FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — J.J. Spaun chuckled at the question, knowing the answer is both special and yet hardly satisfying as it relates to the overall discussion.
The U.S. Open champion who also lost in a playoff to Rory McIlroy earlier this year at the Players Championship is a rookie on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He’s never played in the Presidents Cup, either.
And throughout amateur golf or pro golf, he’s never played the format that will account for eight of the 28 overall points when the Ryder Cup begins on Friday at Bethpage Black.
Foursomes.
“Never,” he said, before correcting himself.
“Actually, at Muirfield in Scotland, where you can [mostly] only play foursomes there. And it was fun.”
But not the pressure-filled Ryder Cup.
It’s true that the Scottish golf course that has hosted the British Open 16 times (the last in 2013) traditionally uses foursomes for the majority of its play. It means that in a group of four players only two balls are in play, as a two-person pairing playing alternate shots.
It is a unique style of golf that you’d rarely otherwise see because it requires you to rely on a partner as opposed to playing your own ball.
And it can be maddening.
Spaun is undoubtedly getting a crash course in the format, but it is also possible that he sits out the Friday morning and Saturday morning sessions when it is set to be utilized in this biennial competition.
Getting those pairings right for U.S. captain Keegan Bradley is imperative. The format has proven to be kryptonite for the road teams in recent Ryder Cups, while the home squad prospers.
For example. In Rome two years ago, the Europeans raced to a 4–0 start in foursomes and the Americans never recovered. Europe went 7–1 overall in foursomes while the Americans won the rest of the points 10½ to 9½. The foursomes deficit was too much to overcome in a 16½ to 11½ defeat.
In each of the past five Ryder Cups, the side that did best in foursomes won the overall competition. It so happens that in each case, the winning side was the home team. At the 2016 U.S. victory, foursomes was the opening format—and the U.S. went 4–0.
The last time a side that won more points in foursomes but lost the Ryder Cup was 2012, when the Americans went 5–3 in the two foursomes sessions and had a 10–6 lead going into singles, only to see the Europeans storm back to their biggest-ever rally in the competition.
“I think foursomes is obviously the tougher format to pair because there’s so many more factors,” Bradley said. “There’s the golf ball. You really want to match up the personalities with foursomes because it is a way tougher format. I think when you’re on the road, it’s much more comforting to have a best-ball partner. So when you’re on the road and you’re standing on that first tee by yourself in that alternate shot’s much tougher so I think that would be the reason [for the home team success].”
There are other considerations in addition to the ball, which can cause issues among players not used to certain specifications.
The captain, his assistants and the players need to determine things such as is it better for someone to be teeing off on the par-5s? Bryson DeChambeau, for example, would hit first on two of the three par-5s if he tees off on the odd-numbered holes.
But hitting approaches into par-3s—there are four with two each on even- and odd-numbered holes—or who is better suited to hit approaches into greens also comes into the thinking. On holes where longer birdie putts are expected, is it better to have a lag putter, thus letting the teammate hit the approach?
Still, there are some obvious foursomes pairings for both teams.
On the U.S. side, Scottie Scheffler played a practice round at the Procore Championship with Russell Henley two weeks ago, was grouped with him for the first two rounds and played with him three times last year at the Presidents Cup. For all the talk about Scheffler being buddies with Sam Burns, a Henley grouping—at least for foursomes—seems far more likely.
Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele would also seem to be fairly obvious. They’ve played foursomes together in each of the past five Cup competitions. They weren’t good in Rome two years ago—nobody really was—but they went 1–1 last year at the Presidents Cup. Familiarity is important. (Dating to the 2019 Presidents Cup, Schauffele and Cantlay have combined to go 6–3 in nine foursomes sessions, missing just one in those five team cups.)
“We don’t play it very often so experience helps,” Cantlay said. “I’ve fortunately had a really nice partner for most of those foursomes matches. I really enjoy match play. I enjoy embracing the difference between normal stroke play tournaments and being into something that is so different like alternate shot. It’s just a format I really enjoy playing.”
In foursomes, teammates alternate hitting tee shots. (Player A would have al the odd-numbered holes, Player B all the even-numbered holes.) The two players then alternate from there until the ball is holed, with the low score among the teams counting toward the match play total.
Although the rules permit players to switch golf balls on each tee—the one-ball rule typically used in professional golf is no longer invoked—playing with an unfamiliar golf ball even for a few shots is something that needs to be worked out in practice.
Figuring out the rest of the U.S. foursomes lineup is an interesting exercise. Justin Thomas would seem to be likely given his experience in team competition, and perhaps Collin Morikawa makes a good partner for him. Or a newbie like Ben Griffin?
Griffin won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans earlier this year with Andrew Novak. The team tournament utilizes foursomes and four-ball so Griffin twice played the unique format under pressure.
And what about DeChambeau? His record in foursomes is 0–2, having played it only in the 2018 Ryder Cup (losing one match with Tiger Woods, another with Phil Mickelson) but that was a long time ago. Do you leave the long-hitting and popular DeChambeau on the bench? Is it possible you send him off first on Friday morning and let him try to drive the par-4 1st green?
Bradley undoubtedly already has this all figured out but his choices will be studied.
“You need to trust your partner,” said Gary Woodland, one of Bradley’s vice captains who played at the 2019 Presidents Cup. “You’re going to put people in bad positions. You’re going to hit bad shots all the time like we do all the time. It’s different when it’s just you. It’s letting that go and figuring it out together. We’ve obviously added New Orleans [the team tournament]. Not everybody enjoys the format. It’s different. Way more pressure than four-ball where you can play your own ball and do your own thing.”
On the European side, captain Luke Donald’s decision appears far simpler. He’s got 11 players back from his 2023 team including all of those who competed at foursomes.
At the Friday morning session in Rome, the teams of Jon Rahm-Tyrrell Hatton, Ludvig Åberg-Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry-Sepp Straka and Rory McIlroy-Tommy Fleetwood raced to that 4-0 lead.
Those same four teams went out Saturday morning, with only the Lowry-Straka team losing to Americans Max Homa and Brian Harman, neither of whom is on this year’s team.
It would be tough to quibble with success, although Donald left open the possibility of changing things.
“It’s a different animal. It’s a different challenge,” he said. “Obviously having the chance to do it again doesn’t mean we’re going to do the same things we did in Rome. That’s about implementing new techniques. I’ve really tried to look hard at exactly what this will require.”
Going back to the 2012 Ryder Cup, a period of six competitions, the home team has a remarkable advantage in foursomes of 36½ points to 11½. The rest of the competition—four-ball and singles—sees the home side only ahead 63½ to 56½.
That is quite a spread, one that suggests there is some truth to the idea that it’s difficult to play all alone in an alternate-shot format on the road, where you can’t hide and your partner is depending on you.
All of which makes Friday morning and who plays whom that much more important. Does the U.S. continue the dominating trend? Or do the Europeans, with their vast winning experience from two years ago, change the narrative?
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as This Ryder Cup Format Is Maddening but Tends to Decide the Winner.