Ryder Cup Preview

After so much anticipation, the 2025 Ryder Cup is set to take place on Friday, September 25 at Bethpage Black on Long Island, New York. The United States has achieved great success hosting the Ryder Cup, having won the previous two Ryder Cups at home.

The USA will hope to continue that trend with captain Keegan Bradley deciding the lineups for each session. However, Bradley does not have as much of an advantage in terms of the pairings he can make because Team Europe is bringing the same team that they had when they won in Rome.

Captain Luke Donald is trying to lead the Europeans to a road win in the Ryder Cup, which would be the first to do so since 2012 in Medinah. With the lineups that Donald is bringing to the table in the first session, it’s clear that Team Europe will not be messing around in this year’s Ryder Cup.

Donald announced that his first pairings for the first session will start with Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton. Bradley announced that two heavy hitters, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas, will be starting things off for the United States

Shortly after, the current best golfer in the world in Scottie Scheffler, will pair up with Russell Henley to go up against Ludvig Åberg and Matt Fitzpatrick.

The third pairing of the day will see Collin Morikawa and Harris English take on one of Europe’s strongest pairings in Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.

And last, but certainly not least, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay will face Robert MacIntyre and Victor Hovland in the final matchup of session one.

Rahm and Hatton were one of the best pairings in Rome in 2023, going 2-0 in foursomes. DeChambeau and Thomas, starting off the Ryder Cup for the United States, will get the New York crowd going from the first tee shot to the final hole.

Scheffler will be paired second with Henley and look to dominate for the United States. Åberg was outstanding two years ago, but was paired up with Hovland and is now paired with Fitzpatrick, who struggled two years ago, so it’ll be interesting to see how this pairing does against the world No.1.

One of the stronger pairings for Team Europe will be McIlroy and Fleetwood. The duo went 2-0 in Rome and is one of the more experienced pairings among the golfers on Team Europe compared to Morikawa and English.

The only Team USA pairing that has been together for the previous two Ryder Cups will be the final duo in session one. Schauffele and Cantlay will face Hovland and MacIntyre in an exciting matchup that will be crucial for both the United States and Europe.

You can watch all of the matches on NBC and Peacock, and one of the most anticipated golf events of the entire year, consisting of one of the most historic matchups in all of sports: Team Europe vs Team USA.

Massimo Buonagurio is a second-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact him, email mkb6750@psu.edu.