Big stars key for Europe in Rome
ROME, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 26: Team Europe pose during the European Team Portraits at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club on September 26, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
Finding your strongest pairings is part of the great Rubix's Cube that is Ryder Cup captaincy but so too is knowing when to play your strongest hand.
Luke Donald has opted for six of the 12 players who fell to Europe's biggest Ryder Cup defeat to start turning the tide against the might of the USA in this morning's opening foursomes at Marco Simone in Rome.
But with the Swedish rookie sensation Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland taking on two rookies in Max Homa and Open champion Brian Harman in match two and the steady Austrian Sepp Straka partnering the bullish Shane Lowry against Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa at number three, there is a very different complexion about Europe this time around.
As Pádraig Harrington said last week, Europe has gone from no-hopers to realistic winners in the space of two years.
"The world of golf basically said there's no point in Europe turning up again and it'd be 20-30 years before Europe had a team capable of competing with this great American team," Harrington said. "And here we are two years later, and we're going well, it's 50-50."
Whatever happens in those two middle matches, the Ryder Cup may well hinge on the form of Europe's big stars — the world's number two, three and four in Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland.
Rahm and the feisty Tyrell Hatton will open hostilities against world number one Scottie Scheffler and his closest pal Sam Burns, who is one of four US rookies.
"They're both world-class players, to start," Donald said of Rahm and Hatton. "Both fantastic ball strikers. They are very passionate. I think Jon feeds off a playing partner with similar kind of fire and passion... Tyrrell really fits that bill."
As for throwing rookies Aberg and Straka in at the deep end in the foursomes, Donald had no doubts.
"It's not just this week," he said of what he's seen in them. "It's what I've seen over the last year really, maybe a little less with Ludvig. I'm very impressed with both of these players. They're very steady players.
"Obviously, Ludvig's driving, the few tournaments he played on the PGA Tour, he was the number one driver in all of golf, ahead of Rory McIlroy, ahead of Scottie Scheffler in the rankings. We know driving is important this week and in foursomes, if you're in the short stuff, it's going to make life a lot easier.
"Sepp, again, very consistent ball striker, very steady. He doesn't do a lot wrong. Again, he feels like his game is in great shape not only this week but leading up to these matches."
At the bottom of the order, Johnson has gone with arguably his strongest foursomes pairing of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay — who won both their foursomes at Whistling Straits in 2021— against the might of McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.
"Yeah, business as usual," Schauffele said. "They're both great players. Pat and I know them very well. It will be a battle, no doubt."
There's no place on the first morning for Europe's Justin Rose, Robert MacIntyre, Nicolai Hojgaard or Matt Fitzpatrick or for two of this year's major winners in PGA champion Brooks Koepka and US Open Wyndham Clark, who will sit it out alongside regular foursomes partners Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.
The absence of Thomas and Spieth, who played both foursomes sessions in 2021, losing to Rahm and Sergio Garcia before beating Hovland and Bernd Wiesberger, is eye-catching, if not totally surprising, given their form.
Harrington, who is staying away from Rome so as not to be a distraction, reckons Thomas could be the key to this Ryder Cup as the man the Europeans most want to beat.
The two-time PGA champion was a controversial pick for some, but with six wins, one half and only two defeats from nine matches, he'll have a target on his back.
"I think he's a bit of the Ian Poulter that everybody going up against JT will want to beat him," Harrington said in a podcast with Andrew "Beef" Johnston. "If he performs, it's going to be tough for Europe to take. They want to beat him and they want to see him as the weak link.
"So if he turns up and performs, he could be the pivotal man. He could be the one that causes the US to lose, or he could be the one that causes the US to win."
Johnson knows Spieth and Thomas are not the strongest foursomes pairing and given the hills here, he's looking to keep his team strong for Sunday.
"Unfortunately, I can't play all 12 each session," he said. "So at some point, somebody's got to sit. It's a golf course that demands a lot out of you physically.
"I mean, I think it's an ideal situation where you don't necessarily want to play everybody all five sessions. I'm not saying that's what we're going to do, but you're taking everything into account.
"Not only that, but the eight guys I have down on paper are the ones that we feel best put us in the position to get off to a great start, obviously."
The first two days are about building a lead for Europe while still keeping players fresh for foursomes.
"Am I going to play a lot of people five times? Probably not," Donald admitted. "We'll have to see how the few sessions go on early, but certainly the thinking and the preparation and the planning for making sure that on Sunday hopefully you have 12 guys that are ready to go because there are 12 points on Sunday. We know that.
"The first two sessions are important, but you still have a lot of points to play on Sunday, and you want people fresh enough.
"I would say my guys are sharp and ready. They've been in competition quite a lot, and sometimes that can be a big benefit as well."
As Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
"With pod systems, you're pretty much guaranteed you're going to play with three players during the week, you're going to be told in advance whether you're likely to play foursomes or fourball," Harrington said.
"And that will only change if the s**t hits the fan."
