The 2023 Ryder Cup gets underway Friday morning with a foursomes session. If you’re unfamiliar, foursomes is alternate shot. In the afternoon, the teams will battle in a fourball (best ball) session.
There are several star-studded tandems going out in the opening matches at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, including Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton.
A surprise for the Americans: Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are sitting for the first session (Brooks Koepka and Wyndham Clark are the other team members not participating in Friday foursomes).
On Wednesday, at the end of the opening ceremonies of the 44th Ryder Cup, European Captain Luke Donald and U.S. Captain Zach Johnson announced their teams for tomorrow’s opening foursomes session at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.
To no surprise, the American side is running out some tried and true teams, including Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, but Johnson elected to sit the duo of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.
“I think it’s an ideal situation where you don’t necessarily want to play everybody all five sessions. I’m not saying that’s what we’re going to do, but you’re taking everything into account,” Johnson said. “Not only that, but the eight guys I have down on paper are the ones that we feel best put us in the position to get off to a great start.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will pair with his best buddy Sam Burns, who is a Ryder Cup rookie, in the opening match.
“You’ve got some experience in there, and you’ve got some chemistry in there as well,” Johnson said. “Those guys want to get after it, and I’m confident that they can do that.”
The following Americans are sitting during the opening session: Brooks Koepka, Wyndham Clark, Spieth and Thomas.
The European side, which contains players from eight different countries, is led by the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and emerging star Viktor Hovland. Rahm will try to set the tone in the first match with partner Tyrrell Hatton.
“They’re both world-class players, to start, both fantastic ball strikers. They are very passionate,” Donald said. “I think Jon feeds off a playing partner with similar kind of fire and passion. He wants to feel like he’s out there with a teammate that’s really engaged with him. Tyrrell really fits that bill.”
McIlroy will be the bookend, teaming with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood in the anchor match.
In between, Donald is sending out Hovland, who won the FedEx Cup last month, with Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, the 23-year-old who was playing college golf not long ago.
“Ludvig’s driving, the few tournaments he played on the PGA Tour, he was the No. 1 driver in all of golf, ahead of Rory McIlroy, ahead of Scottie Scheffler in the rankings,” Donald said. “We know driving is important this week and in foursomes, if you’re in the short stuff, it’s going to make life a lot easier.”
Irishman Shane Lowry will partner with Austrian-born Sepp Straka.
The following Europeans are sitting during the opening session: Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Robert McIntyre, Nicolai Hjogaard.
The U.S. won the Cup in 2021 at Whistling Straits by a score of 19-9, and needs 14 points to retain the Cup. Here are the first four matches scheduled for Friday morning.
This is the Stewart Cink Q&A you didn’t know you needed.
For starters, who knew Cink had a tattoo? But in all seriousness, as one fellow longtime golf writer recently told me, Cink is one of the most underrated thinkers and talkers on golf and life. I don’t disagree and you’ll find out why below.
Cink, the winner of the 2009 British Open, also talks about how he developed a game plan for the playoff with Tom Watson at Turnberry, knowing full well only his wife and family would be rooting for him.
Cink, who played on five Ryder Cup teams (2002, ‘04, ‘06, ‘08, ‘10), is making his first appearance as a U.S. Ryder Cup vice captain for his good friend Zach Johnson this week, and he recounts how Johnson asked him to be his final vice captain for the 44th Ryder Cup.
Drivable par 4s are the most interesting holes in the pro game. Measuring somewhere south of 350 yards, the best of them entice the game’s top players to grab driver – or sometimes 3-wood, and in a few cases with the longest hitters, even a driving iron – and smash the ball onto the green in pursuit of an eagle, birdie at worst.
There is, of course, a flip side: bogeys, double bogeys, humiliation and a tumble down the scoreboard when things don’t work out as planned.
These short par 4s are sometimes called half-par holes, but even pros who only halfway commit or halfway execute are prone to full-blown scorecard disasters. And with so many options and strategies available – especially when factoring in match play – the short par 4s are where the fun will begin at this week’s Ryder Cup in Rome.
It’s a whole different galaxy of distance and options than encountered by most amateur players, who are far more likely to experience the thrill or despair of a somewhat drivable par 3 than a reachable par 4. Tour players are a different kind of animal, with the advantage typically tilted to the biggest guns in what used to be a knife fight.
Each year we see several drivable par 4s send PGA Tour pros into fits. Always in the spotlight is No. 10 at Riviera and its almost unhittable green. It’s the same story at No. 17 at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, with water in play left and a tucked Sunday pin location – undoubtably a better strategic hole than the amphitheater par-3 16th that has gained so much fame in recent decades. These holes and dozens of others have oversized effects on eventual prize payouts.
In recent years, even the major championships have embraced their drivable par 4s. No. 6 at Los Angeles Country Club thrilled and confused in this year’s U.S. Open – Wyndham Clark just missed the green with a driving iron in the final round but produced a brilliant up-and-down from the gunch for birdie en route to victory. Likewise, Justin Thomas grabbed control of the playoff at the 2022 PGA Championship with a 3-wood blast that carried a creek to bound onto the putting surface of No. 17 at Southern Hills. Glory beckons on these short holes.
This week’s Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome promises such fireworks with several drivable par 4s. The fifth measures just 302 yards, but a pond guards the approach. No. 11 clocks in at 329 yards with a deep depression to the right of the green to gobble up wayward aggression. Both of these holes are within range for these Ryder Cuppers, but at what risk?
But 5 and 11 are mere warmups for No. 16, where plenty of high-pressure matches are likely to end and some Ryder Cup dreams are apt to crater. Just 303 yards long, the 16th has a small pond guarding the right side of the green. The hole is within reach, but so is the water. It’s do or die with the world watching.
A bunker plopped into the center of the fairway some 235 yards off the tee only complicates things, as does the water crossing 60 yards short of the putting green. Wary or wise players can lay up short of the center bunker and still hit a wedge into the green, or they can try the more unlikely path of carrying the bunker yet remaining short of the creek to set up an even shorter wedge approach – don’t count on too many players attempting that route.
Or … they can fire away at the green. It’s just right there, within reach, tucked between three bunkers and the acqua. Coming so late in the matches, it could be the one decision and one swing that decides who is the GOAT and who is the scapegoat.
The StrackaLine yardage map for No. 16 at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, site of the 2023 Ryder Cup (Courtesy of StrackaLine)
No. 16 has seen its share of splashdowns in the Italian Open since the course was redesigned by Dave Sampson and European Golf Design, with American architect Tom Fazio involved as a consultant hired by the club. Most notably, Rory McIlroy pushed his tee ball into the drink while in contention at last year’s Italian and eventually finished fourth. Will that memory provide motivation or scar tissue for Europe’s highest-ranked player and arguably the best driver of the golf ball of his generation?
Of course, not all tee shots that miss the 16th green will find the water. Some might land in a bunker, or tall rough on a downhill slope with the pond beyond, or even the closely cropped fairway approach. The players and their stats masters have to factor if playing a shorter second shot from any of those areas is more advantageous than playing a full wedge from 120 yards back in the fairway. Yes, the goal is to drive the green, but most players who try won’t find the putting surface, instead relying on a spot of luck and their elite short games.
Ryder Cup format matters, too. In the fourball matches – two-man teams with each man playing his own ball, and the lowest score for each team counts – plan to see at least one player on each side swinging for the green on the short par 4s, perhaps after his partner lays up safely. Things are more interesting in foursomes, in which the alternate-shot format often focuses on not leaving your partner in a bad spot. Then the gloves come off in singles, each man (and his team of advisors) having to choose the best route to birdie or better by considering his strengths versus those of his opponent as well as his own bravado versus his own demons.
There are so many options, so many possible outcomes. The realistic scores range from 2 to 6. Expectations are high, as are demands on length plus precision multiplied by some unknown confidence factor.
Brian Harman plays from a greenside bunker on No. 16 during a practice round at Marco Simone before the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome. Players who try to drive the green but miss might find themselves in such a spot, with a long sand shot to a green backed by water. (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
Both team captains were titans of the precision and confidence parts. European captain Luke Donald was never known for his distance off the tee but he climbed to No. 1 in the world, and American captain Zach Johnson proved to be the master of the layup by never going for a par-5 green in two en route to his 2007 green jacket. What will be their marching orders? Bet that reams of data will be analyzed figuring out go versus no-go.
There’s no doubt today’s professionals can reach the green of any of the short par 4s at Marco Simone, even guys such as American Brian Harman, who dominated this year’s British Open with a mix of precision iron play and gutsy putting. Short in comparison to Ryder Cup bombers such as McIlroy or European rookie Ludvig Aberg, Harman is still more than capable of driving the ball 300 yards downhill. But will he try? Better question: Should he?
On No. 16 in particular with the hopes of two continents on the line, it’s distance versus control, carpet bombing versus a sniper sneaking up on you. Expect to see eagle putts that knock opponents onto their heels, and also know there might be watery crashes. Hang on to your headcovers.
Here’s how the Golfweek staff sees it unfolding at Marco Simone.
The 2023 Ryder Cup is set to get underway Friday morning at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome — the first match will go off at 1:35 a.m. ET — and both teams are in full preparation mode.
The Zach Johnson-led Americans are looking to win on foreign soil for the first time in 30 years while the Luke Donald-led Europeans are hoping to put up a bigger fight than they did at Whistling Straits two years ago when the blue and yellow got thumped, 19-9.
For one of the biggest events in golf, the staff at Golfweek has decided to make predictions on who will be hoisting the Cup come Sunday afternoon.
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Here are some other essentials facts all golfers should know about the Ryder Cup.
The Ryder Cup will be staged for the 44th time this week at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy.
The U.S. won the last outing, two years ago at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. The Americans won 19-9, one of the bigger routs in the history of the series.
The U.S. squad has 12 members, as does the European contingent. Zach Johnson, who played in five Ryder Cups, is a first-time captain this year. Luke Donald is heading up the European squad. He assumed the role after the original captain, Henrik Stenson, joined the LIV Golf League forcing him to relinquish his Ryder Cup duties.
Here are some other essentials facts all golfers should know about the Ryder Cup.
No golfer has done what Ludvig Aberg will at Marco Simone.
Ludvig Aberg admits he didn’t begin to think about playing on the Ryder Cup team until late summer.
In May, he was playing college golf and sweeping the postseason awards, winning the Haskins, Hogan and Nicklaus honors. He earned his card via PGA Tour University and instantly made a name for himself on Tour, especially with his prowess off the tee. Earlier this month, he won the European Masters, the feather in his cap to punch his ticket to Italy.
The 23-year-old Swedish sensation was in college less than five months ago. Come Friday, when he tees off in the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Rome, Italy, he will become the first golfer in history to play in a Ryder Cup before making a start in a major championship.
“For me, all I tried to do was play good golf,” Aberg said. “If someone would have told me a couple months ago that I would be here playing a Ryder Cup, probably wouldn’t believe them. It’s really cool and it’s a dream come true for me to be here, and looking forward to the next couple days.”
When European captain Luke Donald announced Aberg as one of his six captain’s picks, he mentioned Aberg “has the potential to be one of golf’s superstars.”
Team Europe golfer Ludvig Aberg hits his bunker shot on the 11th hole during a practice day for the Ryder Cup golf competition at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
He became the first player in Tour history to earn a card via PGA Tour University. He went on to have four top-25 finishes in seven starts, including a T-4 at the John Deere Classic.
Donald played with Aberg at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit and was blown away by his game. The captain challenged the youngster to head across the pond to play more. It earned him a berth on the team.
“It’s really cool the way that these last couple of months has panned out for me,” Aberg said. “It’s been quite intense and you know, I’m trying to embrace it. I try to enjoy it. But it’s really cool to be here, yeah.”
Aberg is one of four making their Ryder Cup debuts for Europe, along with Nicolai Hojgaard, Robert MacIntyre and Sepp Straka.
What’s he expecting on the first tee?
“I wish I never got nervous,” Aberg said. “I think obviously anyone that plays golf, you know, feels the nerves sometimes. So do I, obviously. And I’m going to feel those same things on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week.
“It’s very much an excitement. It’s very much an anticipation of what’s to come and I try to view it as something good. It doesn’t necessarily need to, you know, affect my behavior in a poor way. It’s more of something that, you know, it shows that I care. So I’m looking forward to having those feelings again.”
On Wednesday, however, it was time for the celebrities to battle it out.
Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin are the two captains, and including them, there are six players on each team. On Team Montgomerie are Gareth Bale (football —or soccer to the Americans — legend), Garrett Hilbert (Dude Perfect member), Leonardo Fioravanti (Italian surfer), Novak Djokovic (tennis legend) and Kipp Popert.
Team Pavin consists of Andriy Shevchenko (former football professional), Kathryn Newton (American actress, best known for her role as Cassie Lang in Marvel’s Antman series), Victor Cruz (American football legend), Carlos Sainz (F1 driver) and Tomasso Perrino.
Check out some of the best photos from the 2023 Ryder Cup All-Star Match below.
Tyrrell Hatton has always been known for, let’s say his fiery behavior on the golf course. He’s not one to hold back language or gestures when he’s out playing on Tour, sometimes to his detriment, but this week at the Ryder Cup is an opportunity where that emotion can be an ally.
While meeting with the media ahead of the 44th playing of the biennial bash between the United States and Europe, Hatton was asked who would win a swear-off, him or Jon Rahm.
“I think I would probably win in a swear-off. I’ve got everyone covered when it comes to that,” he said.
When asked about his extensive repertoire and carefree attitude toward expletives, Hatton said, “Yeah. Just any time of day, anywhere. No holding back. Doesn’t matter what we’re doing. I’m swearing.”
And after a brief moment, “F*** off.”
The media center erupted in laughter as the European team member left the microphone.
The 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome is set to begin Friday morning and for folks in the United States, it’s going to be a few early wake-up calls.
For the first two days, matches will begin at 1:35 a.m. ET. The first match of Sunday singles is slated to go off at 5:35 a.m. ET.
The Zach Johnson-led Americans are hoping to win on foreign soil for the first time in 30 years, while the Luke Donald-led Europeans are looking to rebound after a butt-kicking 19-9 loss to Team USA two years ago at Whistling Straits.
Here is the complete schedule for the 44th Ryder Cup, and how to watch it — if you’re planning on waking up.
Note: One match will be featured on Peacock during every section
