Saturday Morning Ryder Cup Foursomes Picks: Can United States Rebound?

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Well, that didn’t go according to Keegan Bradley’s plan.

Losing both the morning foursomes session and the afternoon four-ball session, the U.S. trails by a 5½-2½ deficit after the first day of the Ryder Cup here at Bethpage Black.

To use a football analogy, the American side needs to start matriculating the ball down the field and scoring some points – and it needs to happen early on Saturday, or else Sunday could turn into a mere formality for the veteran Europeans.

In a format that consists of only 28 matches, it’s both redundant and clichéd to suggest that any specific session is “very important,” but that’s the case for the U.S. team going into the second day.

A hot start on Saturday morning could offer some momentum, which in turn would make these New York crowds more boisterous, effectively changing the ebb and flow of the current proceedings.

Another lost session, though, puts the home squad even further behind the 8-ball – especially considering it needs 14½ points in order to win the Ryder Cup, while Europe needs just 14 to retain it.

Either way, there will be plenty of familiarity, as Bradley will send out three of the same four pairings from Friday morning, with only Cameron Young replacing Justin Thomas and his European counterpart Luke Donald will go with the same exact four twosomes.

With all of that in mind, let’s break down the four Saturday morning matches.

Bryson DeChambeau/Cameron Young (USA) vs. Matt Fitzpatrick/Ludvig Aberg (EUR)

If there’s only going to be one new player to crack the foursomes lineup, it might as well be the one who most deserves it. Young teamed with Thomas to win 6 and 5 in their four-ball match and the New York native looked comfortable in the friendly confines. DeChambeau was perhaps a bit unfortunate to post an 0-2-0 record on Friday and while there were pre-event murmurs that he might not play both alternate-shot matches, this proves he was always on Bradley’s radar for them. Fitzpatrick actually led the field in strokes gained data, which is tough to do with only a small sample size of playing the one foursomes match. He and Aberg romped over Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley, but the American side might have too much firepower to overcome.

The play: USA (-105)

Harris English/Collin Morikawa (USA) vs. Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood (EUR)

When the pairings were released on Friday evening, nearly every American fan must’ve been questioning, “Whyyy?” after this U.S. duo won just a single hole in a 5 and 4 dusting in the opening session. That’s ironic, because when they saw who they were playing again, English and Morikawa must’ve cried, “Whyyy?” as well, considering it was McIlroy and Fleetwood who administered that dusting. I’ll say what I said in my preview before that one: It would be a huge momentum shifter if the Americans can somehow topple the favorites here. And the other thing I said then, too: Hammer the favorites.

The play: Europe (-175)

Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay (USA) vs. Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton (EUR)

Ah, with Tyrrell playing against Patty Ice, we finally get the matchup we’ve been waiting for: Hatton vs. Hat On. It’s not easy to go 1-0-1 when your entire team only scores 2½ points, but that’s exactly what Cantlay did Friday, teaming with Schauffele to win in the morning and getting a half-point with Sam Burns. As for Rahm, he was the clear MVP of Day 1, winning with both Hatton and Sepp Straka, while never seeing the final two holes of the golf course. This one stands to be tougher, a knock-down, drag-out type of battle which could – and should – go the distance.

The play: Tie (+600)

Scottie Scheffler/Russell Henley (USA) vs. Viktor Hovland/Robert MacIntyre (EUR)

There were a lot of stats thrown at us on Day 1, but here’s my favorite: In his last five PGA Tour starts, Scheffler has three wins and two losses. On the first day of the Ryder Cup, he had zero wins and two losses. As some have suggested, Scottie might be carrying these Tiger Woods comparisons a little too far, as he’s clearly the world’s best player in individual events, but can’t seem to figure it out in the team events. That said, I refuse to believe in a world where Scheffler continues to lose and even with Henley again, who disappointed on Friday morning, the American tandem should find a way to pull this one out and give some more of that sweet momentum to the red, white and blue going into the afternoon.

The play: USA (-150)