, that angle only works if their counterparts stumble, something that won't happen if you believe the words of their leader.

Bradley has been adamant that this team is different from recent groups. They’re close. They’re tight-knit. They’re brothers. But again, talk is just that. The real challenge will be if they can stay that way if Europe comes out strong and earns a lead going into Saturday. Will they face the heat as a united front, or will the foundation that Bradley spent the last year cementing start to crack and crumble?

If I had to guess, it’d be the former.

By selflessly deciding to keep his clubs at home, Bradley has a roster of 12 men with war paint across their cheeks. He put his dream on hold—maybe forever—so they could have theirs.

If that isn’t a leader, I don’t know what is.

Two confident captains, two confident teams, two identical goals: bring the trophy home.

If the Americans pull it off, they did what they were supposed—and expected—to do. If the Europeans have their way, they will shake loose a precedent that has been carved in stone since Medinah: winning on foreign soil is a fool’s errand.

How could a road win—or put differently, an American loss at Bethpage—change future Ryder Cups? We may just get to see what that looks like.