Austin Johnson’s Whoop data shows Team USA didn’t hold back during their post-Ryder Cup celebrations.
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What happens in the team room usually stays in the team room at the Ryder Cup.
Good, bad and ugly.
Team USA’s celebration, however, began some two hours before the final putt had dropped at the 43rd Ryder Cup.
As American players finished their matches and watched their points tally up to a record 19, they started tallying up their drinks too.
There was Brooks Koepka sipping a Mich Ultra. Xander Schauffele sliding down a hill with a High Noon in hand. Patrick Cantlay watching a teammate’s match with two empty cans in his back pockets.
It’s not often we get a glimpse at the players’ celebration at these team events. Usually, the champagne is popped and sprayed, the trophy is handed to the victors and off they go to party the night away behind closed doors.
At this Ryder Cup, all that public celebration made for a fantastically entertaining post-win press conference where Dustin Johnson played the starring role and Schauffele looked like he was more than ready to move onto the behind-closed-doors portion of the evening.
And that was all before the real party even began. The one the players donned hilarious Bryson-Brooks t-shirts for and during which Rory McIlroy entered enemy territory to dance and forget his team’s loss.
When you think about it though, these are elite athletes who more often than not treat their bodies well. So how much partying could they actually do in one night?
Dustin Johnson’s brother and caddie Austin Johnson gave us a pretty good idea when he posted his Whoop recovery score for the day after Team USA’s raucous celebration.
For those of you unfamiliar with how Whoop works, 1% is the lowest recovery you can possibly have. It means whatever you did the day before was really bad, or really fun, depending on how you look at it. And one of the biggest factors that can impact your recovery score is alcohol consumption.
According to Whoop’s own data, “of all the behaviors available to record in the Whoop Journal, drinking alcohol is the one with the single greatest negative impact on next-day recovery.”
Even consuming a small of amount of alcohol in a day can negatively affect recovery up to 8%. Other factors that contribute to poor recovery according to Whoop include lack of sleep and hydration. Both things A. Johnson, Thomas and the rest of Team USA probably missed out on as they partied the night away.
While it’s not a great idea to get in the habit of of drinking heavily, missing out on sleep and not drinking enough water, you can hardly blame Team USA for wanting to celebrate their historic 19-9 win over Team Europe.
As in any competition, to the victor goes the spoils — and the hangovers.
