FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas will face Jon Rahm of Spain and Tyrrell Hatton of England in the opening foursomes match of the Ryder Cup on Friday at Bethpage Black.
United States team captain Keegan Bradley and Team Europe captain Luke Donald revealed their first lineups of the competition Thursday afternoon — not at the usual opening ceremony, which was moved up a day due to stormy weather, but in a Golf Channel interview.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will team with Russell Henley in the second foursomes match against Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick; five-time major champion Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland will partner with FedEx Cup winner Tommy Fleetwood of England against Collin Morikawa and Harris English.
The final foursome of the session pits Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay for the United States against Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and Norway’s Viktor Hovland.
Rahm and Hatton opened the 2023 Ryder Cup with a Friday morning foursomes win over Scheffler and Sam Burns, 4 and 3. That launched a 4-0 sweep in the opening session that propelled Team Europe to a five-point victory. Rahm and Hatton went 2-0 as foursomes partners in Rome.
Schauffele and Cantlay have partnered a number of times in team competitions and are 7-6 across Ryder and Presidents Cups, including 6-3 in the foursomes format.
Foursomes format features each pairing playing the same ball while alternating shots. It’s considered the more difficult team match-play format.
On the bench for the first session are Burns, J.J. Spaun, Ben Griffin and Cameron Young for the United States and Englishman Justin Rose, Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard, Irishman Shane Lowry and Austrian Sepp Straka for Europe.
They’ll have a chance to be utilized Friday afternoon when the format switches to fourball, also known as best ball.
