The 45th Ryder Cup gets underway on Friday morning at Bethpage Black with the opening foursomes session.
And it will start with a bang.
American linchpin Bryson DeChambeau will lead things off alongside Justin Thomas against the European foursomes duo of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. DeChambeau is 0-2 in his foursomes career, both losses coming in his debut in 2018, while Rahm and Hatton have never lost in two foursomes matches together.
“They bring a spark to our team,” U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said of his leadoff pair. “Bryson has been an incredible teammate in the locker room, and we really wanted him to lead our team out with Justin in the first match.”
Four matches will be contested in this first session, with the first match scheduled for 7:10 a.m. ET. Four four-ball matches will follow in the afternoon, with Saturday’s schedule mirroring that of Friday before Sunday’s 12 singles matches.
In the last eight Ryder Cups, Europe has been seven points better in the foursomes format, while the home side has won foursomes in nine straight editions.
As for the importance of the first session: Since 1979, when the format changed to five sessions, the leading team after the first session is 9-5-1.
In other matchups, Scottie Scheffler will partner with rookie Russell Henley again after they went 1-1 in foursomes at last year’s Presidents Cup. They’ll face a new partnership in Ludvig Åberg and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Viktor Hovland and Bob MacIntyre is also a new pair for European captain Luke Donald. They’ll go against the veteran U.S. duo of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, who are 6-3 in Cup foursomes.
In the third match, it’s Collin Morikawa and Harris English versus Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, who went 2-0 in foursomes in Rome two years ago.
Here’s how you can watch all of the action and get all the updates for the 45th Ryder Cup matches at Bethpage Black.
Sitting for each side: American rookies J.J. Spaun, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, plus Sam Burns, who debuted in Rome; Europeans Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Sepp Straka and Rasmus Hojgaard.
“It’s two years ago, Rome – players evolve, players change, their profiles change, so again, you’re looking at personality matchups,” Donald said. “We have so many options that it’s really quite fun for me as a captain, but we know the U.S. are going to be strong, they’re strong in foursomes and have some amazing partnerships there, and we wanted to bring our best as well. And this is what we feel is our best.”
Here are the complete pairings and starting times for Friday foursomes:
7:10 a.m. ET – Bryson DeChambeau/Justin Thomas (U.S.) vs. Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton (Europe)
7:26 a.m. ET – Scottie Scheffler/Russell Henley (U.S.) vs. Ludvig Åberg/Matt Fitzpatrick (Europe)
7:42 a.m. ET – Collin Morikawa/Harris English (U.S.) vs. Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood (Europe)
7:58 a.m. ET – Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay (U.S.) vs. Robert MacIntyre/Viktor Hovland (Europe)
