The 44th biennial Ryder Cup tees off on Friday morning as the U.S. Team and Team Europe begin to compete at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome.
The Ryder Cup has been played since 1927, and the United States is currently the defending champion, winning the 2021 matchup at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, 19-9. The U.S. team holds a 27-14-2 all-time advantage in the event but has not won on European soil since 1993.
“The European teams have been very stout, very good, very deep, and this year is no different,” U.S. captain Zach Johnson told the media earlier this week in a joint press conference with European captain Luke Donald.
“It’s just difficult. I know what history says. I’m very aware of that. At the same time, I can speak confidently, and talking to my team, these guys are ready and want to embrace that difficulty and want to just look at this as a great opportunity. The teams of the past are teams of the past. This is a new team with a new opportunity,” he said.
The teams were announced in separate press conferences earlier this year, and the top six golfers in points from each side were automatically selected, with Johnson and Donald each making six at-large selections.
Johnson chose to add Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, and Brooks Koepka to a team that already included Dallas native and world No.1 Scottie Scheffler, U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Open Championship winner Brian Harman, Max Homa, former FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, and Xander Schaufele.
Meanwhile, Donald picked Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Nicolai Hojgaard, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, and Sepp Straka to join Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Robert MacIntyre, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, and Matt Fitzpatrick.
“I felt like it was gonna give us the best opportunity to get the right players for the team,” Donald explained at the press conference. “You know, a mixture of really in-form players, a mixture of some guys that had experience, but you also wanted to look at the six who are also automatically qualified and try to be able to find some pairings within those through statistics and through personality matchups.”
“And then lastly, you’re looking at what the course demands and people who have been successful on the golf course, as well. There’s
a lot that went into it and very happy with the six that I went with in the end,” he said.
The 24 golfers will compete in a three-day event consisting of different playing styles. The first two days consist of four-ball and foursome play, while the final day is for one-on-one matchups.
Points are awarded for winning matchups, and the first team to 14-and-a-half points over the three-day event wins the Ryder Cup. If the teams tie, the reigning champion keeps possession, but there has not been a tie since 1989.
The 2023 Ryder Cup commences at 12:30 a.m. CT on Friday and continues through Sunday until all competitions are finished.
