If recent history is a guide, the opening alternate-shot session for this 45th Ryder Cup will be foretelling. How so? With a mere four of the competition’s 28 points at stake, at a glance it may seem like Friday morning is a mere appetizer for the pressure-caldron that intensifies as things progress. With so many matches still to come, why emphasize this first session?
The reality is that this session has become a crystal ball for all that follows.
In 2023, Europe went out in foursomes, also known as alternate shot, and swept the U.S. 4–0. The Americans played from behind the entire weekend and the final outcome was never in doubt. In 2021, the U.S. jumped to a 3–1 lead after the first foursomes session and stormed to a 19–9 victory. In 2018 in Paris, alternate shot was played as Friday's second session, Europe swept it 4–0, and the rout was on.
So, this first alternate-shot session that kicks off at 7:10 a.m. Friday morning deserves extra scrutiny. There’s no doubt captains Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald have been plotting it for weeks and probably longer. Here is a prediction for how the pairings will line up.
2025 Ryder Cup Opening Session Prediction
Match 1: Scottie Scheffler/Russell Henley vs. Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton
Match 2: Bryson DeChambeau/Cameron Young vs. Viktor Hovland/Ludvig Åberg
Match 3: Justin Thomas/Ben Griffin vs. Robert MacIntyre/Justin Rose
Match 4: Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele vs. Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood
In 2021 at Whistling Straits, Jon Rahm teamed with Sergio Garcia in the opening match and won. In 2023, Rahm teamed with Tyrrell Hatton in the opening match and won. It would be a shock to see anyone other than Rahm hit the opening tee shot for Europe on Friday morning. Anticipating this, Keegan Bradley could send his top player and perhaps top pairing out first to try to seize momentum. Why not plant Scottie Scheffler on that first tee in Match 1? Scheffler formed a formidable duo with Henley at last year’s Presidents Cup (where many of this week’s pairing were essentially workshopped) and based on the practice rounds this week, all signs point to Scheffler-Henley in this opening session. I think they lead off.
Of course, if Bradley wanted to amp a frenzied crowd even further, he might send his biggest hitter out to smash the first drive of this event. But let’s go with DeChambeau in Match 2, teaming with fellow long-hitter Cam Young, who like DeChambeau plays a Titleist golf ball, to make an electric duo. DeChambeau could very well try to drive the green on the par-4 opening hole—think the crowd might enjoy that? Hovland doesn’t enter this week as sharp as he was in 2023, but back then he and Åberg formed a lethal foursomes combo that delivered a historic 9-and-7 beatdown to Scheffler and Brooks Koepka on Saturday. Donald could well trot them out together again.
In Match 3, Bradley can tap Justin Thomas, another high-energy player capable of creating fireworks, and task him with shepherding rookie Ben Griffin in his first match. In 2023, Europe sent out Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka in this spot, but with Straka arguably the shakiest member of this year’s European squad and Lowry a potential pairing for McIlroy in the afternoon session, this is a prime opportunity for Luke Donald to shake it up. Rose is one of Europe’s all-time best alternate-shot players, but he didn’t play this format in Rome, where instead he successfully teamed with MacIntyre in four-ball. Donald could also toss together a surprise here.
Although they went 0–2 in foursomes in Rome, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele are still 6–3 across five team competitions in this format. Bradley will likely send them out somewhere on Friday morning, and the anchor match makes sense. Facing Europe’s “Fleetwood Mac” would be a spicy matchup, given how McIlroy and Cantlay went at it in Rome. McIlroy is likely to go five sessions this week, and he could anchor Friday afternoon’s session alongside his buddy Lowry. Fleetwood could also pop right back out with Rose.
The countdown is on and soon we’ll know what captains Bradley and Donald have cooked up for Friday morning. Whatever the case, this first session will be epic—and make no mistake, highly consequential.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Predicting U.S. and Europe’s Pairings for the Ryder Cup’s Opening Session.