What European pairings do you see happening?

[MarkT]

With Stenson and Rose now out, five from Paris gone and only four from 2016 still in the team who do you think will be paired with who?

Would love to see Lowry and McIlroy get a go together, Westwood will probably get a run-out with a rookie, maybe Hatton-Casey again...

Quite hard to predict as Fleetwood will need a new partner, we don't really know who will play with Rahm (maybe Hovland?) or Garcia/Hovland?

Sure/hope Harrington has a clearer idea than me

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Looking at the team

Fourballs

Rahm/ Hovland
McIlroy/ Lowry
Westwood/Weisberger
Fleetwood / Fitzpatrick

Foursomes

Mcilroy / Poulter
Hatton / Casey
Garcia /Westwood
Rahm / Lowry

 

[Sports_Fanatic]

Sounds from some comments like Garcia and Weisberger are quite close so could be a pairing.

 

[MarkT]

Wondered about Westwood/Fitzpatrick but only because of Billy Foster. Rahm-Hovland would be dynamite, we might need Casey a bit more this time around

Rahm is going to be a busy boy, likewise Rory. Harrington said last night he thought Fleetwood was as good a ball striker as anyone on the planet so imagine he'll
get at least four games

 

[sunshine]

Casey / Hatton - from Paris.
Lowry / McIlroy - pretty sure Harrington will go with an Irish pairing.
Garcia / Rahm - think this combo will be used once, but otherwise the Spaniards will be broken up.
Rahm / Hovland
Garcia / McIlroy
Poulter / McIlroy
Wiesberger / Fitzpatrick - they will be paired together making sandwiches in the team room. I assume they will get a game on day 1 with an experienced player like Westwood then we'll see them again in the singles.

 

[CountLippe]

I'm not convinced anyone should play all 5 matches, although a few probably will. A break keeps you fresh for the singles, and from what I recall in previous ryder cups, those who play all 5 don't have a great singles record.

 

[pool888]

Rahm/ Garcia
McIlroy / Lowry
Fleetwood / Casey
Hovland / Poulter

 

[slicer79]

Rahm/ Garcia
McIlroy / Lowry
Fleetwood / Casey
Hovland / Poulter

Really like the look of those pairings

 

[MarkT]

Apparently Garcia and Rahm didn’t used to get on, may have mellowed in recent years so will be interesting if they are paired

 

[Crazyface]

I think we're gonna get spanked.

 

[slicer79]

I think we're gonna get spanked.

Hard to know, that's often been the opinion going into it and Europe has delivered numerous times when written off

On paper the Americans always look better but find it hard to function as a team. They're all about themselves. European team always appear to have a decent spirit and make up ground that way

 

[YandaB]

Hard to know, that's often been the opinion going into it and Europe has delivered numerous times when written off

On paper the Americans always look better but find it hard to function as a team. They're all about themselves. European team always appear to have a decent spirit and make up ground that way

That reminded me of an article I read recently about Maslow Hierarchy of needs (the one that starts at the bottom with food/water/shelter etc and ends at the top with Self Actualization) and how he based it on studying native blackfoot society but replaced their community focus with individual focus. Link.

 

[Barking_Mad]

I think for the foursomes you need players who have fairly similar games, especially off the tee. They need to hit approach shots as they would on any other weekend, so giving Rory an Ian Poulter tee shot at 35 yards behind his usual driving distance is going to do him no favours whatsoever. I’d say playing Poulter in any foursome is problematic due to his lack of distance off the tee compared to the rest of the team (he’s 10 yards shorter than the next shortest, Fitzpatrick). Around and on the green I think there's a case for matching someone up who has a relatively poor short game, with someone with a good one - all other things being equal.


Foursomes

Rahm/Hovland

Both good off the tee with over 300 yards of distance and hitting 64% of fairways. Both hit lots of GIR (72% and 79%) and are good around the greens. Rahm’s only weakness is his putting from 10 to 15 feet, which Hovland is particularly good at, so he might drop a few in to help out.

McIlroy/Garcia

Europe’s two longest average hitters (Rory 319, Garcia 309) being together should help both, especially Rory who I feel like needs to play someone with a similar game to himself to be at ease in a foursome. Rory’s excellent on the birdie average per round (4.51) and Sergio hits another 5% more greens than Rory does (70% vs 65%), so that might just give Rory a couple more looks at breaking par during the round. Garcia’s scrambling short game (62%) should help Rory who has struggled a bit this year with his. On the green the foursomes should help break up Garcia’s poor 3-putt record which is the worst on either team. Garcia’s iron play might also help Rory round the green where he’s had only 3 eagles all season compared to Garcia’s 9. My only concern is from about 4 to 5 feet where both are capable of missing putts.

Casey/Hatton

Both hit similar distances off the tee and both pretty accurate to boot. Casey’s long range iron play is a big strength of his and Hatton is better from under 100 yards. Both have solid short games with Hatton being an excellent bunker player round the green (58% sand saves). Putting wise they both make a similar number of birdies but Hatton has the lowest 3 putt average in the Ryder Cup.

Wiesberger/Fitzpatrick

The last pair is a hard one as many of the remaining players have some glaring weaknesses in their game that make picking them in foursomes somewhat problematic. These two are a risk from the point of experience, but both are ok off the tee with Fitzpatrick hitting a lot of fairways which he needs to go given his driving distance is a very average 293 yards. Weisberger hits a lot of GIR (72%), so that should suit Fitzpatrick’s putting which is particularly.


Alternate Pairings:

Rahm/Garcia

McIlroy/Casey

Casey/Hatton

 

[pool888]

It's difficult, I would say just now Rahm and Hovland are our two best players on current form, do you pair your best two together or split them up to try to get two strong teams?

 

[CountLippe]

Foursomes matchplay is fascinating. As a rule of thumb, pick your 8 best putters - players who can be relied to hole 8-12 footers under pressure having maybe gone an hour without having a putt. You can then tweak this list by looking at driving. Then course layout - ag are all the par 3's even numbers? if so good ball strikers will not be driving on half the holes. Are all the other holes driver off the tee or not?
When it comes to pairings, you've got to pair players who get along.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Foursomes matchplay is fascinating. As a rule of thumb, pick your 8 best putters - players who can be relied to hole 8-12 footers under pressure having maybe gone an hour without having a putt. You can then tweak this list by looking at driving. Then course layout - ag are all the par 3's even numbers? if so good ball strikers will not be driving on half the holes. Are all the other holes driver off the tee or not?
When it comes to pairings, you've got to pair players who get along.

Interesting thoughts re foursomes.

Sergio has a fantastic foursomes record despite being a distinctive average putter at this level.

Biggest single factor for me is the number of European players in poor form, hopefully the event itself will lift them although I fear the worst as this looks very much like a team in transition with the potential to be a Ryder Cup too far for a couple of stalwarts.

 

[CountLippe]

Sergio is a great driver, great ball striker and gets the most out of his partners.
Form is an interesting one. Without doubt a number of european players are not in good 72 hole strokeplay form. 18 hole pairs matchplay is different so hopefully this will reduce the gap to the US players a bit. I worry about the sunday singles.