Europe’s Ryder Cup pairings strategy comes into focus at BMW PGA

The Ryder Cup is a little over two weeks away and the two sides have retreated to their respective corners, with this week serving as a “training camp” of sorts for both the Americans and Europeans.

Eleven of the 12 Euros are at Wentworth Golf Club this week for the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship, with only Sepp Straka not in attendance. Meanwhile, in Napa, Calif., at the Procore Championship, 10 of the 12 Americans will tee it up. Xander Schauffele is not there after the recent birth of his son, and Bryson DeChambeau is present but not allowed to play because he’s no longer a PGA Tour member.

Team Europe used the BMW PGA Championship in 2023 to keep sharp, build team chemistry and soft launch some Ryder Cup pairings. Only two players on Team USA (Justin Thomas and Max Homa) played in the then-Fortinet Championship ahead of the trip to Rome, with nine of the 12 players taking off five weeks between the Tour Championship and Ryder Cup. The result was a 16.5-11.5 waxing by the Europeans that left the Americans looking to rethink things. Captain Keegan Bradley got his team to buy into taking a bonding trip to the Procore this week, and our Nick Piastowski is on-site documenting the Americans’ training camp.

As for the Europeans, while they return 11 of the 12 members from that victorious 2023 team, captain Luke Donald isn’t going to rely on the same plan he used in Rome to win on away soil. The pairings will be different at Bethpage Black because his team has evolved.

“I think players change,” Donald said Wednesday at Wentworth. “It’s two years since Rome, and so excited about the continuity and having a team that is very similar to Rome. I think that’s a massive benefit for us. But players change. I’ve said this before: Look at someone like [Bob MacIntyre]. He’s become a much better player in the last two years. I didn’t see a similar option for foursomes but potential there is this time around because of the way he plays the game now.

“Again, you have to always consider sort of those things that not everyone is playing the same. People shift whether you are a good driver or approach player or a putter. Those things move around in your career, and so you adapt to that.”

In 2023, the groupings at the BMW PGA Championship materialized into pairings a few weeks later at Marco Simone. Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton played the first two rounds together alongside Ryder Cup rookie Nicolai Hojgaard; Rahm and Hatton played both foursomes sessions together in Rome, while Rahm paired with Hojgaard in one fourball session. Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre played the first two rounds at Wentworth together alongside Matt Fitzpatrick; Rose and MacIntyre partnered together in both fourball sessions. Ludvig Åberg and Viktor Hovland played both foursomes session and one fourball together in Rome; they were grouped together to start the 2023 BMW PGA Championship. The same is true of Sepp Straka and Shane Lowry, who played both foursome sessions together.

On Wednesday, Donald said we could “read into” the pairings at this week’s BMW PGA Championship to try and get a hint at his plan for Bethpage Black, and, of course, we plan to try and read the tea leaves.

Tommy Fleetwood, who played with Rory McIlroy in foursomes and Nicolai Hojgaard in fourball in Rome, will play the first two rounds at Wentworth alongside Justin Rose. Fleetwood and McIlroy are undefeated as a Ryder Cup pair and both play a TaylorMade TP5 ball while Rose plays a Titleist ProV1x, which could play a role in how the pairings pan out. Last week at the Amgen Irish Open, Donald explained how the type of ball his players use factors into the pairings decision for foursomes.

“I think certain players are very particular about what ball they play,” Donald said. “Some people are good at adjusting. But you can get to a stage where you have a great personality match, you have a great statistical match, they fit the golf course and the odds and evens, and then suddenly the golf ball doesn’t work. So it’s certainly one of the factors we have to look at.”

Perhaps that means Rose and Fleetwood are a potential fourball pairing. But given that Rose is one of the best foursomes players in Ryder Cup history (7-2-1 career record), it’s probably safe to say he can adjust to a different ball and give Europe an alternate-shot pairing of two of the hottest golfers in the world, should Donald elect to go that way.

As for McIlroy, he’s grouped with Shane Lowry and Jon Rahm at the BMW PGA. Lowry played exclusively with Straka in Rome while Rahm split his time between Hatton and Nicolai Hojgaard. Lowry and Straka both play a Srixon Z-Star XV; Rahm plays a Callaway Chrome Tour X, as does Rasmus Hojgaard.

McIlroy and Lowry are great friends, and have played the Zurich Classic, the PGA Tour’s team event, together the past two years to great success, including a win in 2024. That gives them familiarity with which ball to use and would provide Europe with a high-energy pairing to trot out in hostile territory. As for Rahm, he had a very successful foursomes pairing with Hatton in 2023. Hatton will spend his first two days around Wentworth with Robert MacIntyre in what could be a fiesty fourball pairing for the Europeans.

“Be a good amount of moaning, wouldn’t it?” Hatton joked on Wednesday about a potential pairing with MacIntyre. “Be awful.”

Meanwhile, Åberg and Fitzpatrick, who both play a ProV1x, are grouped together to start the proceedings at Wentworth. When Donald talked about his team evolving, Åberg had to be top of mind. The Swede had just recently turned pro when he joined Team Europe in 2023 at Marco Simone. Now, he has ascended to the top of the game and will be relied on at Bethpage Black as one of Donald’s top points-earners. It’s hard to imagine Europe going away from the Åberg-Hovland foursomes pairing, but the Swedish star could be a good fourball partner for Fitzpatrick, who only played in fourballs with McIlroy in Rome.

Hovland and Ryder Cup rookie Rasmus Hojgaard will walk around Wentworth together on Thursday and Friday. Hovland only partnered with Åberg in 2023, while Rasmus’ twin brother, Nicolai, played in fourball sessions with Rahm and Fleetwood. After pairing successfully with a rookie in Åberg in Rome, Hovland might be asked to shepherd a different newcomer around in 2025, most likely during fourballs, given the success of the Åberg-Hovland foursomes team.

Team Europe will take a scouting trip to Bethpage next Monday and Tuesday, where Straka will join them. Then, they will take the rest of the week to decompress before Europe’s chance arrives to become the first team in 13 years to win an away Ryder Cup.

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