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Golf Monthly

Sport

Mike Hall

What Do Ryder Cup Practice Groups Tell Us About Potential Pairings?

Bryson DeChambeau Justin Thomas United States Ryder Cup Ben Griffin Cameron Young Keegan Bradley Ludvig Aberg Matt Fitzpatrick Rory McIlroy

The 45^th Ryder Cup gets underway on Friday, but the day before offers one of the most insightful moments of what lies ahead.

At 4pm EDT on Thursday, the two captains, Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald, reveal their hands with the pairings for the Friday morning foursomes.

It’s a moment when the reality hits home that the talking is almost over, and we finally get a glimpse into the thought processes of the two captains as they set about the task of leading their team to victory.

While that is to come, we can get an inkling of what might be in Bradley and Donald’s minds ahead of Friday’s opening session, thanks to the practice rounds taking place at Bethpage Black in the days beforehand.

Monday saw the first of the practice rounds, when all 12 players from the US team played 18 holes, with another nine played by the team on Tuesday.

There was no practice session for Europe on Monday, but the team played 18 holes on Tuesday, while the US returned for a nine-hole session.

In all the practice rounds, they go out in groups of four. So what do the groups tell us about how the players might line up on Friday morning?

The first thing to note is that Bradley is keeping the same groupings for both of the opening two practice sessions for his US team. As a result, the patterns are already becoming clear.

Let’s begin with the opening US group – Bryson DeChambeau, Ben Griffin, Justin Thomas and Cameron Young.

While two of the four players in the group, Griffin and Young, are rookies, making predictions a bit more difficult, there are a couple of good reasons why you could see DeChambeau teaming up with Young for at least one of the foursomes sessions.

Crucially, the format sees players share a ball and the pair both use the same model – a Titleist Pro V1x Double Dot. That won’t have escaped the notice of Bradley and his team, while DeChambeau is known for his painstakingly meticulous attention to detail, including soaking his golf balls in Epsom salts to check for imbalances.

On that basis alone, it makes sense for the LIV Golfer to be paired with a player comfortable with the ball, but there’s another factor that is likely in Bradley’s thinking.

One of the US team’s most potent weapons isn’t even a player, but the guarantee of a boisterous home crowd.

Young hails from New York, so he is sure to get a huge reception at Farmingdale, while DeChambeau is the most popular player with fans on the US team.

Put the two together, and it’s a safe bet that if the Europeans aren’t yet aware they are heading into a cauldron, they will be the moment the pair arrives at the first tee.

Of course, it is worth noting that some partnerships will change as the match draws on, with only eight spots available for each team in all four of the foursomes and four-ball sessions.

That makes it harder to predict how and with whom some players will be utilized, although you could make a case for Thomas and Griffin linking up.

In recent editions of the Ryder Cup, you could bet your house on Thomas being paired with his friend Jordan Spieth.

However, with the latter not in the equation this time around, it surely makes sense for Thomas, who is making his fourth successive Ryder Cup appearance, to guide the rookie on an occasion quite unlike any other.

Admittedly, we’re on shakier ground with that prediction, and you could make the case for other experienced pros teaming up with a rookie on the same basis, but the two being in the same group twice means it’s worth mentioning.

Another Ryder Cup rookie is Russell Henley, but one advantage the US has over the Europeans is another big biennial team match, the Presidents Cup.

Henley made his maiden appearance at the 2024 edition at Royal Montreal, where he played alongside Scheffler to good effect, winning one four-ball session, a foursomes session and suffering just one defeat, when the entire team had an off day, losing 5-0 in the Friday foursomes session.

Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley had success at the Presidents Cup (Image credit: Getty Images)

Given that, as well as Scheffler’s greater Ryder Cup experience, it seems likely the two will team up again.

In the final group, to the surprise of precisely no one, we find two names who have forged one of the defining partnerships of recent editions of the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup – Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.

Given they have been in the same group for the first two practice rounds, their involvement as a partnership is as big a no-brainer as it gets.

Much has been made of the settled side the Europeans bring to Bethpage Black, with 11 of the 12 who beat the US two years ago making the trip.

At Marco Simone, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood played together twice, in the Friday and Saturday foursomes. They won both sessions, too.

Given that, you could have predicted the pair would team up again weeks ago, but their appearance in the same group for the opening practice round only firms up that probability.

Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy are likely to team up (Image credit: Getty Images)

Another of the groups offers a big indication of a potential partnership, too, with Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm playing a practice round alongside Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick.

That doesn’t give us much of a clue as to Aberg and Fitzpatrick’s role, at least looking at the 2023 edition.

Back then, Aberg played alongside Sepp Straka once and Viktor Hovland three times, with Fitzpatrick lining up twice with McIlroy.

It does suggest Hatton and Rahm will link up again, though.

In 2023, they partnered in the two foursomes sessions, winning both, and their bond has only strengthened since then, with the two now LIV Golf teammates with Legion XIII.

Considering the settled European line-up, beyond McIlroy and Fleetwood and Hatton and Rahm, it’s hard to gauge just how the other players will be used based on the practice round groupings.

For example, it’s not just Aberg and Fitzpatrick’s places in the groups that leave the potential for head-scratching, with Robert MacIntyre and Justin Rose kept apart despite gaining 1.5 points from two matches in 2023.

Similarly, back then, Shane Lowry teamed up with Sepp Straka twice, although they’re in different groups for the first practice round.

Of course, the bottom line is we’re just going to have to wait until Thursday for confirmation of the opening partnerships to find out more. It’s fun to speculate, though, isn’t it?