Ryder Cup Day 1 four-ball pairings: Full match-up explored
The 2023 Ryder Cup started with the Foursomes matches on Friday, September 29, and will have four-ball matches scheduled for the afternoon.
For the four-ball, Viktor Hovland will go against Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. Hovland will team up with Tyrrell Hatton, who won the foursome match against Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns in a team with Jon Rahm.
Noticeably, Viktor Hovland also won his Friday foursomes match. He paired up with rookie Ludvig Aberg and defeated Max Homa and Brian Harman by 4&3.
The second pairing for the four-ball match is Job Rahm and Nicolai Hojgaard, who will compete against Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka. Interestingly, Koepka is the only LIV golfer playing this week at the Ryder Cup and was defeated by Rahm at the Masters in April.
It will be interesting to watch him play against the Spanish golfer once again.
Elsewhere, Robert MacIntyre will be teaming up with Justin Rose to play against Max Homa and Wyndham Clark. Rory McIlroy will pair up with Matt Fitzpatrick in a match against Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele.
The four-ball will start at 12:35 CET. Here are the pairing and tee times for the Friday afternoon four-ball matches:
- Viktor Hovland/Tyrrell Hatton vs. Justin Thomas/Jordan Spieth: 12:35 pm CET
- Jon Rahm/Nicolai Hojgaard vs. Scottie Scheffler/Brooks Koepka: 12:40 pm CET
- Robert MacIntyre/Justin Rose vs. Max Homa/Wyndham Clark: 12:55 pm CET
- Rory McIlroy/Matt Fitzpatrick vs. Collin Morikawa/Xander Schauffele: 1:10 pm CET
The 2023 Ryder Cup will its finale on Sunday, Oct. 1 at Marco Simone Golf Course in Rome Italy.
Ryder Cup Friday Foursome results
The European team maintained their dominance in the morning matches as they won all of their foursome matches.
The team took a four-point lead at the biennial tournament. Last week at the Solheim Cup, the American team dominated the golf course and created history after winning all of their foursome matches. The script is repeated this week at the Ryder Cup. However, this time the European team took the lead.
Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton added the first point to their team with a victory over Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns by 4&3. Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg defeated Max Homa and Brian Harman by 4&3 and then Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka won against Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa.
Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood defeated Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay by 2&1.
Here are the results of the Friday foursome matches:
- Rahm/Hatton def. Scheffler/Burns by 4 & 3
- Hovland/Aberg def. Homa/Harman by 4 & 3
- Lowry/Straka def. Fowler/Morikawa by 2 & 1
- McIlroy/Fleetwood def. Schauffele/Cantlay by 2 & 1