The Athletic has live coverage of the final day of the 2025 Ryder Cup.The golf course will be a supporting character in perhaps the most highly anticipated Ryder Cup in recent memory next week, but Bethpage Black is used to being the main attraction. Commonly known as the “People’s Country Club,” the host site of the 2025 biennial team competition represents the heart and soul of elite public golf in the United States.One of the five courses at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York, Bethpage Black is a place where anyone and everyone can tee it up. Will all of those people have the desire to play it again, once they find out what they’ve gotten themselves into? Probably not.If you’re into that sort of thing, the Black Course is a brutal test — one of the hardest in the world. It eats you up, spits you out and then does that all over again, whether you like it or not. There can be hundreds of yards of dry land in front of you, but there is no shot at Bethpage Black that feels completely comfortable. The course features just one water hazard, but eight acres worth of bunkers. For amateur golfers, it’s an accomplishment in itself just to get to the green.“WARNING The Black Course is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers,” reads a sign fastened to the metal gate separating the clubhouse patio from the first tee. It’s not joking.At the 2016 Barclays tournament, Jordan Spieth had a suggestion for an edit to the infamous posting: “(It) should say: ‘It’s a risk, even for really good players. The course I’ve played the last two days is up there with the hardest, probably top-5 courses I’ve ever played in my life.”So, ahead of the 45th Ryder Cup, let’s break down some background info about one of the toughest venues in golf — the site of next week’s looming battle between Team Europe and Team USA.Past professional tournaments at BethpageThe course has hosted three majors: the 2002 U.S. Open, the 2009 U.S. Open and the 2019 PGA Championship, in addition to two PGA Tour playoff events, the 2012 and 2016 Barclays tournaments. Now the Ryder Cup comes to the legendary New York venue, and more events will return to the infamous site in the future: The 2028 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the 2033 PGA Championship. Bethpage’s major legacy continues.Brooks Koepka won the 2019 PGA by three shots over Dustin Johnson at 8 under par. Only seven golfers finished at even par or better by the end of the week. Nine rounds of 80 or worse were posted at the major championship, with the course playing at 7,459 yards. In the 2002 U.S. Open, Tiger Woods, the eventual winner, was the only man under par, and at the 2009 U.S. Open, champion Lucas Glover was only joined by four other men below par. Woods won at 3 under, and Glover at 4 under.The 2025 Ryder Cup will not be a birdie fest — that’s simply not in Bethpage Black’s DNA.