The art of a good partnership can take a lot of variables to get right. Very few get to stay together over two matches and, in more recent times, we’ve seen a shift to more specialised pairings with the fourballs and alternate-shot format.
We look at which partnerships have failed to spark one another to life, starting with the most famous mismatch in the competition’s history.
1. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson (P2 W0 L2 H0)
On paper, this could have been incredible; Mickelson had just broken his Major duck at Augusta in 200,4, and his worst finish was 6th in the four big on, while Woods was having a relative lean spell, but he was also eight-time Major champion Tiger Woods.
At the time, the pair didn’t g, et on which made Hal Sutton’s move even more ballsy. One big problem was the ball; Woods liked a high-spinning one, and Mickelson a low spinner. Back then, in foursomes, you had to play the same ball, which meant the left-hander using big chunks of his practice trying to get used to Woods’ Nike ball.
Then there was the fact that Mickelson had just switched to using Callaway clubs. Then throw in the fact that they were only told about the partnership two days in advance.
The result was a fourball win for Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington in the opening fourballs before a foursomes defeat by Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke.
“In the history of my career, I have never ball-tested two days before a Major. I’ve never done it. Had we known a month in advance, we might have been able to make it work. I think we probably would have made it work. But we didn’t know until two days prior. Now, I’m not trying to knock anybody here, because I actually loved how decisive Captain Sutton was.
I feel like that’s a sign of great leadership. Had we had time to prepare, I think we would have made it work. But that’s an example of starting with the captain, who put us in a position to fail, and we failed monumentally, absolutely.”
2. Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed (P2 W0 L2 H0)
Remember that long putt on 16 by Tommy Fleetwood at Le Golf National when he lurched back in celebration. Well, that came against Reed and Woods and helped Europe put a point on the board in the Friday fourballs.
So to go out again the following morning was fair enough. What then happened was horrible as they fell apart, again against Fleetwood and Molinari. Their scoring was abysmal, and we later discovered that Reed wasn’t in his best place as Jordan Spieth was moved alongside Justin Thomas.
As for Woods, he had just come from winning the Tour Championship and looked very ordinary all week with four straight losses.
3. Ben Crenshaw + anyone (P8 W1 L6 H1)
Crenshaw played on four teams, winning and losing twice. The player recognised as one of the best putters ever didn’t win a single four-ball match, and he would only win a single foursomes when he had Tom Watson for company.
His overall Ryder Cup record finished with a very poor winning percentage of 29.2% which makes it all the better for him that his captaincy proved to be a happier affair.
4. Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka (P2 W0 L1 H1)
When these two studs were paired together in R,ome it finished with a half point when Jon Rahm rolled in a beauty of a putt on the 18th in the Friday fourballs.
Come the next mor, they were torn apart in the foursomes, 9&7, by debutant Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland. We’re still reminded of Scheffler’s devastated post-round expression – it was the largest foursomes victory in the competition – and there are no quotes to hand to explain what happened.
“I think we could have met a lot of guys, and we would have been tough to beat today. Obviously, Scottie and Brooks weren’t on top of their game today, and yeah, that’s how 9&7 came to be,” said Hovland.
“It’s an unbelievable time for me to be here to play alongside one of the best players in the world, Vikto, and to be playing against other world-class players. S,o for me it’s unbelievable, but obviously today was quite surreal at times. Almost pinch myself at times.”
5. Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler (P4 W0 L1 H3)
This is so unfair and is pointed squarely at Captain Tom Watson, but it’s certainly worth reliving. These two played all four matches over the first two days; twice they restricted Rory McIlroy to half a point, and on the Friday afternoon, they were the only foursomes pair not to lose.
So, to go out again on the Saturday afternoon was fair enough. But to play the first three sessions and then get stuffed by Victor Dubuisson and Graeme McDowell helped Europe sweep into a 10-6 lead. The memory of these two was of woolly jumpers and late finishes when other pairings were rested.
For whatever reason, Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley were never seen again after a first day where they added a point while a buoyant Spieth and Reed won 2.5/3.
6. Jim Furyk + anyone (P25 W6 L16 H3)
Furyk played 11 fourball matches and lost nine of them, and his foursomes record isn’t much better. The American had 16 partners in total and didn’t have better than a 50% winning record with any of them.
Nine of them were one-and-done partnerships, including Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. He would play more matches with Woods than anyone, with two wins and two losses at the K Club.
7. Fuzzy Zoeller and Hubert Green (P3 W0 L3 H0)
Zoeller’s record is genuinely horrific – he would win once and halve one time in 10 outings. Among those eight defeats, three of them would come with Green.
In 1985, Europe would finally win again after a 28-year wait, and the American duo would twice come up short against Paul Way and Ian Woosnam.
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