Ryder Cup 2025: U.S. and European Pairings Predictions

Ryder Cup 2025 Pairings Preview

The two-year wait for the Ryder Cup is nearing its end, as the United States and European teams have made their way to Long Island for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

Team Europe made it five straight wins for the home team the last time out, cruising to a 16.5-11.5 point victory at Italy's Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in 2023. The last time we saw the visitors wind up on top was the 'Miracle at Medinah' in 2012, when the Europeans erased a 10-6 deficit heading into the singles portion to stun the Americans and win 14.5-13.5.

The action will begin Friday morning with four matches of foursomes -- commonly referred to as alternate shot. Whichever player tees off on the first hole will hit the tee shot on every odd hole, while his teammate will start on the even holes. It's an interesting choice by captain Keegan Bradley to start with foursomes, as the U.S. squad has traditionally fared better in fourball. If the home squad can win the morning session, they will be in good position to expand the lead and claim momentum heading into Saturday.

Friday afternoon will conclude with four matches of fourball, also known as best ball. Each player will play his own ball and only the best score on each hole is used. The same rotation will be used Saturday, and then all 12 players will play singles matches Sunday. With 28 points up for grabs, the U.S. team will need 14.5 points to win the cup, while Europe needs only 14.0 to retain.

Which players are best suited for which format, you ask? In general, golfers that are more apt to make birdies fit fourball well, because pars aren't often good enough to win holes. Conversely, bogey-makers aren't hurt by the fourball format as much, as it's unlikely both players will bogey and one really bad hole doesn't hurt you like it does in stroke play. If the first player is in trouble off the tee, his teammate can play safer. In foursomes, the strategic play is to go with steadier players with all-around games and pairings that complement each other well. 

When deciding which player should tee off on the odd versus even holes, we find that there's an even mix of par-3s and par-5s on odd and even holes. Overall, the even holes tend to be shorter, so I would expect the longer hitters like Rory McIlroy to take advantage of their length by teeing off on the odd numbered holes. It's important to note that Bethpage Black won't play the same as it did when it hosted the PGA Championship in 2019. The home team will set it up to best suit the advantage it has with longer hitters, meaning that the rough will be trimmed down and the greens will be fast. 

U.S. Team Breakdown

We got our first look at some potential pairings on the U.S. side Monday morning:

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On Tuesday, the pairings were switched up a bit:

Of course, things are always subject to change and plans can be altered if pairings struggle Friday. However, this looks similar to what I would've expected, and I don't think we're going to see many curveballs like captain Zach Johnson randomly pairing Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka on Saturday morning in 2023. Teams are known for going with their pod system of three groups of four golfers, with possible partner changes staying within the pod. 

Returning Pairings

Looking back at 2023, there aren't many combinations that worked out, as the U.S. team won just four of 16 matches before singles, with two of those points coming from Brian Harman and Max Homa, who didn't qualify for this year's team. Scheffler and Russell Henley played three of the four sessions at the Presidents Cup last year and went 2-1. One of the most familiar U.S. duos in team competitions over the years has been Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. They won the Zurich Classic team event in 2022 and both foursome matches together at Whistling Straits when the U.S. last hosted the Ryder Cup in 2021. With that said, they were crushed 7&6 by Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama last year, leaving some doubts in that pairing. I think we will see them together Friday, and whether that continues will likely depend on how they fare.

One element that will be different this year is having LIV players at the Ryder Cup. On the U.S. side, Bryson DeChambeau is the lone player representing, and his results in the majors -- a win and six top-10s in eight starts over the last two years -- was enough to achieve an automatic selection. In 2021, he went 1-0-1 alongside Scheffler while playing fourball only. My expectation is that we won't see him in foursomes, and a logical partner for him would be hometown favorite Cameron Young. Both players drive it a long way and can make birdies in bunches. That makes for a formidable pairing in best ball that the crowd will be massively behind. 

Newcomers

Four players will be making their Ryder Cup debut -- Henley, Young Ben Griffin and J.J. Spaun. It will be the first team event for Griffin and Spaun, while Henley and Young at least have Presidents Cup experience. Griffin has won twice this year and was runner-up to Scheffler two other times, fully cementing himself as one of his team's best players. U.S. Open champion Spaun qualified on points, as did Henley. 

When you have four players making their Ryder Cup debuts, including two of which -- Griffin and Spaun -- that are making their first team appearances, you're going to have some fresh duos. Griffin and Young both have North Carolina ties, but I think Griffin could join Justin Thomas as the substitute for his usual partner, Jordan Spieth. Spaun has the San Diego connection with Schauffele, but they seem to be in different pods, and the rookie is a candidate to play with Harris English.

Team Europe Breakdown

The themes of the European team are familiarity and continuity. A total of 11 of the 12 players from the dominant Marco Simone team return, with the only newcomer being Rasmus Hojgaard, who is subbing in for his twin, Nicolai Hojgaard. I don't think we're going to be surprised much when it comes to the pairings, although Team Europe has always embraced analytics and trust in the numbers, so it's possible we see some slight variations from what they did in 2023. Still, considering they're running it back with captain Luke Donald and essentially the exact same team, this should be one of the easier teams to ever predict when it comes from a pairings standpoint.

Here is how Team Europe was lined up as of Tuesday morning:

Returning Pairings

In 2023, Europe won every foursomes match to kick things off and rolled out the same pairings in the format the following day. Jon Rahm / Tyrrell Hatton, Rory McIlroy / Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg / Viktor Hovland won both of their matches together, while Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka went 1-1. In fourball, only Robert MacIntyre / Justin Rose and McIlroy / Matt Fitzpatrick played together in both sessions. That gives this team a much different feel than the U.S. side and a clearer picture compared to last time when they had to manage five new players, including four rookies. 

I will say, I long for the days when we saw a team play all four matches together like we did with Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari at Le Golf National in 2018. It seems like the day's pairings are often decided in advance, but what happened to rolling out at least some of the same combos that won in the morning? I digress. Anyway, only McIlroy and Hovland played all five matches last time, and none with each other. McIlroy is a strong candidate to do so again, and Fleetwood is as well given how he has played of late. 

New Pairings

Whomever plays with the newest Hojgaard will be a first-time pairing, although he's in a much more unique situation than most rookies and will be able to rely on his brother's experience to make him more comfortable. With that said, this will be a much more hostile environment than in Italy with the rowdy New York fans. Nicolai only played fourball and it makes sense for Rasmus to do the same. Based on 2023, Rahm and Fitzpatrick are his most logical candidates, although I wouldn't rule out Hovland considering he played both fourball matches at Marco Simone with different partners. 

Ryder Cup 2025 Pairings Predictions

Friday Foursomes

USA

• Scheffler / Henley
• Thomas / Griffin
• Cantlay / Schauffele
• Collin Morikawa / Sam Burns

Europe

• Rahm / Hatton
• Aberg / Hovland
• Lowry / Straka
• McIlroy / Fleetwood

Friday Fourball

USA

• DeChambeau / Young
• English / Spaun
• Scheffler / Henley
• Thomas / Griffin

Europe

• Rose / MacIntyre
• McIlroy / Fitzpatrick
• Rahm / Hojgaard
• Fleetwood / Hovland

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