The United States purpose to retain the Ryder Cup in Rome and seize its first win on away soil since 1993 on the Belfry.
The Stars and Stripes are favourites to defend the trophy they claimed with a dominant victory at Whistling Straits in 2021.
Zach Johnson has a wealth of choices and is boosted by Brooks Koepka, the one LIV Golf participant in Rome.
Koepka, along with Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman, the USA have three of this yr’s 4 main winners, bolstering the Americans’ hopes of profitable in Italy.
Here, Independent Sport examines the strengths and weaknesses from Johnson’s group.
How was the group chosen?
Qualification for Team USA started in March 2022 and closed on 20 August 2023.
The USA chosen six gamers on the factors listing to mechanically high quality after which captain Johnson chosen six wildcard picks to finish the group.
The prime six computerized qualifiers have been Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele. The six wildcard picks have been Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Sam Bruns, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas.
Team USA 2023
Scottie Scheffler
It’s humorous what a distinction two years could make. Scheffler entered the 2021 Ryder Cup as a ‘final man on the airplane’ rookie wildcard choose and comes into the 2023 version as the primary identify on the listing. From the USA’s lowest-ranked participant at Whistling Straights, he heads to Rome as their highest-ranked and presumably the perfect golfer on the planet. Arguably drew the quick straw when placed on ‘Bryson babysitting duty’ in Wisconsin however thrived to safe a win and a half alongside DeChambeau within the fourballs classes earlier than obliterating the beforehand unbeaten Jon Rahm 4&3 within the singles for a really spectacular 2.5 factors from 3 on debut. Zach Johnson will certainly have pencilled Scheffler in for not less than 4 classes and three factors this time though the one weak spot in his other-worldly recreation stays the putter and matchplay typically comes all the way down to who’s hottest with the flat-stick. If he is all of a sudden standing over an eight-foot putt to win the Ryder Cup on Sunday afternoon…
Wyndham Clark
Made the group after his shock US Open win at LACC, Clark seems like he has the sport to contend for a few years, even when he finishes his profession with one main. Ninth in driving distance (313.7 yards) on the PGA Tour, Clark lets it rip. Ninth in whole birdies made, that is one other aggressive play for the United States, who may get into the heads of the Europeans. Something to be cautious of although is his accuracy from the tee, sitting a hundred and fiftieth (54.64 p.c), the course set-up may negate the ceiling of one of many standout gamers within the sport this yr.
Brian Harman
The concept of Harman being within the Ryder Cup group was beforehand preposterous however then he demolished the sphere at Hoylake on the Open to elevate the Claret Jug and ebook a Ryder Cup debut on the age of 36. His recreation is definitely well-suited to matchplay golf with a gradual food plan of fairways and greens mixed with being among the best putters on the PGA Tour. He gained greater than 11 strokes on the sphere together with his putter at Royal Liverpool, making a scarcely plausible 58 of 59 putts inside 10 ft throughout the week. Do that in Rome and it is arduous to see how he drops some extent. The lethal cool manner as he calmly blitzed his technique to a maiden main title on Sunday additionally bodes extremely effectively for his prospects amid the Ryder Cup cauldron. The man who hunts for sport can be taking useless purpose on the Europeans and he hardly ever misses.
Patrick Cantlay
A divisive determine within the recreation because of his gradual play, Cantlay is a mannequin of consistency on the PGA Tour, touchdown eight top-10 finishes throughout 15 common occasions exterior the majors, placing him fourth on the planet rankings. He is but to translate that into the majors with simply two top-10 finishes throughout 15 begins in 4 years. Quite frankly, when it issues most, Cantlay has not been within the image. That picture might change if he can again up his 2021 Ryder Cup displaying, the place he received three matches and tied yet another at Whistling Straits, with solely Dustin Johnson scoring extra for the USA.
Max Homa
A glue man. One of the most well-liked gamers on the group, Homa thrived on the Presidents Cup and can be a dream for Johnson when mapping out his pairings. A 4-0 report final yr at Quail Hollow, Homa has lastly made a dent at a serious, too, together with his T-10 at Hoylake this summer time. There is way more to return from a participant that has received thrice in simply over 15 months and a good efficiency within the FedEx Cup play-offs pushed him inside the prime six qualifiers to earn an computerized spot in Rome.
Xander Schauffele
Formed lethal partnerships with Patrick Cantlay and Dustin Johnson two years in the past on debut and there’s no purpose to assume the Cantlay-Schauffele dream group received’t reunite this time to duplicate their double fourballs success from Whistling Straights. Schauffele is the epitome of consistency, as evidenced by him remarkably ending between T10 and T17 at every of the final seven majors, and is in the direction of the highest of the leaderboard nearly each week. The lack of a serious title is the one knock on him however that’s splitting hairs, particularly as he has an Olympic gold medal from Tokyo 2020 and has received among the PGA Tour’s greatest common occasions. A win on the 2022 Scottish Open confirmed a helpful skill to triumph on European soil and Zach Johnson received’t want to fret about what he’s getting from the 29-year-old – pencil him in for not less than three of the 4 pairs classes and transfer on to extra urgent dilemmas.
Brooks Koepka
Koepka is again, making it 5 majors this yr after his PGA Championship victory. LIV Golf, no downside for Koepka, though he did narrowly miss out on one of many six computerized alternatives when Xander Schauffele’s efficiency on the BMW Championship noticed him leapfrog the last word alpha male golfer. Perhaps there’s a world the place his defection to LIV might have saved him off of Captain Johnson’s weekly radar and he might not have earned a wildcard. Now with a wealth of Ryder Cup expertise, having featured within the final three US Ryder Cup groups, together with victories in 2016 and 2021, the 33-year-old will hope to enhance on his 6-5-1 report.
Jordan Spieth
An absolute group golf demon. Stick him in a Team USA jersey and success follows. Well, within the pairs format not less than… 2.5 factors on debut in 2014, 2.5 extra in 2016, 3 in 2018 and one other 1.5 in 2021 makes him one thing of a banker, besides these totals embody only one half-point within the Sunday singles. Defeats to Graeme McDoeffectively, Henrik Stenson and, most inexplicably, Thorbjorn Olesen, earlier than ending all-square with Tommy Fleetwood two years in the past, communicate to a chink within the armour that Europe will hope to take advantage of at Marco Simone. It’s not simply the Ryder Cup the place that singles psychological block seems as his victory over Cam Davis in final yr’s President’s Cup was his first full singles level in eight appearances in group competitors for the USA. Will even be attention-grabbing to see who he’s paired with in foursomes/fourballs if his standard companion in crime Justin Thomas is not chosen as a brand new pairing may wrestle to meld. Three majors and 16 worldwide event wins in case you have been questioning about his credentials in common strokeplay golf.
Jordan Spieth celebrates through the forty third Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits
(Getty Images)
Collin Morikawa
It felt inexplicable however there was a rising motion suggesting that Morikawa should not be chosen for Rome. It sounded ludicrous on the time and, frankly, it nonetheless is. Yes, he hasn’t received a title since he triumphed on the DP World Tour Championship in 2021 (though he did miss out in a play-off on the Rocket Mortgage Classic earlier this yr) however as a two-time main champion by the age of 24 who, on his day, is the perfect iron participant on the planet, has received a serious on European soil and racked up an impeccable report on his Ryder Cup debut two years in the past, Zach Johnson was all the time going to pick out him as a wildcard. His iron play makes him nearly the proper foursomes candidate and his partnership with Dustin Johnson which racked up three factors from three at Whistling Straights was as spectacular as you may get. Another two factors ultimately yr’s Presidents Cup.
Sam Burns
Burns’ expertise is plain however his identify created debate after Keegan Bradley and Cameron Young have been neglected. Friends with Scottie Scheffler, Burns presents Johnson a pure pairing for the world No 1. The 27-year-old made a fairly compelling choice case by profitable the WGC Matchplay in March however has produced largely detached kind within the months since. Burns has an uninspiring report of two halves and three defeats from 5 Presidents Cup matches final yr and there are questions on his skill to compete on the very highest stage as his seek for a first-ever top-15 end at a serious championship goes on.
Rickie Fowler
A renaissance for Rickie Fowler has been one of the crucial common storylines in golf, piling up the top-10 finishes, solely to fall agonisingly quick on the US Open, having co-led heading into the ultimate spherical. But Fowler wouldn’t have to attend lengthy for his breakthrough win, profitable the Rocket Mortgage Classic just a few weeks later. Capable of firing darts on the flag, which can all the time make for nice matchplay viewing, however Fowler will hope to enhance on a reasonably poor Ryder Cup report (3-7-5) after that includes in 4 of them in his profession up to now.
Justin Thomas
One of essentially the most divisive picks in Ryder Cup historical past? Perhaps. Johnson’s fame might come all the way down to the choose and whether or not Justin Thomas can encourage the celebrities and stripes in Rome. Fifth on the Fortinet Championship brings renewed confidence, paired together with his immense Ryder Cup pedigree after months of putrid kind. A glowing 6-2-1 report in two earlier Ryder Cups (plus a 10-3-2 ledger in Presidents Cups), whereas additionally being the Captain America who conjures up his group and will get up the Europeans’ noses, made for an awfully compelling case to place him on the airplane regardless of his kind. And it was barely 12 months in the past that he was profitable his second main on the 2022 PGA Championship, although he couldn’t even qualify for the FedEx Cup play-offs by ending within the prime 75 of the season-long PGA Tour rankings this season.
Justin Thomas celebrates through the 2021 Ryder Cup
(Getty Images)
