More than 270,000 people from 100 different countries attended the 2023 Ryder Cup to watch the Europeans defeat the Americans, 16½-11½, and reclaim the cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Italy.
Even more watched from home.
On Tuesday, Ryder Cup Europe shared early numbers that showed a rise in average viewership on Sky Sports, particularly in the United Kingdom, which saw a 38 percent increase compared to the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and a 25 percent increase from the last European-hosted Cup in 2018 at Le Golf National near Paris.
“The 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy once again underlined the global appeal and continued growth of one of the world’s leading sporting events,” said Guy Kinnings, Executive Director of the Ryder Cup. “This year’s contest, played against the backdrop of the historic city of Rome, truly connected with fans around the world, and our early figures show significant increases in engagement even from the recent record-breaking editions.”
While the 2023 edition was the most watched Ryder Cup ever on Sky Sports, the NBC Sports coverage in the United States left fans wanting more.
Not even two hours into the coverage of the Friday foursomes matches and television viewers who were awake at 1 a.m. ET for the start were already fed up with the coverage (or lack thereof).
Airing on USA Network, the broadcast missed the introductions and tee shots from the third match of Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka vs. Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa and showed more commercials than golf shots. This year’s broadcast featured a score bug in the bottom right of the screen that showed the matches and live results, which was a nice innovation, except when the coverage didn’t provide context for how those scores came to be.
The 2025 Ryder Cup, the 45th playing of the biennial bash between the U.S. and Europe, will be held at Bethpage Black in New York.
Ryder Cup Europe confirmed that no injures were reported.
A structure at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Italy, went up in massive flames on Thursday just days after the club hosted the 2023 Ryder Cup.
A video surfaced on social media of a three-story hospitality stand engulfed in fire, producing large black smoke clouds that could be seen from miles away. Local news stated that five teams of firefighters are on the scene and that no injuries were reported. A notice was sent to local residents to close their windows.
“A fire was reported in one of the temporary hospitality structures to the right of the first fairway at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club earlier this afternoon,” a statement from Ryder Cup Europe read. “Local fire crews were called to the scene at 5:07 p.m. local time and quickly brought the blaze under control. Nobody was injured in the incident and the fire did not spread beyond the hospitality structure. There was no damage to the golf course or any over structure. The cause of the fire is currently being investigated.”
Hundreds of thousands of fans were at the club over the last week to witness Team Europe defeat Team USA and reclaim the Ryder Cup, 16½-11½.
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome originally was designed by David Mezzacane and Jim Fazio and opened in 1989. The layout was completely renovated in 2018-2020 by a team of European Golf Design led by Dave Sampson in conjunction with Tom Fazio II, a leading American architect and the son of Jim Fazio – Tom Fazio worked for his dad on the original layout. The renovation included a complete rerouting of the hilly layout with the Ryder Cup in mind. With 155 feet of elevation change across the course, the holes were laid out to favor match play, with several drivable par 4s. Marco Simone is a public-access layout with tee times available on the course’s website.
Just a day after the 44th playing of the biennial bash between the Americans and Europeans, held this year at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Cantlay, 30, married Nikki Guidish 13 miles down the road at the St. Regis.
Guidish, a doctor of pharmacy, shared photos from the luxurious wedding on Tuesday on her Instagram page, writing “Yesterday was a dream” while she thanked her wedding planner, photographer and the staff at the venue. In attendance were the likes of Cantlay’s Ryder Cup teammate Justin Thomas, as well as LPGA player Jessica Korda.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx7yC11uZBU/?hl=en
Cantlay’s week in Rome was marred by a controversy involving his decision to not wear a hat, which became the story of the week and even led to a dust-up on the 18th green Saturday night. Cantlay went 2-2-0 on the week in Rome and now has a 5-2-1 record in two Ryder Cup appearances for Team USA.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day. But it was conquered in three.”
That was one of many posts on the Ryder Cup Europe social media accounts to celebrate the team’s 16½-11½ win over the United States in the 44th playing of the biennial bash, held this year at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Italy.
The team celebrations with the Cup in the hours and days that follow are always fun to see, and European captain Luke Donald foreshadowed what would be a fun night in his interview with Golf Channel’s Cara Banks just minutes after Europe secured the Cup.
“We always do it right in Europe, we do it right,” said Donald with a smile. “We’ll have a few drinks.”
Did they ever.
The chants started with “Two more years!” for the captain and transitioned to cheers of “Ole! Ole! Ole!” and songs of victory on the team bus. Check out the highlights from Team Europe’s epic Ryder Cup celebrations.
Team Europe extended its lead on Saturday morning and will look to seemingly close out the Cup in the afternoon.
Team Europe is in the driver’s seat with the car in cruise control and the GPS set for the trophy presentation.
The hosts of the 2023 Ryder Cup hold a commanding 9½-2½ lead over the Americans entering Saturday afternoon’s fourballs session at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome in Italy. The Europeans claimed the morning foursomes session, 3-1, to extend their lead to a near insurmountable number.
The only player who won’t play today will be Rickie Fowler, whereas all 12 European players will see action as they look to put the competition out of reach.
Check out the four matches and pairings, as well as the eight players who will ride the pine pony for the second session of matches at the 2023 Ryder Cup.
It was an emotional and historic loss for the Americans on Saturday morning.
ROME —Playing not far from the Colosseum in Rome, Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg could’ve screamed to the faithful fans at the 11th green at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, “Are you not entertained?”
They completed a beatdown for the ages at the 44th Ryder Cup. Hovland of Norway and Aberg of Sweden waxed the American duo of Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, 9 and 7. It’s the worst loss in Ryder Cup history in any format.
“I don’t think we could have done a whole lot better,” Hovland said. “It’s nice to kind of speak our own language and we understand each other. Obviously same humour, same culture. (Ludvig’s) a stud. He doesn’t miss a shot, so it’s easy when I’m playing well and he’s playing well and we are just feeding off of each other.”
This was a combination of Euro brilliance and American ineptitude. The world No. 1 and reigning PGA Championship winner started double-bogey-double to fall 3 down after three holes. Then the Euros turned it up a notch, making four birdies in the first 10 holes to build an 8-up lead. They missed only one green and hit every fairway on the front nine. The Americans, by contrast, combined to shoot 7 over. Their misery lasted just 2 hours and 19 minutes and 11 holes at 4:10 a.m. ET. It brought Scheffler to tears afterward.
“Horrible situation for the Americans, quite embarrassing for them,” a World feed announcer said in a funereal tone.
For Team Europe, this was a walk in the park with the added bonus that they may have found a pairing to be reckoned with for the next decade and beyond.
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.
Check out these hole-by-hole photos of Marco Simone headed into the 2023 Ryder Cup.
All the golf world’s eyes will be on Marco Simone Golf & Country Club this week for the 2023 Ryder Cup. Before you get your first look at the course on television or online coverage, check out the following photos of each hole to see what the U.S. and European teams face.
Marco Simone opened in 1989 with a layout by David Mezzacane and Jim Fazio, but that course doesn’t exist anymore. The whole layout was renovated and rerouted in 2018-2020 by a team from European Golf Design led by Dave Sampson, with American architect Tom Fazio II serving as a consultant.
The current hilly layout – 155 feet of elevation change in all – was designed with the Ryder Cup in mind, with several drivable par 4s. It will play to a par of 71 with a yardage of 7,181 yards for the biennial team competition.
An engineer by trade, Molinari’s keen use of stats has made him a trailblazer.
Viktor Hovland finally bagged a PGA Tour win at one of the biggest events this season. And then some.
Hovland has won in each of the last four seasons on Tour, but fellow pro Edoardo Molinari, who doubles as Hovland’s performance coach, noted that his previous wins shared something in common.
Indeed, all of his Tour wins before 2023 had been on tropical islands: in Puerto Rico and twice in Mexico near Cancun, plus two more unofficial titles in The Bahamas. It’s ironic given that Hovland grew up in the cold of Norway.
“Sometimes I tease him that it’s about time he wins on a serious golf course, not at a tourist place,” Molinari said.
Muirfield Village Golf Club, the course Jack Nicklaus built near his childhood home in Dublin, Ohio, and annual host of the Memorial, certainly qualifies as “a serious course.” As does Olympia Fields, a former major championship site near Chicago where Hovland shot a final-round 61 to win the BMW Championship in August. The same goes for East Lake in Atlanta, where Hovland ran away with the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup Playoffs title, his second win in two weeks.
Edoardo Molinari, left, and Viktor Hovland, right, discuss a shot during a practice round before the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego. (Harry How/Getty Images)
What made the Memorial victory special for Hovland was the way he won: without his best stuff from tee to green but with a short game that has made great strides and a putter that continually bailed him out.
He also credited his improved course management. Two years ago he played a practice round at the U.S. Open with Molinari, the brother of 2018 British Open winner Francesco, and a week later Hovland implemented some of Edoardo’s tips at the DP World Tour’s BMW International in Germany and won the tournament.
“I was impressed with the way his mind worked,” said Hovland, who in a separate interview described him as “a genius when it comes to the stats.”
Number cruncher
Hovland hired Molinari, 42, to help with his strategy, and it has paid big dividends. Speaking ahead of his victory at Jack’s Place, Hovland noted that Molinari crunched his numbers and discovered that when Hovland attacked greens with pitching wedge and 8-iron, he was short-siding himself 30 percent of the time, above the Tour average of 20 percent.
“Because I’m a good iron player, it should be closer to 15 percent of the time if not less than that,” Hovland said. “I was putting too much pressure on my short game by being too aggressive.”
Edoardo Molinari, left, and Viktor Hovland, right, wait to play during the 2022 DS Automobiles Italian Open at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
“It would be kind of a double whammy,” Hovland said at his winner’s press conference in June. “But this week I told myself that when I’m out of position, just play for the fatter part of the green and if I miss the green, I still have a shot where I can roll the ball up or slow the ball down enough to get it close to the pin.”
Imagine what Molinari can do for the other 11 players who, along with Hovland, will make up Team Europe at the Ryder Cup in Molinari’s native Italy.
Molinari, a former U.S. Amateur champion, three-time DP World Tour champion and European Ryder Cupper in 2010, is serving as a vice captain. An engineer by trade, Molinari’s keen use of stats has made him a trailblazer in the use of data analytics in golf. It also has led to the creation of a business that is helping some of the game’s top players learn their strengths and weaknesses, strategy and course management and how to practice more effectively. In addition to Hovland, the growing stable of students who rely on his data analytics include 2022 U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Pieters.
“He pops open his laptop after he plays and he’s got these Excel spreadsheets, and he works on it for hours and hours in the evening,” Pieters said of Molinari. “By the time he’s done, he’s identified everything I should work on whether it is 6- to 8-foot right-to-left putts or a certain yardage that I can improve in getting up-and-down with my wedges.”
When Sweden’s Henrik Stenson originally was named Europe’s captain last March, he called Molinari a week later and asked him how he would use data to analyze all the possibilities for making picks and pairings, then determining the best course setup. Stenson hired Molinari to handle those duties, replacing 21 Club, which specializes in sports intelligence and had been responsible for data analytics at the last three Ryder Cups for the European side. A month later they had discussions about the qualifying criteria, and Stenson asked Molinari to serve as one of his assistant captains.
European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald and Edoardo Molinari celebrate a putt at the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. (Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports)
But Stenson was stripped of his captaincy after he joined LIV Golf. When Donald was named as Stenson’s replacement in August 2022, he called Molinari the next day. Donald recounted how he had been shown what Molinari already had done for Stenson and was duly impressed. Donald asked Molinari to continue in that role.
In January, Molinari test-drove his methods at the Hero Cup in Dubai, a competition with one team representing Great Britain and Ireland and the other representing Continental Europe. He experimented with pairings and live stats.
“Some of the past (Ryder Cup) captains came to me and said this is so fantastic, this is going to be so helpful,” Molinari said.
Statistics have come a long way since Donald played on his first Ryder Cup in 2004, and it’s no surprise the former Northwestern golfer has made such math an important ingredient in his decision-making process. He was the first pro to ask Mark Broadie, a teacher at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University since 1983 and the godfather of Strokes Gained – which allow a golfer to more effectively understand where he gained or lost ground on the leaderboard – for personalized evaluations of his performance stats. Shortly after Donald wrapped up the 2011 PGA Tour money title and reached World No. 1, he sent a thank-you note and a half-case of his signature-label red wine to Broadie.
Even before Broadie’s innovation, Molinari had tracked more traditional stats: fairways hit, greens in regulation, number of putts. Every year he’d crunch the numbers of some new category. When he heard of Broadie’s breakthrough, he sent him a blind e-mail asking if they could meet. They spent a few days in Orlando playing golf while Broadie trained Molinari on the ins and outs of Strokes Gained.
“I remember him saying he wasn’t sure the players or the public was going to like it, and I said, ‘Mark, this is revolutionary. You need to publish the whole thing.’ It changed the world of golf and data,” Molinari said.
Fitzpatrick was the first player to seek assistance from Molinari and still the player who is most devoted to Molinari’s data analytics approach. But Molinari’s number of disciples is growing by leaps and bounds through word of mouth.
“I thought some players might come to ask for it. I thought the maximum number of players I could manage was 10 players. I thought in three to four years if I had 10 players, I’d be happy,” Molinari said. “Within three months, we had 10 players signed up. I had to hire a guy part-time, hired another guy. Both are full-time now.”
During COVID-19, Molinari had time to rebuild his platform to track on-course performance, making it easier to enter data and manage players.
“We have 10 (clients) on the PGA Tour and another 20 on the DP World Tour, a couple of Champions Tour and LPGA,” Molinari said.
For the Ryder Cup, Molinari may be Europe’s secret weapon as it tries to extend its winning streak on home soil, which extends six matches and dates to 1993. Donald is fully on board that data analytics can give his team an edge.
“It’s a good way to judge how we should be setting up the golf course, it’s a good way to look at potential pairings, the strengths needed for Marco Simone,” Donald said. “(Molinari) has great expertise in this world. It’s invaluable, really.”
Just as it has been for Hovland in his rise to a top-5 player in the world. He compares his new-found focus on course management to the game of poker and placing smart bets depending on the hand he’s dealt.
“Anytime you can tilt math to your advantage, that can be huge,” Hovland said. “If you play blackjack, you’re going to lose to the house in the long run. But if you can count cards and make it profitable in the long run, why wouldn’t you?”
With Molinari’s help, Team Europe hopes to come up aces again.
Marco Simone, a par 72 that will play 7,268 yards for the Ryder Cup. is a public-access layout with tee times available.
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome – site of the 2023 Ryder Cup between teams from the U.S. and Europe – originally was designed by David Mezzacane and Jim Fazio and opened in 1989.
The layout was completely renovated in 2018-2020 by a team of European Golf Design led by Dave Sampson in conjunction with Tom Fazio II, a leading American architect and the son of Jim Fazio – Tom Fazio worked for his dad on the original layout. The renovation included a complete rerouting of the hilly layout with the Ryder Cup in mind. With 155 feet of elevation change across the course, the holes were laid out to favor match play, with several drivable par 4s.
Marco Simone – a public-access layout with tee times available on the course’s website – will play to a par of 71 with the scorecard showing 7,181 yards. It’s likely the host European team will adjust yardages in attempt to benefit itself. The rough has been reported to be deep and thick heading into the Ryder Cup, putting an emphasis on accurate tee shots to relatively tight fairways.
Thanks to a yardage book provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the players face at the Ryder Cup. Check out the maps of each hole below.
