The 42nd Ryder Cup gets underway on September 28 with Team USA looking to defend its title against Team Europe at the Albatros Course of Le Golf National just outside Paris, France. Unlike most PGA Tour events that use stroke play scoring, the Ryder Cup is a match play event with an emphasis on team play rather than individual. Team captains Jim Furyk of USA and Thomas Bjorn of Europe are entrusted with making lineups that can not only work together in fourball and foursome play, but also defeat their opponents.
The 2018 Ryder Cup will be contested Friday, September 28 through Sunday, September 30 at Le Golf National. Watch the competition on the Golf Channel and NBC.
More strategy is involved during the first two days of competition when captains must make their pairings and rotations. Each day will consist of a morning fourball (better ball) and afternoon foursome (alternate shot) session with four matches of two-man teams playing against each other. In match play scoring, holes are won by the lowest team score. The rounds go until one team does not have enough remaining holes to catch up.
Sunday’s final round consists of all 12 players from each side matched up with one from the other team competing over 18 holes. Low score gets a point for his team, a tie gets a half-point and the first team to 14 ½ gets the win. Since Team USA won the last event, it needs 14 points to retain possession of the cup.
Teaming players with one another is critical for the success of the team and Furyk has plenty of options at his disposal as Team USA looks to end a 25-year drought on European soil. He has the world’s No. 1 ranked player in Dustin Johnson and three of the top four are on the Team USA roster. The lowest ranked player is Phil Mickelson, who is No. 25 in the most recent rankings.
Following last week’s win at the Tour Championship, Tiger Woods is playing as well as anyone in the world and returns to Ryder Cup play for the first time since 2012. Woods has a losing record in Ryder Cup match play, but he’s been stellar in singles play and will play a vital role. Joining Woods and Mickelson as captain’s picks are Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau. The eight automatic qualifiers are Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson.
Bjorn has assembled a good mix of veterans and newcomers as the Europeans look to avenge their 2016 defeat. Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and Francisco Molinari are as good as it gets in the golfing world and Jon Rahm, Thorbjorn Olesen, Alex Noren, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood are all making their Ryder Cup debuts. Veterans Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson were captain’s picks.
Pairings will be announced a day before the event and Ryder Cup odds will be updated at BookMaker.eu to reflect the matchups. There has been plenty of speculation as to who will be paired with whom in the weeks leading up to the Cup and we will find out on Thursday. Four golfers from each side will be benched for the match play sessions on Friday and Saturday, making decisions for the team captains just a tad more difficult.
Talent alone will help win the Ryder Cup, but there’s also chemistry between teammates that plays a factor. Seven U.S. players were part of the 2016 team that broke a three-match losing streak with a 17-11 win at Minnesota’s Hazeltine Golf Club. The pairing of Spieth and Reed has been the most successful for Team USA with the duo winning five of a possible seven points in the last two Ryder Cups. Those two will matchup against anyone Team Europe wants to put out there.
2018 Ryder Cup Picks
Team USA may just have the greatest collection of talent the Ryder Cup has seen. But like I said, talent alone doesn’t always win this event and that’s why pairings and matchups are so important. The captains don’t know the other team’s lineup so it’s difficult to match player vs. player. Instead, Furyk and Bjorn have to manipulate their roster pairings for the match play events. Team USA has the experience from the past few Cups and several of the players are good friends off the golf course. And that will help leading up to Sunday’s singles play, when the talented Americans secure a repeat Ryder Cup victory.
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