Ryder Cup Pairings

[Asleep]

The first Ryder Cup matches will be Fourball. That means each player plays his own ball and lowest score counts.

 

ESPN will show play live starting at 3 a.m. ET

 

Friday morning pairings:

 

 

Phil Mickelson/Dustin Johnson vs. Lee Westwood/Martin Kaymer

 

 

Stewart Cink/Matt Kuchar vs. Rory McIlroy/Graeme McDowell

 

 

Steve Stricker/Tiger Woods vs. Ian Poulter/Ross Fisher

 

 

Bubba Watson/Jeff Overton vs. Luke Donald/Padriag Harrington

 

 

[sefus12]

I like the pairings. I'm a fan of everyone playing a match before the Sunday singles and this way you get many of the rookies out early in the less-demanding of the two formats. Also, from the pics I've seen from practice rounds DJ and Mickelson and Watson and Overton all seem to be enjoying each others' company. If that's the case then hopefully it will let those guys relax a bit as I'm sure the butterflies will be fluttering. I'm really excited to watch the DJ/Lefty and Bubba/Jeff groups as those two groups could certainly put up the birdies if the putters are rolling.

Go USA!

[ljscour]

Pairings look really good. Just put a tenner on 3-1 to the US for the first session, I really do fancy the US to turn the Europeans over in Wales.

Just checked the weather forecast for tomorrow and its horrific. I'm not sure who's hands thats going to play into, but at least Saturday looks like its gonna be fairly dry all day.

On a side note, the opening ceremony was boring as hell and the male choir sounded rubbish.

[Asleep]

Rickie Fowler should be playing in the weather --- he had 3 rounds in St. Andrews weather this year that matched/bested the field.

I am a fan, but still ...

[Pure745]

Mickelson-Johnson will be really fun to watch!

I'm hoping for Bubba and Fowler to be paired together sometime.. that will be really fun to watch.. and of course I'm rooting for Tiger and Stricker to play well.

[jsjmp]

Great match-ups.  Wish it would have been Fowler with Watson instead of Overton right out of the gate. 

[nicekindtrue]

[quote name='sefus12' timestamp='1285863606' post='2721643']
... Bubba/Jeff groups as those two groups could certainly put up the birdies if the putters are rolling.
...
[/quote]

Yes they will be fun to watch, both are "high energy" players! Let's hope there isn't too many spikemarks on the greens!

Weather:
[url="http://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/Wales/Newport%7E2641598/hour_by_hour.html"]http://www.yr.no/pla...ur_by_hour.html[/url]


This is the correct order:

[b]7:45 AM --[/b] Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson (USA) vs. Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer (EUR)

[b]8:00 AM --[/b] Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar (USA) vs. Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell (EUR)

[b]8:15 AM --[/b] Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods (USA) vs. Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher (EUR)

[b]8:30 AM --[/b] Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton (USA) vs. Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington (EUR)

[vjswing]

Not sure if I'm too crazy about putting two rookies (Watson/Overton) together in a match for the opening session, but at least it's the four-ball format. Alternate shot would have been a suicide mission with those two guys!

[magpie]

Two groups scare me a bit. DJ & Phil - Bubba & Jeff. These groups could win 6&5 or lose 6&5. We'll see. Corey rolling the dice right off the bat! Should be fun to watch these two groups. Serious fireworks.

[sefus12]

Agreed on that front. I think the fourball could work well as both tend to make a lot of birdies. Maybe we will get lucky and they will cover each others' bad holes. Regardless I'll be up at 3am watching .
[quote name='vjswing' timestamp='1285866230' post='2721715']
Not sure if I'm too crazy about putting two rookies (Watson/Overton) together in a match for the opening session, but at least it's the four-ball format. Alternate shot would have been a suicide mission with those two guys!
[/quote]

[eggs]

Quite interesting match-ups. My thoughts:

1st group - very interesting, 4 great players. Westy back from injury and Phil a touch off the boil at the moment (imo) so could be interesting; DJ and Kaymer both playing excellent golf so expect some low scoring from both pairs. One of the match ups of the week in the opening grouping! Too close to call for me.

2nd: G-Mac might be carried a bit by Rory in this match altho I don't expect that to be too much of a burden for the youngster. Sink and Kuch will make a solid pairing - the former a great pressure putter and the latter having a banner season. I'm just not fancying G-Mac at all and put the US as slight favorites for this match.

3rd: Poults and Fisher are decent enough players but neither is in sparkling form at the moment but both love a matchplay battle. Strick and Woods are a great pairing but which Tiger will turn up? If he gets wild Strick may have to carry the can alone on some holes and the euros will have a chance, but if Woods can find some form their opponents will be up against it. Again, I can't pick a winner.


4th group - big Big BIG surprise for me to see a pair of rookies in the final group of the opening session, there'll be massive pressure on them. Luke and Paddy will have to match the two bombing americans with their strengths on and around the green. If Overton and Bubba can keep in the match towards the closing holes then it could be close but I expect the euros' greater experience to count here.

Verdict: 2-2.... talk about fence-sitter!!

N.B. - my predictions are notoriously bad.

[vjswing]

One other thing - it would appear that a certain Mr. Furyk appears to have been left out of the lineup. What up with that?

[PGA Tour]

[quote name='magpie' timestamp='1285866397' post='2721718']
Two groups scare me a bit. DJ & Phil - Bubba & Jeff. These groups could win 6&5 or lose 6&5. We'll see. Corey rolling the dice right off the bat! Should be fun to watch these two groups. Serious fireworks.
[/quote]

I don't see that at all for Lefty and DJ but the final pairing is my only suspect for the AM groups. Would have put Furyk in there somewhere.

[Newbs24]

Very surprised to see no Furyk. Guy is playing GREAT. Maybe resting he and Hunters back. Can't wait to see Fowler and how he responds. He is the big risk/reward IMO

[DingDingDao]

[quote name='vjswing' timestamp='1285866656' post='2721729']
One other thing - it would appear that a certain Mr. Furyk appears to have been left out of the lineup. What up with that?
[/quote]

I don't like it either. Furyk is a Ryder Cup vet and is coming off a win at the Tour Championship. Not to mention the fact that Sunday's round was in pretty awful weather, which will probably be the case tomorrow. I think it would have been good to pair him with a rookie (Bubba or Overton), since both of those guys are likely going to be nervous early on.

[magpie]

[quote name='PGA Tour' timestamp='1285866672' post='2721730']
[quote name='magpie' timestamp='1285866397' post='2721718']
Two groups scare me a bit. DJ & Phil - Bubba & Jeff. These groups could win 6&5 or lose 6&5. We'll see. Corey rolling the dice right off the bat! Should be fun to watch these two groups. Serious fireworks.
[/quote]

I don't see that at all for Lefty and DJ but the final pairing is my only suspect for the AM groups. Would have put Furyk in there somewhere.
[/quote]

I put Phil and DJ in there because of who they are playing. Mr. Consistent and Mr. Consistent. They are going to have to strategize how they are going to attack. I wouldn't want to be 2 on 1 when the 2 are Westwood and Kaymer. They don't make too many mistakes from tee to green.

[vjswing]

The so-called "experts" are already predicting "rout" for Match #4! Hopefully, these guys can get fired up by some "bulletin board" material.

I will agree that this pairing was a pretty questionable move, given that the event is taking place on European soil.

[Asleep]

On the other side: I don't know what kind of rainy weather players they are, but I'd sure want to put the Molinari brothers out there early & probably often.

[MtlJeff]

Phil and DJ if both are even reasonably on their game should be unbeatable. Stricker and Woods had great chemistry at the PC aswell. I like the US's chances to have a lead after day 1

[CheckJV]

I think Team USA has already set a record for player height in the history of the fourball.

[tbowles411]

[quote name='DingDingDao' timestamp='1285867101' post='2721748']
[quote name='vjswing' timestamp='1285866656' post='2721729']
One other thing - it would appear that a certain Mr. Furyk appears to have been left out of the lineup. What up with that?
[/quote]

I don't like it either. Furyk is a Ryder Cup vet and is coming off a win at the Tour Championship. Not to mention the fact that Sunday's round was in pretty awful weather, which will probably be the case tomorrow. I think it would have been good to pair him with a rookie (Bubba or Overton), since both of those guys are likely going to be nervous early on.
[/quote]
It could be that Pavin wanted to give Furyk a rest. He literally won, then jumped on an airplane!

[moonshine]

I'm interested in seeing Kaymer carry Westwood?! Thanks for the info, will set the dvr for sure! Loved what Phil did in the press conference yesterday!

[vjswing]

"Monty wonders why Pavin's "hidden" Tiger in Ryder Cup lineup"

http://www.thegolfchannel.com/shag-bag/monty-wonders-pavins-hidden-tiger-ryder-cup-lineup-39740/

[littlepingman]

[quote name='magpie' timestamp='1285867176' post='2721751']
[quote name='PGA Tour' timestamp='1285866672' post='2721730']
[quote name='magpie' timestamp='1285866397' post='2721718']
Two groups scare me a bit. DJ & Phil - Bubba & Jeff. These groups could win 6&5 or lose 6&5. We'll see. Corey rolling the dice right off the bat! Should be fun to watch these two groups. Serious fireworks.
[/quote]

I don't see that at all for Lefty and DJ but the final pairing is my only suspect for the AM groups. Would have put Furyk in there somewhere.
[/quote]

I put Phil and DJ in there because of who they are playing. Mr. Consistent and Mr. Consistent. They are going to have to strategize how they are going to attack. I wouldn't want to be 2 on 1 when the 2 are Westwood and Kaymer. They don't make too many mistakes from tee to green.
[/quote]

If I understand it correctly the Ryder Cup pairings are done by blind draw so there is no way of placing a team or player against another specific team or player. So Phil and Johnson were not specifically placed against Westwood and Kaymar, they were just put in the first position and the draw decided who they played.

This is why there is no way to guarantee a Woods v. McIlroy in singles unless the captains agree ahead of time to place the two players in the same position during the draw.

[highdraw69]

maybe just paranoia here...but i look at those pairings and expect US to be down 3-1 AT BEST after that morning session; the final pairing basically looks to be thrown to the wolves; 2-2 would be a huge relief, but i see a risk of being down 4-0 right off the bat...

[sefus12]

Lets see, we have four of the top 12 players in the world with two major winners this year (one on each side) and another two that have played very well in big tourneys and majors. DJ and Kaymer have multiple wins, Phil won once, and Westwood played well before his injury. I think it's a bit bold at best and flat out wrong at worst (and probably more likely) to say that either team is "superiorly talented". I don't even know if you can say either has momentum right now as DJ and Kaymer have both played well recently while Phil has been a bit off his game and Westwood has literally been out of the game for a while. I have to disagree with you sir and say you may be the one lacking a clue or two.

[good night]

and how about the statement, that mickleson and johnson are unbeatable if their game is on? i do not agree with that at all.
kaymer and westwood are the better players. period. kaymer will win more majors than mickelson and westwood is better than johnson. thank you!

reason for edit: less controversial formulation

[SafariThomas]

One other thing - it would appear that a certain Mr. Furyk appears to have been left out of the lineup. What up with that?

 

I don't like it either. Furyk is a Ryder Cup vet and is coming off a win at the Tour Championship. Not to mention the fact that Sunday's round was in pretty awful weather, which will probably be the case tomorrow. I think it would have been good to pair him with a rookie (Bubba or Overton), since both of those guys are likely going to be nervous early on.

It could be that Pavin wanted to give Furyk a rest. He literally won, then jumped on an airplane!

 

 

Jimbo is tired counting his victory money.

[sefus12]

[quote name='good night' timestamp='1285871935' post='2721900']
and how about the statement, that meakleson and chokeson are unbeatable if their game is on? that is just plain wrong.
kaymer and westwood are the better players. period. kaymer will win more majors than mickelson and westwood is better than johnson. thank you!
[/quote]

What you say is opinion. I won't say anyone is unbeatable as we all know anything can happen. What you say may end up being true but saying it as fact is wrong. And I have a hard time betting anyone will win more than four majors as only 18 people in history have more than that and only is still playing full time on tour. Your confidence is high but I'm afraid it's fueled by emotion and not actual stats.

[drgolfaholic]

Maybe Pavin saw something in the practice rounds with Bubba and Overton, but based on their play in Fedex Cup, this pair, being the anchor, sticks out like a sore thumb as the weak link. I hope they prove me wrong.