By Lee Allen Miller, Texas Forest Country Living
When the Ryder Cup rolls into Bethpage Black (New York) this week (Sept. 23–28, 2025), you might think it’s a long way from East Texas. In truth, Texas—and Texans—are woven all through the fabric of this event. From a landmark edition hosted in Houston, to captains and players who call Texas home, to behind-the-scenes frequency coordination led by an East Texas team (including me), the Lone Star footprint is unmistakable.
A Ryder Cup that Truly Was “Texas”: Houston, 1967
Only once has the official Ryder Cup been played in Texas: 1967 at Champions Golf Club in Houston. That week delivered a record-setting American win, 23½–8½, captained by Fort Worth legend Ben Hogan. Champions—co-founded by Houston icons Jackie Burke Jr. and Jimmy Demaret—cemented itself as major-championship turf and later hosted the 1969 U.S. Open, among other crown-jewel events.
The Texas Captaincy Tree: An Outsized Legacy
Texas has produced a remarkable share of U.S. Ryder Cup captains—many enshrined in the Texas Golf Hall of Fame—including:
- Ben Hogan (1947, 1949, 1967) – Fort Worth’s ball-striking benchmark.
- Byron Nelson (1965) – The gentleman from the Dallas area whose name graces a PGA Tour staple.
- Jackie Burke Jr. (1957 playing captain, 1973 captain) – The Houston maestro and Champions GC co-founder.
- Dave Marr Jr. (1981) – Houston-born major champion who captained what many consider the greatest U.S. side ever.
- Lee Trevino (1985) – Dallas’ own, six-time Ryder Cup player and later captain.
- Tom Kite (1997) – Austin product who led the U.S. in Valderrama.
- Ben Crenshaw (1999) – Austin’s two-time Masters champ who steered the U.S. to the famous Brookline comeback.
Modern Texas Stars on Team USA
In recent Cups, Texas continues to matter between the ropes. Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau (both from Dallas area) anchors the U.S. side again this year; Jordan Spieth (Dallas) has been a past team-room constant; and Patrick Reed (born in San Antonio) stamped his mark on past editions. Texas golf keeps supplying elite talent to America’s roster.
East Texas on the Airwaves: Keeping the Event Talking (and Safe)
Major events like the Ryder Cup only work when broadcast, media, operations, and public safety communications play nicely together. That’s where frequency coordination comes in – planning and actively managing the radio spectrum so wireless mics, intercoms, two-way radios, ENG links, Wi-Fi, and critical public-safety systems don’t step on one another.
This year marks my third Ryder Cup as a frequency coordinator, and I’m proud that part of the team comes right from East Texas: Bryan Compton and David McElveen are alongside me helping keep the spectrum clean so the world can see (and hear) the action – and so first responders and security can operate without interference.
Why it matters: Special events are especially prone to RF interference because so many different systems are packed into a small footprint. U.S. homeland security guidance specifically calls out special events as hot spots for interference and lays out best practices to prevent it—things like pre-event surveys, on-site monitoring, rapid re-channel plans, and playbooks for accidental or illegal transmissions. That’s the work we do—quietly, constantly, and sometimes under real pressure.
A Presidential Visit Raises the Stakes
Security and spectrum complexity escalate when a protectee is on site. Organizers have publicly indicated that President Donald Trump is expected to attend at Bethpage, which adds a layer of protective operations and communications hardening. In those scenarios, our coordination team supports spectrum deconfliction alongside federal, state, and local partners; for protectee visits, that can include integration with U.S. Secret Service protective communications and incident-response frameworks. (Think encrypted land-mobile radio, RoIP bridges, and tight, pre-planned channel maps.)
Plainly put: great golf makes the headlines, but safe, interference-free communications make the headlines possible.
The Texas Spirit, Everywhere You Look
Even though this edition is in New York, you can feel Texas throughout the week—
- in the history (Houston’s 1967 rout at Champions),
- in the leadership legacy (Hogan, Nelson, Burke, Marr, Trevino, Kite, Crenshaw), and
- in the present tense, where Texas players lead the charge and an East Texas crew helps keep the whole show humming.
For fans back home, that’s something to cheer. From tee boxes to truck bays, from TV trucks to the command post, Texas is part of how the Ryder Cup gets done.
