2023 Ryder Cup Saturday foursomes pairings explored
Day 1 of the 2023 Ryder Cup got off to an exciting start, with Team Europe taking a dominant lead with a score of 6.5-1.5. Team USA began making a comeback in the later half of the day and will hope to build on and continue that momentum going into day 2.
With the first day over, captains Luke Donald and Zach Johnson have announced their pairings for day 2 of foursomes matches. They have taken into consideration how well pairs played together on the first day, and how well they scored against their opponents.
They have also considered how the players are coping with the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, which is a rather exhaustive course to play on. Following are the pairings for day 2 of the Ryder Cup:
Match 1: Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood (Europe) vs. Jordan Spieth/Justin Thomas (USA)
Match 2: Viktor Hovland/Ludvig Aberg (Europe) vs. Scottie Scheffler/Brooks Koepka (USA)
Match 3: Shane Lowry/Sepp Straka (Europe) vs. Max Homa/Brian Harman (USA)
Match 4: Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton (Europe) vs. Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele (USA)
Europe get off to blazing start at 2023 Ryder Cup, USA left playing catch up
Team Europe got off to an extremely fast start on day 1 of the Ryder Cup, sweeping all four of the morning foursome matches. Rory McIlroy was elated after his foursome match on day 1, and said via Golf Digest:
“Amazing to sweep a session. I can't remember the last time Europe has done that. We can't get complacent at all,” McIlroy said. “This is an unbelievably long American team.”
While the US team needs to better understand its pairings and recalibrate for day 2, all is not lost yet. Scottie Scheffler talked about how Team Europe were at the top of their game, and today was just a rough day for Team USA.
“It was tough out there. They played really good. We just weren't able to get the looks to have some putts to win holes and really flip the match. They took control and just played good.”
Day 2 of the Ryder Cup will also see foursome matches in the morning and fourball matches in the evening. The third day of the event will see all 12 head-to-head singles matches.