Not long after the American squad was formally announced, European captain Luke Donald announced the final members of team Europe on Monday.
The American squad, as chosen by captain Keegan Bradley, will be led by Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English, Ben Griffin, Russell Henley, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, J.J. Spaun, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, and Cameron Young.
Meanwhile, the European side will feature Ludvig Aberg, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Rasmus Hojgaard, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Robert MacIntyre, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Rose, and Sepp Straka.
The European team returns 11 of the 12 players who won the Ryder Cup back in 2023, with the only change being Rasmus Jojgaard stepping in for his twin brother Nicolai.
“Obviously a lot of continuity from Rome,” Donald said. “That’s unusual to have so many people coming back, but it just shows how good these players are. But even though we have a lot of continuity, this is a different animal to play away in America. We understand how difficult that is.”
Their American counterparts will have 4 rookies on the roster in Spaun, Henley, Young, and Griffin. Bradley’s squad will hope to ride a “home course advantage” to victory as the competition returns stateside to Bethpage Black in New York between September 23-28th.
Most sports books have the Americans as fairly sizeable favourites to win the event, with odds hovering around the -135 range for the US to lift the trophy. And recent history suggests they’re not wrong. The last time a “visiting” team won on the road at the Ryder Cup was back in 2012.
The US and Europe have alternated victories the last 4 events, with America holding a 27-15 lifetime advantage over their cross-Atlantic rivals. That being said, that record is inflated significantly from the early days of the event which saw it as a USA vs. Great Britain tournament, prior to letting other European nations join in.
Between 1927 and 1983, the Americans lost just 3 events total.
Photo: Scottish Government. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.