Day 1 of the Ryder Cup is in the books and Europe leads the U.S. by three points, 5.5-2.5.
VSiN’s golf analysts weigh in on Friday’s action and look ahead to Saturday for the foursomes format, starting at 7:10 a.m. ET at Bethpage Black in New York. Europe is -250 to lift the trophy; the U.S. is +190 at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Saturday’s pairings have been announced:
Match 1, 7:10 a.m. ET
Europe: Matt Fitzpatrick, Ludvig Åberg
USA: Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Young
Match 2, 7:26 a.m.
Europe: Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood
USA: Harris English, Collin Morikawa
Match 3, 7:42 a.m.
Europe: Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton
USA: Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay
Match 4, 7:58 a.m.
Europe: Robert MacIntyre, Viktor Hovland
USA: Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler
On the bench:
USA: Sam Burns, Ben Griffin, J.J. Spaun, Justin Thomas
Europe: Rasmus Højgaard, Justin Rose, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry
Kelley Bydlon
So far, so good if you’re in on Europe to win the Ryder Cup like me. An impressive morning session put them up 3-1, and then they added 2.5 points more in the afternoon. It actually could have been worse for the U.S. team, but Patrick Cantlay was red hot down the stretch leading to a half point.
Unsurprisingly, both teams rolled out all 12 of their players on the first day. The question now is will both teams take the same approach on day two?
The European heavyweights really carried things with Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm both going 2-0, Rory McIlroy went 1-0-1, and all three put up impressive on course stats. One of my big bets was Matt Fitzpatrick over 1.5 points, and if you look at strokes gained data at datagolf.com, he was the best of the day, but only played in one session. I’d expect to see him in both sessions tomorrow, and I think Europe needs to keep rolling out Rahm, Rory, and Fleetwood, but there are definite concerns with the bottom end of their roster.
The U.S. team I expected to have more options they’d want to roll out there, but man, guys like Sam Burns, Harris English, Russell Henley, Ben Griffin, J.J. Spaun, and Collin Morikawa were less than impressive. They definitely got a boost from Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas, and I expect those guys to be leaned on more going forward. ESPECIALLY Cameron Young. If you’re looking for some props, I wouldn’t hate targeting him. And when it comes to Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau, too much will be made about them going 0-2 today. They both played some of the better golf for team USA.
If you did play Europe on the three-way line like me, I wouldn’t hate taking some +190 on the U.S. side if you’d like to lock in some profit and root for your country over the weekend. I’ll be staying away though and letting my bets ride.
As far as bets for Saturday, I will post anything on VSiN.com.com I land on.
Wes Reynolds
The only solace for Team USA is that they did not get swept in the Friday morning foursomes like two years ago in Rome. Nevertheless, Team Europe won 3-1 and then expanded its lead in the second session to 5.5-2.5 after the afternoon fourballs.
Saturday morning foursomes:
Bryson DeChambeau/Cameron Young (USA) vs. Ludvig Åberg/Matt Fitzpatrick (Europe)
DeChambeau went 0-2 on Friday although he gained over two strokes from a Strokes Gained perspective in his two matches. Young, along with Justin Thomas, were the lone winners in the fourball session.
Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Åberg easily dispatched of Scottie Scheffler/Russell Henley 5 & 3 in the morning session. Fitzpatrick, who came in with a 1-7 all-time Ryder Cup record, was Europe’s best player in the morning.
USA captain Keegan Bradley is clearly looking for energy early with crowd favorite DeChambeau and New York native Young, who has probably played more rounds at Bethpage Black than any other player on either team.
Bet: DeChambeau/Young -125 over Åberg/Fitzpatrick (Circa Sports)
Harris English/Collin Morikawa (USA) vs. Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood (Europe)
A rematch of Friday’s foursome where “Fleetwood Mac” won a ‘Landslide” over English and Morikawa.
Perhaps the European team is a bit fatigued after both going two matches yesterday and having them go all 18 holes in the second session.
The result is probably the same, but you would have to play close to an extra 60 cents in the number to back the Europeans here.
Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay (USA) vs. Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton (Europe)
Schauffele and Cantlay have been the most successful American duo of late in both Ryder and Presidents Cups. They added another victory in yesterday’s foursomes taking down down Viktor Hovland and Robert MacIntyre 2up.
Cantlay (with Sam Burns) also tied his fourballs against Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry so is the top-scoring American so far with 1.5pts.
Rahm was the best putter of any player yesterday gaining almost 2.25 strokes over two matches with the putter. Along with McIlroy/Fleetwood, Rahm and Hatton are unbeaten in foursomes over the last two Ryder Cups after defeating DeChambeau and Justin Thomas 4 & 3 yesterday.
The Europeans are the rightful favorites here, but Cantlay has been the biggest gamer of anyone on the American side, and this is Team USA’s top duo.
Scottie Scheffler/Russell Henley (USA) vs. Viktor Hovland/Robert MacIntyre (Europe)
Much was expected out of the Scheffler/Henley pairing since they did go 2-1 last fall in the Presidents Cup. However, they were handled easily by Åberg and Fitzpatrick in foursomes. Scheffler also lost his fourball match paired with JJ Spaun against Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka.
The World No. 1 is 0-for-2 in his matches. Can he really start 0-3?
Scottie should post his first point for the American side here, but -180 and up is too steep of a price to lay.
The Americans really need to win this foursomes session. At least a 2-2 tie looks likely, but in order to make up ground, they will have to get some kind of result against the top two European teams of “Fleetwood Mac” and Rahm/Hatton. That is a very tall task.
Matt Brown
All I can say is that I think we need to rethink how we pick captains. Keegan Bradley completely botched the pairings and made things exponentially worse by doubling down on his bad decisions.
Moving forward, I’d love to see the captains be decades removed from the current players, or move away from players/former players all together and go with a coach that knows the sport, the players, and game theory.
The US isn’t necessarily outmanned. They’re just being put in the worst possible position to succeed. And to make it even tougher, the Euros have been playing lights out.
It’s not over…but it sure feels over.
As for the betting side of things, Me and Kelley Bydlon have as good a chance of beating Rory and Fleetwood as Morikawa and English do. You can bet that in the three way market to reduce the price.
