FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — President Donald Trump’s much-anticipated visit to the Ryder Cup mostly played out smoothly Friday.

With enhanced security measures in place at Bethpage Black Golf Course, Trump arrived late in the morning, after Europe won the opening session by a 3-to-1 margin over the U.S. Wearing golf shoes and accompanied by his granddaughter Kai (who is a rising freshman on Miami’s women’s golf team and has an NIL deal with TaylorMade), Trump walked out to the first tee area just after noon ET, roughly 20 minutes before the first match of the afternoon session.

The crowd at the 5,000-seat stadium surrounding the first tee and 18th green welcomed Trump mostly with cheers and “USA” chants, followed by a few “Olé, Olé, Olé” chants from European fans. A rendition of the national anthem was performed with a jet flyover.

Initially, Trump sat inside a bulletproof plexiglass enclosure, but when Bryson DeChambeau arrived to play in the second match, the president ventured outside the safe space and stood on the first tee as that group hit drives. DeChambeau has golfed with Trump on his YouTube channel, and in July, the golfer was appointed chairman of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.

Many members of both the U.S.and Europe teams greeted and shook hands with Trump. PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague and president Don Rea also made an appearance on the first tee to speak with Trump.

Special Proceedings

Early Friday morning before fans arrived, the Secret Service built a perimeter around the grandstand area that Trump visited, requiring fans and workers to pass through TSA-style checkpoints. Those lines moved fairly swiftly, especially after the initial wave of attendees passed through. While Trump was on-site, Secret Service snipers were placed near the top of the grandstands, and there was a section reserved for the White House press pool. 

Some attendees did report experiencing heavy traffic outside Bethpage on Friday morning that could be attributed to Trump’s presence, but his visit did not delay any Ryder Cup action like what happened last month at the US Open. Seats around the first tee were full for both the morning and afternoon waves.

Fresh off solving one distribution battle, three more carriage fights are emerging for YouTube TV.

NBCUniversal said late Thursday that it may be dropped on the No. 4 U.S. pay-TV distributor if it does not come to a new agreement with the Google-owned YouTube TV by Tuesday. A large array of sports programming will be quickly at risk, including college football and the Week 5 NFL Sunday Night Football game between the Patriots and Bills. Later in October, NBC will also begin its much-anticipated return to NBA coverage. 

“Google, with its $3 trillion market cap, already controls what Americans see online through search and ads—now it wants to control what we watch,” NBC said in a statement. “YouTube TV has refused the best rates and terms in the market, demanding preferential treatment and seeking an unfair advantage over competitors to dominate the video marketplace—all under the false pretense of fighting for the consumer.”

The emerging situation arrives less than a month after YouTube TV resolved a similar fight with Fox, but only after rising public pressure from Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr.

“NBCUniversal is asking us to pay more than what they charge consumers for the same content on Peacock, which would mean less flexibility and higher prices for our subscribers,” YouTube TV said in a blog post. 

If a deal is not reached and NBC content becomes unavailable “for an extended period of time,” YouTube TV is offering subscribers a $10 credit. 

YouTube TV is approaching 10 million subscribers according to unofficial counts, and continues to close in on Charter, Comcast, and DirecTV, the top three traditional pay-TV distributors. As YouTube TV seeks to manage costs and continues to present itself as an alternative to cable and satellite TV, carriage fights such as these have become more common, and it is also in the midst of a separate and similarly fraught negotiation with the Spanish-language TelevisaUnivision. 

Local Issues

The distribution fights extend to the regional level, too. Monumental Sports Network, the Ted Leonsis–led regional sports network that airs his NBA Wizards, NHL Capitals, and WNBA Mystics, said its deals with YouTube TV and Hulu will expire before the NBA and NHL seasons start next month, and that it is failing to reach common ground with both entities. Without new agreements, MSN could be dropped on those platforms in its coverage area.

“In each case, we’ve encountered a lack of meaningful engagement, despite our ongoing efforts to find a fair solution,” MSN general manager Friday Abernethy said in a statement. “These actions by Hulu, owned by Disney, and YouTube, owned by Google, reflect a broader crisis in the pay-TV industry, where large streaming providers are prioritizing large media conglomerates over the interests of local communities.”

The end of the month is also when a short-term deal between the YES Network and Comcast expires, and discussions are fractious there, too. Similar to some of the arguments from Comcast in that dispute, YouTube TV says that MSN generates minimal viewership relative to the overall Washington-Baltimore market.

“We know how important live sports are to YouTube TV subscribers, but we will not ask them to pay more to continue carrying a channel that very few of them actually watch,” the company responded.

The early reviews for NBC’s coverage of the Ryder Cup have not been positive.

As the USA-Europe battle teed off from Bethpage Black Golf Course in New York on Friday on USA Network—which is still a part of NBCUniversal before the company’s cable networks split off into Versant—a number of viewers were upset over issues with the sound engineering and commercial breaks causing them to miss action from the tournament. 

Nathan Hubbard, the former Ticketmaster CEO who hosts a podcast for The Ringer, wrote on X/Twitter, “The USA network live sound engineer is ruining the telecast – roars coming at least a second after the action. All this hype for a huge event, we get a huge moment from Bryson [DeChambeau], and it’s fumbled.”

Hubbard continued, “If you’re going to charge this much money, if you’re going to spend this much money, can you make the sound of the club hitting the ball line up with the video on the telecast in 2025?!?!? WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE.”

Professional golfer Graeme McDowell was not happy with all the ads. “This @USANetwork coverage driving me insane already. Think we are on the 5th commercial break. May have to flip on the @SkySports version. Any better?” McDowell tweeted.

Barstool Sports host Kirk Minihane responded to McDowell, “Missing an incredible amount of shots. This might be the worst coverage I’ve ever seen. Fleetwood bunker shot from plugged lie to set up Rory [McIlroy] birdie is just the latest. NBC owns Golf Channel, why isn’t there another broadcast showing this? Why just USA?”

One source told FOS that there were audio issues with the world feed on Friday morning that have since been corrected.

NBC reportedly pays $55 million per year to air the Ryder Cup in the United States, as part of a 15-year, $440 million deal that goes through 2031. While it couldn’t be expected to air it ad-free for three days, golf fans clearly feel there is an imbalance on Friday.

Sam Vecenie, an NBA writer at The Athletic, weighed in: “Literally covering four holes and NBC is somehow missing shots at the Ryder Cup? How is this possible? What are we doing?”

“TV would never miss a drive in football, an inning of baseball, or minutes of a basketball game for commercials or random commentary,” the X/Twitter account golfBestBall wrote. “Why are we missing ANY shots at The Ryder Cup? Come on NBC/USA. Be better.”

NBC Sports declined to comment when asked about the broadcast issues.