It was quite the day for the Europeans down in the Italian sunshine and the home team will be going to bed feeling pretty good about their day’s work.
Heading into Saturday’s foursomes, our golf tipster Jamie Worsley is back with his preview of all four of the morning matchups and has a double he fancies the look of…
Ryder Cup Day 2 Tip – Morning Foursomes
- McIlroy/Fleetwood & Rahm/Hatton to win their foursomes matches 2.1/1 – 3 pts
Following a scintillating first day from the Europeans, which sees them go into Saturday with a 6 ½ – 1 ½ lead after the USA went winless on day one, we now have the foursomes matches set for Saturday morning in a make-or-break session of golf for the US.
The Europeans name the exact same four foursomes pairings that won all of their matches Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the US name two of the same pairings – Max Homa/Brian Harman & Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele – and two new ones. These are Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, who are out again after JT dragged them to half a point in the fourballs on Friday afternoon. Whilst Sam Burns is replaced with Brooks Koepka as the partner of world #1, Scottie Scheffler.
Saturday Foursomes Matches
Match #1: Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood (EUR) vs Justin Thomas/Jordan Spieth (USA)
Our first match of Saturday sees the team of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood take on Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.
McIlroy and Fleetwood anchored the Europeans to their 4-0 thrashing of the US in the first foursomes session with a 2&1 victory over Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. A win that continued Tommy Fleetwood’s 100% record in this format.
Thomas and Spieth sat out the foursomes but performed well in the fourballs – or at least JT did – and looked set to claim USA’s first win of the event before Viktor Hovland birdied the last hole to halve the match. They have played four Ryder Cup foursomes matches together before, winning two and losing two, though did win both at last year’s Presidents Cup.
Verdict: I’m expecting the Europeans to make another strong start on day two. Rory and Tommy shot -4 in the first foursomes session and look hugely at ease with each other.
Despite Spieth unravelling towards the end of their fourballs match, he had some decent moments early on but his ball-striking is just too unreliable and I expect it to get found out in foursomes, with Thomas unable to compensate for those misgiving as much in this format.
Match #2: Viktor Hovland/Ludvig Aberg (EUR) vs Scottie Scheffler/Brooks Koepka (USA)
Saturday’s second match sees Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg go head-to-head with Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka.
Hovland and Aberg made light work of Max Homa and Brian Harman in Friday’s foursomes, winning 4&3 and were -3 as the match ended. This is the first time Scheffler and Brooks will play foursomes together though they did play excellently in the fourballs – before Rahm’s sucker-punch of an eagle on the last to halve the match – effectively shooting a best-ball -10 over the 18 holes.
Scheffler’s defeat in the first match of the competition to Rahm/Hatton was his first experience of foursomes in the event; Koepka has two wins and two defeats in four in the history of the event.
Verdict: Koepka should be a much better partner for Scheffler than Burns was and they fed off each other well in that extremely high-quality fourballs contest.
Though I think the match will be an extremely close one – with Viktor looking every bit as good so far as he has shown in recent months – I suspect Koepka’s influence will be just about enough to help the US to their first win of this Ryder Cup.
Match #3: Shane Lowry/Sepp Straka (EUR) vs Max Homa/Brian Harman (USA)
In the third match of the day, Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka will take on Max Homa and Brian Harman. Both are pairings that played in the opening session.
The enthusiastic European duo beat the out-of-sorts Collin Morikawa and Rickie Fowler 2&1 in the Friday foursomes, shooting -1 and Homa/Harman went down 4&3 to Hovland and Aberg, and were 1-over-par when that match ended.
All bar Lowry were making their debuts in the event and it was the first time that any – including the Irishman – had played Ryder Cup foursomes.
Verdict: Though their respective results had much different outcomes in the opening session, the quality of golf between the two pairs wasn’t all that different.
Although, it is worth noting that Homa only made two birdies on his own ball in the afternoon fourballs, in his and Wyndham Clark’s halved match with Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre. I think this contest could go either way but would make a tentative selection for the Europeans to follow up their first victory.
Match #4: Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton (EUR) vs Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele
Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele anchor the final foursomes match for the second day running but this time are up against the team who opened the competition for Europe, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, who beat Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns 4&3 in that opening match.
The two feisty characters bounced off one another and shot an impressive -6 on Friday morning, whilst in their 2&1 defeat to Rory and Tommy, the American twosome shot -2. Which was their first ever defeat in foursomes in six matches together.
Rahm and Hatton then both claimed dramatic halves when paired with other players in the fourballs, and as Patrick Cantlay sat out the afternoon, Xander Schauffele played in the only pairing that didn’t claim a point on Friday afternoon; him and Collin Morikawa going down 5&3 to Rory and an inspired Matt Fitzpatrick.
Verdict: Though Xander and Cantlay have a great history together in this format and have enough quality to bounce back, I have to go for the Europeans to get another point on the board in this matchup.
They were the best-performing pair in the first foursomes session and continued to play excellently in the fourballs, with Hatton firing five birdies and Rahm closing that match out with two outstanding eagles in his final three holes.
