What Greller witnessed was a microcosm of what went down in Rome. Though a spirited Sunday charge was entertaining, it proved to be nothing more than the scenic route to the inevitable, as the Americans once again fell big on the road and were left wondering where to go from here.

“You know, right now everything is extremely surreal and almost foggy. For me to come up and devise some sort of plot of how to change or alter or whatever you want to call it, I wouldn’t even know where to start right now,” Johnson said after his team’s 16½-11½ defeat. “I know I’ll reflect. It’s natural when you have something of this magnitude.”

Make no doubt, this was a tour-de-force performance from Europe. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood were who we thought they were and more, and any player with a question mark next to his name delivered an answer with vigour. Captain Luke Donald and his assembled crew have earned their flowers. And yet, as the sun dances behind the skyline of the Eternal City to send this match into the past, this feels like a Ryder Cup that was lost as much as it was won.

RELATED: Rickie Fowler conceded the Cup-clinching putt and the golf world had questions

The first knock was delivered before the matches began with an undisclosed virus making its way through the US locker room and knocking out several players something fierce. That could partially explain why the US stumbled in foursomes Friday morning, and by “stumbled” we mean getting swept for the first time ever in the opening session. There was a window Friday afternoon where the Americans had a chance for a 3-1 session victory; instead in every potential winning match the US watched their opponents celebrate on the 18th green, leaving with just 1½ points. Saturday morning was more of the same, lowlighted by Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka—arguably the two best American players—suffering the worst loss in Ryder Cup history, 9 and 7. Entering Saturday afternoon the Europeans held a seven-point advantage.

Richard Heathcote

Through the first three sessions, Johnson was no cheerleader. He tried to play it cool, or as cool as Zach Johnson can appear. He stressed he wasn’t worried, that he had faith in his guys in his room, that they are not a bunch that needs encouragement. That Johnson was gone and in his place was a captain insisting their fate had not been decided. He clapped, he cheered, he shouted. It was the type of frenetic energy one has when buying a couch too wide to fit through the front door, refusing to acknowledge a truth that can’t be adjusted.

The thing is … it kind of worked, the Americans finally winning a session. Yet it was undercut by Johnson relaying, in his words, “data” to Spieth on the 16th tee, and though Spieth is responsible for ultimately hitting the shot, Johnson’s ploy backfired. It was far from the only instance where Johnson’s strategy failed.

RELATED: The Ryder Cup is broken, and there’s no easy fix

There were the captain’s picks, perhaps one of the most consequential responsibilities of the job. Johnson’s six selections went 4-12-4 on the week. He inserted Rickie Fowler in the Friday morning lineup, which looks curious given rumours that Fowler was under the weather and made worse by the fact he didn’t play at all Saturday. Johnson went with Sam Burns and Scheffler despite their rough Presidents Cup together and that analytics don’t paint them as the most compatible grouping. In the end, the buddy-buddy pairing produced unfriendly results. Meanwhile, Johnson kept riding Spieth despite Spieth looking lost with his game and himself.

On Sunday night Johnson chalked up most of the carnage to sticking to his pre-week game plan rather than adjusting to how the Ryder Cup was playing out. He then admitted he “should have listened to his gut” more yet also didn’t know what that would have meant.

“There’s something to be said about observing and witnessing that helps your decision process, and then you include everything else and you try to find every possible scenario so that you can score points,” Johnson said. “I would say that it’s pretty evident that the other team did a better job of that, certainly the first two or three—first three sessions. I think it’s really that simple.”

RELATED: Ryder Cup 2023 updates: Europe closes out 16½-11½ win at Marco Simone

It was a confusing end to an uninspiring captainship.

Jamie Squire

The blame is not Johnson’s alone. Putting continues to be the bane of Scottie Scheffler’s existence but the rest of his game wasn’t particularly great en route to a 0-2-2 record. The World No. 1 was outscored by Europe’s Robert MacIntyre, who according to DataGolf’s true strokes gained has been worse than several Korn Ferry Tour players over the past six months. Xander Schauffele was supposed to be one of the rocks for the US; instead, Schauffele’s game was crushed to pieces, failing to log a single point Friday or Saturday. Wyndham Clark was second in automatic qualifying but was statistically the worst player this weekend. Justin Thomas failed to prove his critics wrong, finishing 21st out of the 24 players in strokes gained. Fowler conceded the winning putt to Fleetwood, which, depending on your perspective, is either a lack of competitive fire or recognition of the moment.

The problems extended past the playing roster. Europe was surgical with its vice captains, utilizing a mix of peers and elders and heroes as their helping hands. The US went with the same uncles they trot out at every team event, voices while respected are essentially of the same voice. The lack of cohesion by the PGA Tour and PGA of America—which has not improved in the months since the surprise framework agreement between the tour and Saudi Arabia—continues to be an issue, with most American players having five competitive weeks off before Rome while their European counterparts played less than 14 days ago.

“You know, clearly our start Friday, the entire day Friday, was not what we were looking to do. And it’s really hard to come back in an away game when you fall so far behind,” Spieth said. “I’ve been a part of that before. So I would say like, you know, I think if you ask—I think maybe if I rephrase the question, if you asked us when we would like to play the Ryder Cup relative to our schedule, I think we would probably say, give us a week after the Tour Championship or two weeks after and then go, instead of five.”

It’s fair to wonder how bad the result could have been had the Americans not received a jolt of life thanks to a report about team fracture and protest staged by Patrick Cantlay, a report the Americans denied and rallied around. And to their credit, the Americans made it interesting on Sunday and seemed to give a damn. But these are professionals and the stakes are too high and emotions are too invested to take solace in moral victories, and “interesting” doesn’t mean much when the final result is still a blowout.

Worse, it is an outcome that lends itself to the same existential questions that have been recycled for the better part of three decades. Variations of the above could be said for almost any away loss since 1993, give or take a post-match mutiny or two. The characters change but the story remains the same, task forces be damned. It is an outcome that threatens the integrity of the event, because instead of asking why the US can’t solve its road problem perhaps the ask should be if it can be solved. The home team has now won eight of the last nine and 11 of the last 13 Ryder Cups, with an average winning scoring margin of five points.

Johnson and his boys made plenty of mistakes, but it’s fair to wonder if they even had a chance. Because winning on the road requires the road team to be flawless and golf isn’t a game of perfect.

Should the trend continue there will be a storm on the horizon. At times each side has held the conch of power, but for it to swing so dramatically and conclusively every two years is not a rivalry; it’s the byproduct of a broken apparatus. Which will be fine for United States fans, because 2025 will be at Bethpage Black, and the result will make many believe the team has finally figured it out. Then it comes back to Europe in 2027, and the same crisis will return because the Ryder Cup is trapped in a perpetual time loop. This doesn’t mean the Ryder Cup lacks excitement or importance or heart. It just means it’s not a sporting event, because in sporting events the outcome is always in doubt. The Ryder Cup is proving itself to be nothing more than an exhibition, and that’s the most dispiriting problem of all.

Main image: Ramsey Cardy

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What’s less known is how it came about. Azinger, lounging on his couch one day, happened to see a documentary on the Navy Seals and was particularly intrigued by their practice of training in small groups. He had experienced plenty of Ryder Cups as a player and always found it ridiculous that the American golfers, who were thoroughly self-centred as professional golfers, were expected to come together as 12 like-minded teammates for one week every two years. What if, he wondered, you could reduce that number to four?

Hence, the pod system was born. Less is more.

Today, a version of the pod system is still in use, though not quite as rigorous as Azinger’s first application. And far beyond the pods, the concept of “less is more” has become a kind of private mantra for the US. The concept of minimising what players have to do, think, and say on Ryder Cup week is now a governing philosophy for US captain Zach Johnson and his predecessors in the captain’s seat. De-clutter and uncomplicate everything, the thinking goes, and the players will be able function as they do at any normal week and be ready to perform at a high level in the extraordinary circumstances of a Ryder Cup. In other words, golfers are creatures of habit, and the worst mistake a captain can make is to disrupt that habit.

At Whistling Straits in 2021, the pandemic meant that captain Steve Stricker was able to reduce the obligations further, including the elimination of the traditional gala dinner. (This year, the dinner is back — the players and captains will gather on Wednesday night at La Lanterna in Rome with a group of VIPs after a photo op on the Spanish Steps, but even this gathering is reduced in scope from prior Cups.)

In his two press conferences thus far in Marco Simone, Johnson has reiterated this philosophy multiple times. When asked on Monday whether he would adhere to Stricker’s belief that big speeches and hype videos and a busy social calendar were counterproductive for his team, he didn’t mince words.

“One hundred per cent yes,” he answered.

“My role is to give them access to anything and everything they need,” he continued, “whether it’s personnel, or specifically a gym or recovery, their bed, whatever it may be. That’s my role to kind of remove the clutter so they can go be who they are. That’s what Steve did. That’s kind of what we kind of tried to do within Team USA to kind of lay everything out so that they can go be who they are … I can remove only so much clutter. I want to take the burden off them when it comes to the periphery so they can just go work. It really is a simple approach.”

US captain Paul Azinger celebrates winning the 2008 Ryder Cup. Bloomberg

On Tuesday, when asked if he had consulted any other coaches from team sports for advice or inspiration, Johnson admitted that there were plenty he admired and learnt from at a distance, but that he hadn’t sought any specifically this year. The reason? It could introduce clutter.

“Part of my rationale for not really pursuing that is we’ve got a pretty good foundation, I think, laid within Team USA and how we go about things,” he said. “There’s a responsibility there, but more than that, I think less is more. These guys know what they are doing, and so if I were to introduce something from some other expertise, it could be cloudy or it could fog something up and it just doesn’t need to happen.”

As to the mechanisms of what “less is more” means, it comes down to that same critical principle of allowing the players to pursue a routine that is as close as possible to what they might do on a “normal” week on the PGA Tour. That includes everything from practice to training to meals to sleep. It goes beyond the practical to elements like pump-up speeches. As far back as Azinger — a far more talkative personality than Johnson or Stricker — the US began to realise that a rah-rah mentality didn’t serve anyone.

“During the week itself, I was a man of few words,” Azinger said. “I didn’t say jack. There were no motivational speeches, none of that.”

At Whistling Straits, the American team had a special room with a large, beautiful wooden table for meetings, but Stricker’s planning was so regimented that they only used it as a group once. Even the group text messages were broken into smaller player units. When Stricker held meetings when the day was over, he did them quickly in the clubhouse, which gave the players the freedom of their evenings. Europe, meanwhile, needed a police escort to get back to their hotel, then reconvened for nightly meetings — a fact Padraig Harrington lamented later.

To an outsider, the obvious question might be: “That’s all well and good, but how do you get the players to the high competitive level needed for an event of this magnitude?”

The answer is that if you let them go through their ordinary routines, they’ll arrive there on their own.

“With that [structure] comes a natural or almost an organic team building, if you will,” Johnson said. “These guys want to be around each other. They are getting their tissue work done and they are all — they have got music going with each other. They are in the ice plunge, not together, but they are doing all that they need to do so that they can be ready come Friday. That’s all I ask.”

Main image: US captain Zach Johnson (left) talks to vice captain Jim Furyk and Xander Schauiffele during the Americans’ practice session on Tuesday. Patrick Smith

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After winning his second event in three starts on Sunday at the LIV Golf Chicago tournament, DeChambeau was asked about how well he is playing and his level of disappointment in missing the 44th Ryder Cup that begins Friday at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.

“Yeah, definitely, I am playing better than Winged Foot,” said DeChambeau, who won the 2020 US Open on Winged Foot’s West Course. “If you look at it, it would have been nice to at least just have a call. There’s numerous people that I think Zach should have called out here, and we didn’t get that. I understand, I get it, but we’re nothing different. We’re still competing. We’re still working super hard to be the best we possibly can be.”

DeChambeau, who turned 30 eight days ago, was a member of the US Ryder Cup team that pummelled Europe, 19-9, at Whistling Straits. He went 2-0-1 and beat Sergio Garcia in singles, 3&2, after driving the green and making eagle at the par-4 first hole on the Straits Course. He does, however, have a losing record in his Ryder Cup career after going 0-3-0 during America’s loss to Europe in Paris in 2018.

Still, he felt that he, and a few others who play in the LIV Golf League — Dustin Johnson, who went 5-0 in Wisconsin, being the most obvious omission — should have gotten a bit more consideration.

“I can answer all of those in a very simple manner,” Zach Johnson said on Monday during the first captains’ press conference with European counterpart Luke Donald. “We have a points system within the PGA of America, within the Ryder Cup USA. It’s pretty evident how you garner points and which tournaments can accumulate points. I basically, you know, I kept at one point … my own probably top 30, but when it got down towards the end of the process, it was the top 20, the top 25 guys in that point system that I felt like had the merit and certainly, well, should have my full attention. That’s where I was. I was basically in the top 20, top 25 guys in points when it came down to formulating this Team USA.”

Because he joined the LIV Golf League, DeChambeau was not eligible to compete on the PGA Tour and collected points in the US team standings in just four events — the four major championships. His best efforts were T-4 at the PGA Championship and T-20 at the US Open. Dustin Johnson, by the way, was 40th on the points list.

The LIV player who did get Johnson’s attention, of course, was Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship and was runner-up at the Masters. The five-time major winner, who went 2-2 at Whistling Straits, was inside the top six in the standings and in line to receive an automatic spot until the last week of qualifying at the BMW Championship. Johnson, nevertheless, made Koepka, seventh in the US standings, a captain’s pick.

“Brooks is obviously going to kill it for Team USA next week and excited for the team,” said DeChambeau, whose long-time running feud with Koepka has mostly subsided while they compete on the LIV tour. “But, yeah, it definitely does sting a little bit [to miss the Ryder Cup.] I personally think that given the way I played this week, I could have definitely racked up some points for Team USA. But that’s neither here nor there. As time has gone on, hopefully I’ll be in line for it in a couple years.”

Whether LIV golfers from either side eventually are welcomed back into the fold is a burning question for the future. It could be a tough call.

Main image: Zach Johnson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau. Ben Jared

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“So because we’re in Rome,” I began, “obviously this is the site of a famous historical empire that never lost at home until some serious internal divisions weakened them and then the barbarians were at the gates and they took over. This may be a jet-lag question — I desperately need sleep — but Luke, do you worry that you’re something like the last Roman emperor? And Zach, do you ever think of yourself as a Visigoth dressed in bear furs ready to attack?”

Before we get to their answers, let’s examine how I did with my history. It’s true that the Roman Empire was based in Rome — I nailed that — and it’s also true that Rome fell because of internal strife and invasion by Germanic tribes like the Visigoths. In fact, the Visigoths were the first outsiders to sack Rome in 800 years when they looted the city in 410 AD. Did they wear bear furs? I have no idea. I’m not sure where that came from. (To any Visigoths I’ve offended, I sincerely apologise.) Did the last Roman emperor fall with that Visigoth attack? Wikipedia says no. But overall, for an extremely tired question at a press conference, I’ll take a B+.

As for the parallel — Europe are the failing Roman Empire, undefeated at home for 30 years in the Ryder Cup but reeling due to LIV decimations, and Americans are the barbarians at the gate who have spent decades learning from the enemies. Sure, it’s a little tortured. I’ll own that.

Luke Donald. Mike Ehrmann

Now, what did they say? Donald went first.

“Well, history is always important,” he said, laughing. “We know that, and hopefully the beginning of the history of the Roman Empire will be kind to European golf this week.”

“Wow,” Johnson added.

“I’ll keep my answer short,” Donald concluded.

I’m not 100 per cent sure what he meant about the beginning of the history of the Roman Empire, unless he was choosing to correct me and say: “Hell no, this isn’t the end, this is the beginning.” Which is fine, but I’m not just seeing the parallels.

Johnson went next: “I do love history, and I do appreciate certainly what this country is about, and specifically this city,” he began diplomatically. “I mean, Luke and I had the pleasure, I would even say distinct honour of walking the streets of Rome in Europe a year ago and actually hitting a ball by the Colosseum and the ruins and whatnot. I don’t take that for granted, whether you’re talking empires, biblical importance, whatever it may be, I mean, this history, the history of Rome, I mean, it’s the eternal city.”

“All that being said, this is golf.” (The other reporters laughed at this line, cruelly undermining my thesis.) “I mean, this is sport. I’m going to keep it pretty simple. That’s the way I operate. I’m going to let whatever drama you’re trying to get into, I’m going to let that happen inside the ropes with our golf balls.”

Afterward, in an exchange relayed to me by our Dave Shedloski, who put the hard question to Johnson again — do you feel like a Visigoth in bear furs —  the US captain said, “I don’t even know who the Visigoths are.”

So, in the full analysis, I have to admit that my idea didn’t go over so well with the big guys. A few other journalists made some remarks in passing afterward, so maybe this has some legs as the week goes on. But in any case, if the Americans win, and Johnson strikes across the fairways of Rome like the conquering King Alaric of the Visigoths (maybe wearing bear furs, maybe not) and Donald weeps like Honorius at seeing his empire ravaged, just remember where you heard it first.

Main image: Zach Johnson. Mike Ehrmann

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Dustin Johnson is not a part of this year’s United States Ryder Cup team. According to the two-time major winner, that fate has more to do with where he plays than how he’s played.

Johnson, speaking to the Palm Beach Post, said he believes he would have been selected to the American squad had he not moved to LIV Golf.

“I would love to be a part of the team,” Johnson told the Palm Beach Post. “But to be honest, I haven’t really played that well, this year. But have I played well enough to be on the team? Yeah. I didn’t have the best year. Was it good enough to make the team? I think so. If I would have been playing on [the PGA Tour], yeah, I would have made the team. Do I think I can help the US team? Absolutely.”

Johnson, 39, was LIV Golf’s first major signing when the new circuit announced its rosters in spring 2022, reportedly joining the league for nine figures. Following his move, Johnson lost a number of sponsors and eventually parted ways with long-time partner Adidas.

In 2023, Johnson ranks eighth out of 52-qualified players in LIV Golf’s season-long individual standings with two events remaining, and his 4 Aces team are first in the team rankings. However, Johnson was mostly a non-factor in the major championships in 2023, a T-10 at the US Open his only top-45 finish in golf’s four biggest events.

Conversely, Johnson has played in five Ryder Cups in his career, and in 2021 became the first American golfer in four decades to go 5-0 in leading the US to victory. Johnson said he had conversations with US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson, and said he expressed his desire to be a part of the team.

“We talked quite a good bit,” DJ said. “He’s a good friend of mine. … But like I said, I didn’t play quite well enough, especially not being on the tour, I needed to really play well.”

LIV Golf events did not receive Ryder Cup points, meaning LIV players could only make a dent in the automatic standings through the majors. Even then, the task was tall, as Brooks Koepka’s PGA Championship win and T-2 at the Masters were not enough for an automatic pick. Koepka did ultimately earn a captain’s pick, meaning there will be a LIV representative at this month’s match in Rome.

The Ryder Cup begins on September 29. The Americans are defending champs, but have not won on foreign soil in 30 years.

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Justin Thomas’ journey over the last several months has been well documented. The 15-time PGA Tour winner hasn’t collected a victory since the PGA Championship in 2022 and with only three top-10 finishes this year he found himself needing to rally late to try to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs and get the attention of US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson.

Thomas missed three of his last five cuts of the season, although a 12th-place tie at the season-ending Wyndham Championship moved him up in FedEx Cup points he finished in 71st place, one spot out of advancing to the first playoff event in Memphis.

So, while his contemporaries were battling for $18 million, Thomas was sitting at home in South Florida, left only to hope for the best. Ultimately, everything worked out for Thomas, as his career 6-2-1 record in the Ryder Cup was too good for Johnson to pass up. He selected Thomas as one of his captain’s picks for the September 30 to October 1 event at Marco Simone outside Rome.

Speaking from the Fortinet Championship at Silverado in Napa, California, Thomas took some time to explain more about what it was like waiting around, hoping to get picked for the Ryder Cup.

“It was brutal,” he said. “I told Zach after the fact that I compared it to like … if you had an ex-girlfriend that you were trying to — you were trying to find any excuse you could to reach out to them to get in contact. That’s pretty much how I felt like with Zach.

“I understood it wasn’t going to be something where I text him and he’s like: ‘Hey, just to let you know, we’re at like a 60 percent.’ No, that’s not what I was looking for in any way, shape or form. It’s very tough when you can’t do anything about it.

“It was like when Zach called, it was a lot of emotions, but like a relief was almost the first thing, and excitement. It was a lot. I had a lot of sleepless nights and then at one point it just kind of finally hit me, I had accepted the fact whatever was going to happen was going to happen, and I was OK with that. And I was always going to be supportive regardless of what happened. I’m just very excited, fortunate, happy that it ended the way that it did.”

The Wyndham Championship ended on August 6, so Thomas has had five weeks to rest and practice for the next few weeks. During the downtime he’s been seen working on his swing with the help of pool noodles, and reports came last week that he and his father/swing coach Mike were no long working together, something Mike and Justin both refute, although Justin said that he is trying to figure out his swing more on his own so his father can travel less.

Thomas, now ranked 24th in the Official World Golf Ranking, is excited to compete again and has not played in the Fortinet Championship before because it hasn’t fit into his schedule in the past. Circumstances, obviously, are much different this year for numerous reasons.

“I just didn’t want to take that long off of competitive golf,” Thomas said. “Had an opportunity to come to a place that I really like, and it worked out even better after getting picked for the Ryder Cup to get a little — you know, get some competition under my belt before going there.”

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In 2021, when almost the entire US team — players, caddies, and captains — took a trip to Whistling Straits a few weeks before the Ryder Cup (only Brooks Koepka, nursing a wrist injury, missed out), the captains were asked to describe the purpose of that trip.

“They had us over a barrel in Paris because we didn’t have enough practice rounds,” Davis Love III, a vice captain, said at the time. “The other team knew the golf course way better … it’s important for us to gather local knowledge and pass it on to the guys who don’t have the intimate knowledge as guys like DJ.”

Added captain Steve Stricker, “My message from Day 1 has been to try and out-prepare the European team, and for me it’s been that way throughout my career, just trying to prepare the best as I can going into events. So, let’s get in as much practice as we can here, maybe take a little bit of the stress of Ryder Cup week off our plates by getting our work done now … and get some rest that week.”

The US won that Ryder Cup in a blowout, and whether the team trip made much of a difference is a matter of debate. What’s not up for debate is how important they thought it was, both for course knowledge and team bonding, and this year’s US captain Zach Johnson — flanked by Love, Stricker, and many of the same players from Whistling Straits — carried that belief forward. At his introductory press conference in February 2022, he was already talking about the possibility of getting the team to Marco Simone outside of Rome ahead of the Ryder Cup, September 29-October 1.

“Steve did a great job of that. He made it a priority,” Johnson said. “Some of those young guys had not seen it. What he did was make it a priority to get the team there, prior, and made that an emphasis.

“This is not Wisconsin, clearly. It’s not an ideal situation, and it’s something we’ve talked about and will continue to talk about and hopefully find a way to do that. It’s not going to be easy but we’re looking into it. That would be the most ideal, just to get everybody’s on site prior.”

Johnson continued to emphasise the point in the smaller media huddle after the press conference ended, and now, more than a year and a half later, he made good on his wish. This past weekend, nine members of the team — all but Jordan Spieth, who missed it for the impending birth of his child, and Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, who missed for personal reasons — travelled together to Rome with the captains to play the course and have some private moments as a group before the chaos of the Cup.

There were some hilarious moments that came from the gathering, including Scottie Scheffler dancing all over Justin Thomas’ college American football grief, Jim Furyk bringing back the Brookline shirt at the team dinner, and the sheer size of Stewart Cink’s calves, but the bigger picture is that this was a critical strategic trip for the Americans.

Among the tangibles they discovered — that the rough is growing in thick, which is purportedly what Euro captain Luke Donald desires.

“The common sentiments that I heard on the golf course was they really liked it, which is awesome,” Johnson said. “And I knew they would because Marco Simone is very, very good. The rough was very thick. That was the other nugget that we talked about a lot.

“The putting greens were very good, very true, very nice,” he continued. “The fairways were awesome. It’s a great test and it’s a really, really good match play golf course. So the guys are excited about the competition.”

As much as visiting Whistling Straits ahead of the last Cup may have helped, the importance is heightened in a European year. It’s been three decades since the US managed to win away from home, and while the new era established by the post-Gleneagles task force has been successful by almost any measure, Paris in 2018 — where the Europeans won 17.5-10.5 — showed that without on-site preparation, no amount of firepower or careful planning can hold off the tide of home-course advantage. This year, the Europeans are hosting on a layout they’ve played four times in the DP World Tour’s Italian Open. The Americans were caught without experience at Le Golf National, but a hallmark of the modern US Ryder Cup leadership system is that mistakes like these double as learning opportunities.

Stricker made sure he wouldn’t get fooled again in Whistling Straits, and despite the logistical difficulties, Johnson pulled it off as well as he could in Italy. Now, the players know the course better — and maybe even each other — than they did before and have stolen a little of the overwhelming element of surprise that Europe has used to its advantage so effectively over the decades. The task of actually winning remains hard, but with margins this small, every little bit makes a difference.

Team USA needs 14 points over three days at Marco Simone to retain the Cup, and they just made their job a lot easier.

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European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald made his six captain’s picks on Monday to solidify his squad that will join US captain Zach Johnson’s American team in Rome later this month. The 44th playing of Ryder Cup will be played from September 29-October 1 at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club.

Donald added Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Nicolai Højgaard, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose and Sepp Straka to the six who had already automatically qualified — Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Robert MacIntyre, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick.

For the US squad, Johnson selected Sam Burns, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas as his captain’s picks last week after the Tour Championship. Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark were automatic qualifiers.

So, with the 24-men now finalised, we thought we’d dig into some of the numbers and, in boxing terms, come up with a tale of the tape, comparing both squads. Keep in mind that the US are the defending champions and have won two of the last three Ryder Cups, but Europe have won seven of the last 10. The US hasn’t won in Europe in 30 years.

Here are the goods …

United States

Sam Burns
Age: 27
World Rank: 20
Ryder Cup Record: Rookie

Patrick Cantlay
Age: 31
World Rank: 5
Ryder Cup Record: 3-0-1 (one appearance)

Wyndham Clark
Age: 29
World Rank: 10
Ryder Cup Record: rookie

Rickie Fowler
Age: 34
World Rank: 26
Ryder Cup Record: 3-7-5 (four appearances)

Brian Harman
Age: 36
World Rank: 9
Ryder Cup Record: rookie

Max Homa
Age: 32
World Rank: 7
Ryder Cup Record: rookie

Brooks Koepka
Age: 33
World Rank: 15
Ryder Cup Record: 6-5-1 (three appearances)

Collin Morikawa
Age: 26
World Rank: 19
Ryder Cup Record: 3-0-1 (one appearance)

Xander Schauffele
Age: 29
World Rank: 6
Ryder Cup Record: 3-1-0 (one appearance)

Scottie Scheffler
Age: 27
World Rank: 1
Ryder Cup Record: 2-0-1 (one appearance)

Jordan Spieth
Age: 30
World Rank: 12
Ryder Cup Record: 8-7-3 (four appearances)

Justin Thomas
Age: 30
World Rank: 25
Ryder Cup Record: 6-2-1 (two appearances)

Europe

Stuart Franklin

Ludvig Aberg
Age: 23
World Rank: 90
Ryder Cup Record: rookie

Matt Fitzpatrick
Age: 29
World Rank: 8
Ryder Cup Record: 0-5-0 (two appearances)

Tommy Fleetwood
Age: 32
World Rank: 14
Ryder Cup Record: 4-2-2 (two appearances)

Tyrrell Hatton
Age: 31
World Rank: 13
Ryder Cup Record: 2-4-1 (two appearances)

Nicolai Højgaard
Age: 22
World Rank: 78
Ryder Cup Record: rookie

Viktor Hovland
Age: 25
World Rank: 4
Ryder Cup Record: 0-3-2 (one appearance)

Shane Lowry
Age: 36
World Rank: 37
Ryder Cup Record: 1-2-0 (one appearance)

Robert MacIntyre
Age: 27
World Rank: 54
Ryder Cup Record: rookie

Rory McIlroy
Age: 34
World Rank: 2
Ryder Cup Record: 12-12-4 (six appearances)

Jon Rahm
Age: 28
World Rank: 3
Ryder Cup Record: 4-3-1 (two appearances)

Justin Rose
Age: 43
World Rank: 34
Ryder Cup Record: 13-8-2 (five appearances)

Sepp Straka
Age: 30
Ryder Cup Record: rookie

Totals

Andrew Redington

United States
Average Age: 30.33
Average World Rank: 12.916
Total Ryder Cups Played: 17
Combined Ryder Cup Record: 34-22-13
Majors Won: 15

Europe
Average Age: 30
Average World Rank: 30
Total Ryder Cups Played: 21
Combined Ryder Cup Record: 36-39-12
Majors Won: 9

The post Ryder Cup tale of the tape: Comparing the European and American squads appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

There wasn’t any pressure for Max Homa during Zach Johnson’s Team USA Ryder Cup announcements. At the No. 5 spot in the US rankings, the 32-year-old had an automatic bid to Marco Simone and seemingly didn’t even watch the captain’s picks livestream. He did miss something crucial, however, as Zach Johnson referred to Homa as the team’s “prom king”.

Why exactly? Great question.

The confounding “prom king” label comes in around the two-minute mark as Zach Johnson breaks down the squad. It arrives with a smirk and then we move on just like that.

? 6-time TOUR winner
12 top-10s this season
? @RyderCupUSA prom king@MaxHoma23 is ready for his @RyderCup debut ?? pic.twitter.com/q6UZD8VraF

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 29, 2023

This is somehow both a compliment (?) and deeply confusing as no one, most notably Homa, knew what Johnson meant. In a back-and-forth exchange with Golf’s Claire Rogers, Homa seems enthusiastic about the new moniker despite having no clue about what it’s referring to.

Haha what does that even mean??
(Brb going to tell everyone who turned me down for a date in high school that they were wrong after all)

— max homa (@Maxhoma) August 29, 2023

“Haha what does that even mean??,” Homa asks. “Brb going to tell everyone who turned me down for a date in high school that they were wrong after all.”

pic.twitter.com/dq7xgfj8jf

— max homa (@Maxhoma) August 29, 2023

It could be much worse for Homa — making Team USA and being referred to as a “prom king” — but we’re sure that Homa will ask Johnson what the heck he meant sooner or later.

The post Max Homa confused (but excited) by Ryder Cup ‘prom king’ label appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Zach Johnson is set to make his picks! We’ve been thinking about this for so long — and by “we” I mean the real obsessives for whom the Ryder Cup is never far from the brain — that it starts to feel like the milestone dates will never come, and we’ll forever be shouting opinions and analysis and opinions disguised as analysis at each other with no resolution. But if the five biggest days in the Ryder Cup cycle are American captain’s picks, European captain’s picks, and, uh … oh yeah, the actual three-day event known as the Ryder Cup … then we’re about to hit the first critical juncture.

As I write this, the Tour Championship is over, the situation on the American side has clarified, and Europe remains a question mark wrapped in a conundrum. And even now, on the verge of knowing the full American team, there are very possibly some major surprises still in store.

As far as our prognostications go, this is where the rubber meets the road. No more waffling: It’s time to set the guesses in stone and make the call that goes into the history books. Who’s making these teams? Who’s watching on TV? Let’s get after it: This is Ryder Cup-etology, the final edition.

THE AMERICANS

Selection format: For the second straight Ryder Cup (and probably into perpetuity), the Americans have only six automatic qualifiers, leaving Zach Johnson and Co six captain’s picks to make this coming Tuesday. The standings are now finalised.

Last week’s American summary
Automatically qualified, full stop: Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, and Xander Schauffele
Slipped out of automatically qualifying, still fine barring an ideological shocker: Brooks Koepka
Safely in, but uninspiring of late: Jordan Spieth
Still in, but still nervous: Justin Thomas
Good side of the bubble: Cam Young, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa
Bad side of the bubble: Sam Burns, Lucas Glover
Really bad side of the bubble: Keegan Bradley
Goodnight: Tony Finau, Denny McCarthy, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau

What’s changed?

Keegan Bradley. Patrick Smith

1. First things first, we have to talk about Keegan Bradley. After an indifferent showing in Chicago that put him on the “really bad side of the bubble,” he needed to deliver something spectacular at the Tour Championship. And he did! But only for two days.
Bradley’s 63-67-70-73 was, from the outside looking in, a sad tale of late Ryder Cup momentum that sputtered out just when it started to look tangible. A neater way to say that is that he had the best possible Thursday and Friday, and the worst possible weekend. I have no idea what Bradley actually needed to do to make the team, and now we’ll probably never know, but I’m comfortable saying it wasn’t this. By the time he shot 73 on Sunday — tied for the worst round of the entire field — even his total strokes were only good for T-11 in the field of 30. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but it wasn’t the big finish that might have made him impossible to leave home.
Even when you look at strokes gained over the last six months, he still just lingers in that shadow zone, and while you could construct a very good argument for him making the team on merit, in reality — when faced with the concept of picking him over Sam Burns or Cam Young or Rickie Fowler or Justin Thomas, you just keep coming back to the question of what distinguishes him. The answer is, not much — not match-play history, not any specific skill, not his major finishes (two missed cuts at the US Open and Open Championship didn’t help his cause at all) and not his consistency. Since a T-10 at Bay Hill in early March, he’s only even had a single top-10. It happened to be a win, at the Travelers Championship, but that win alone isn’t going to cut the mustard. The Keegan Bradley train sputtered out on Saturday — and will not be going to Italy.

2. Ditto for Lucas Glover. Our Luke Kerr-Dineen compared him to a US fringe political candidate that gains some campaign trail momentum and even competes and maybe wins an early state or two, but never has a prayer of getting to the actual White House. I thought that was brilliant—even after winning at the Wyndham (I watched it in person, it was impressive) and Memphis, the idea of a 43-year-old potential rookie like Glover getting picked for the Ryder Cup team over someone like JT or even an up-and-comer like Young felt so far-fetched. There’s a long history of hot form in August and September not really translating to much in the Ryder Cup, and the US captains were smart enough not to get pulled into the buzz. That said, Glover absolutely could have forced the issue with big finishes in Chicago and Atlanta to end the season. He did not. His 278 at the Tour Championship put him in the lower third, and Glove-mentum is dead.

3. Which leaves one guy who could have conceivably gone from the bad side of the bubble to the good, and that guy is Sam Burns. And what did Burns do? He finished T-4 at the Tour Championship by actual strokes, after a T-15 showing in Chicago. And Burns isn’t a Glover or Bradley type. He’s young, he’s got big wins under his belt including a WGC-Dell Match Play triumph this year when he beat Seamus Power, Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler and Cam Young on the way to the title, he’s a great putter — 11th on the PGA tour in SG/puttingthis season — and he’s friends and potential partners with the World’s No. 1 golfer. He cooled off a little bit over the summer, but now that he’s back in fine form, what’s the argument against him again?

4. Well, to answer that question, we have to ask who’s actually the most vulnerable. Says here it’s not Justin Thomas, despite the fact that he has been a worse golfer than anyone else who will make the US team this year. The value he brings is so substantial in terms of his past performance and his general excellence in team match play that it’s my belief — based on no inside information—that Zach Johnson already has told him he’s on the team. (For what it’s worth, I also believe Thomas loves the Ryder Cup so much that if he wasn’t already on the team, he’d be playing in Europe right now to try to prove something. I also think part of the reason he committed to the Fortinet Championship a week before the Ryder Cup is that he wants some tournament reps before going to Italy.) I was theoretically ready to move him off the team if something wild happened in the playoffs, but even in Atlanta, nothing bumped him. JT’s ironclad.

5. So is Collin Morikawa, after showing on Thursday and Friday that he’s capable of bringing the heat. You don’t leave behind the guy who went 4-0-1 at Whistling Straits and who can pair with literally anybody if he’s out shooting 61s and 64s. And though it’s less clear-cut, I’m also saying that Rickie Fowler is fine. His play was scintillating in mid-summer, he got his win at the Rocket Mortgage, and though he’s cooled off lately, he’s been good enough statistically to pass muster. I think in a vacuum, Fowler might be an easy one to leave off the team when the hard decisions have to be made. In reality, he’s so well-liked, such an asset to the team room and his game is substantial enough that he has to be in. I will say, though, that Fowler’s career record in Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups is 8-10-9, and just 3-7-5 in Ryder Cups alone. If a robot were picking this team without looking at anything but hard data, I think he might be the 13th man.

6. Which leaves us with the one guy who might be vulnerable to the late Sam Burns insurgent campaign. Cam Young in 2023 reminds me so much of Scottie Scheffler in 2021, from how he competed at majors (two top-10s to Scheffler’s three) to finishing second at the WGC-Dell Match Play to being one of the best players in the world without a win. Vice-captain Fred Couples already said he was on the team. (Which may end up being Exhibit A in PR school for why you never say something like that in public — life moves fast in Ryder Cup land, and what seems certain in late July might not look so great in late August.) I would not be even a little surprised if next year he went on a Scheffler-esque run and become definitively one of the two or three best players in the world. But at the same time, let’s be realistic: That comparison is favourable to Young. Statistically, even by comparing 2023 to 2021, he’s not quite Scheffler. And he didn’t make the Tour Championship this year. All of which makes him the guy who’s going to fall off if Burns is on.

So how do you decide between these two? Young is better tee to green, Burns is a better putter. Burns has actually won, Young has only come close. If you’re Zach Johnson, and the decision is this tight, you’d start looking at elements like team fit. You’d ask your top six automatic qualifiers who they want on the team. You’d consult with your stats people to see who was a better course fit, and who might work best in certain pairings. (That information, unfortunately, is something we’ll never get.) None of these present easy answers, but you can start to fathom at least a guess when you put it all together. And because I’m on the spot here, and I have to make a pick, I think Burns sneaks in off the bubble at the last possible moment.
Lock it in. At least until Tuesday, when Zach Johnson makes me look like a fool.

Here’s the final roll call on the US side
Automatically qualified: Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, and Xander Schauffele
Easy Captain’s Picks: Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa
Harder, but Still Definite Captain’s Picks: Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler
Last Man In: Sam Burns
First Man Out: Cam Young
Never Made the Final Push: Keegan Bradley, Lucas Glover

THE EUROPEANS

Nicolai Hojgaard. DP World Tour

Selection Format: The Europeans have two lists — the European Points and World Points. Three players qualify from each list, which means that for the first time Europe’s captain (Luke Donald) will have six picks to fill out his roster, which he’ll make a week from Monday, on September 4.

Last week’s European summary
The impregnable duo who would not be left out barring death and maybe not even then: Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm
Currently qualified and definitely in: Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood
Won’t qualify, obviously in: Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry
Newly off the bubble and in: Justin Rose
Qualified, probably in: Robert MacIntyre
Good side of the bubble: Adrian Meronk, Alex Noren, Sepp Straka
Bad side of the bubble: Yannik Paul, Rasmus Hojgaard, Nicolai Hojgaard, Adrian Otaegui, Alex Fitzpatrick
Extremely bad side of the bubble: Victor Perez, Matt Wallace
Missed their chance: Guido Migliozzi, Seamus Power

What’s Changed?

1. First off, the deal with the European picks is that unlike the Americans, they haven’t given us the courtesy of an extra day to write and print a story like this after the conclusion of next week’s Omega European Masters. Luke Donald will make his picks the next day, so I won’t have time to write anything up with final predictions beyond Twitter. Which means, in turn, that I’m going to have to make a final Golf Digest call here. Take it with a grain of salt — I think next week’s results will actually matter quite a bit to Donald, so just know that I’m operating with one week shy of full intelligence here.

2. On to the actual tournament: Man, I am more intrigued than ever by Nicolai Hojgaard. John Huggan, Digest expert on all things European golf, told me a couple weeks ago that I was underrating him, particularly because he won in 2021 at Marco Simone, the Ryder Cup course, which was enough to make me put him on the bubble last week. Then he pulled off a T-14 at the Wyndham, and in his return to Europe, he just finished third at the Czech Masters. So along with obvious course fit, he’s now got some form. It would have been much better for him if he won the thing, but this was a major step in the right direction.

3. Hojgaard’s position, and the position of many others, is bolstered by the fact that Alex Noren, a guy I’ve had as the 12th man and Donald’s last captain’s picks for a couple weeks, simply isn’t playing. I have no idea what’s going on. If he’s injured, I can’t find a report of it. And if he’s not injured, it either means he thinks he’s safely on the team or he’s fully out. But it’s totally far-fetched to think Donald would have guaranteed anything to Noren, right? Sure, some veteran presence would come in handy, but this isn’t Shane Lowry or Justin Rose. Which means that no matter what the reason for him sitting out these last few weeks, and next week, he’s basically conceding any chance to be on the team. Which throws everything topsy-turvy, because it’s almost impossible to predict who takes that 12th spot.

4. As a side note, I’ve looked into my heart, and I refuse to take Ludvig Aberg’s candidacy seriously. He’s going to be a great player, and maybe he already is a great player, but he has two professional top-10s (one of which came at this weekend’s Czech Masters). There’s no way Donald chooses this guy. There’s part of me that wants to believe, but in the end I can’t see this as anything but some sort of internet fantasy. In real life, this never happens, and if I’m wrong, you can embarrass me on Twitter. But I just can’t talk myself into this being remotely possible.

5. Back to the real candidates, but before we get deep into 12th-man territory, a tip of the cap to Robert MacIntyre. The man seized third place in the European points rankings and has held on to it for dear life, including this week at the Czech Masters when players like Yannik Paul, nipping at his heels in those standings, were having terrific weekends and putting his spot under the gun. MacIntyre’s response was to go 17-under for a T-4 finish, and things have to go wayyyy wrong for him to lose his automatic qualifying spot now. Even if he does, Donald is going to take him. For a month, it’s seemed like someone would overwhelm him, but he held fast and staked his claim. You have to respect it.

6. Also, quickly, nice work Sepp Straka finishing top half at the Tour Championship. Your spot was probably already secure, but now it definitely is.

What a shot! ?@mattsjwallace leaves 8ft for a birdie and take it to a play-off. #CzechMasters pic.twitter.com/6Ke5bm5bBN

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) August 27, 2023

7. What do we do about Matt Wallace? The European leadership team loved his fire at the Hero Cup (the UK/Ireland v Continental Europe team competition staged earlier this year in Abu Dhabi), but Wallace was just plainly bad almost the entire year after that, other than an anomalous win at Puntacana. Just when it seemed safe to pronounce him DOA., he turned in a solo second at the Czech Masters. Do they love him again? Is it too little, too late?

8. And finally, who else is in the running for that last spot? Adrian Meronk was only so-so at the Czech Masters, but as the aforementioned Kerr-Dineen pointed out, he makes an obscene number of birdies, which makes him an ideal fourball player with a steady partner. He also won at Marco Simone this year.
You probably see where I’m heading with this. Without more information to work on, sure, I could start talking myself into Yannik Paul or Victor Perez (terrible recent form, was great the Czech Masters) or Wallace. Maybe I could even get to Adrian Otaegui or Alex Fitzpatrick!
But with Noren out, I’m going to take the path of least resistance, and say that along with the nine guys who are locked, I think Donald right now could go with three players in solid recent form who also constitute the last three winners of the Italian Open at Marco Simone: Meronk, MacIntyre and Nicolai Hojgaard.

The final European picks:
Qualified on the World List: Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood
Qualified on the European List: Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Robert MacIntyre
Sure Thing Captain’s Picks: Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sepp Straka
Last Two In: Adrian Meronk, Nicolai Hojgaard
Last Man Out: Yannik Paul
Off the Bubble: Adrian Otaegui, Matt Wallace, Rasmus Hojgaard, Victor Perez, Alex Fitzpatrick

And now we wait.

The post Ryder Cup-date: JT, Burns, Bradley, Young? It’s decision time for US captain Zach Johnson appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.