Keegan Bradley will be hoping that the practice rounds at Bethpage at the start of this week will throw no spanners in the works as he prepares to name his first four pairings for the Ryder Cup on Thursday.
The first tee shot at Bethpage Black is edging closer and closer. Wednesday will see the opening ceremony, while the lineups for Friday’s foursomes session will follow on Thursday.
While Luke Donald has an opportunity to stick with the pairings who got Europe off to a flyer in Rome two years ago, Keegan Bradley‘s lineup looks slightly more difficult to predict.
Six of the American players who were at Marco Simone in 2023 are not involved this time around. Meanwhile, it seems to be absolutely imperative that Bradley gets the best out of Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau.
Dan Rapaport names his four American pairings for the opening Ryder Cup session
There seems to be a good chance that at least one of Scheffler or DeChambeau will play all five matches at Bethpage.
So it is no surprise at all that Dan Rapaport has both players featuring in the top two matches of the opening session.
Speaking on Dan on Golf, Rapaport named the four pairings that he would send out in the first four duels of the week on Friday morning.
“The first team that I’m going to send out is Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley. These two were a menace in Canada. We’ve got the best player in the world on our team in Scottie Scheffler and we’ve got the guy who hits it right where he’s looking, Russell Henley. This guy’s going to be a dog this week and he’s going to play with more emotion than we normally see. I think it’s really important for the US to get off to a good start. I fully expect Scottie Scheffler to play all five. I would send him out first, best player in the world, let’s get some points on the board. Let’s get the crowd going early,” he said.
“My second team is Team Content: Bryson DeChambeau and Ben Griffin. We’ve got the YouTube star, we’ve got the TikTok star and we’ve talked a little bit about this earlier this month, where does Ben Griffin rank amongst the Americans with the most confidence and it’s pretty high on that list. Ben Griffin is probably the most unexpected player at Bethpage, maybe him or J.J. Spaun, but at the beginning of the year, maybe a guy who wouldn’t have been in your top 20, but just played so well throughout the whole year that he gave Keegan Bradley no choice but to pick him, and I think he gives Keegan Bradley no choice but to play him I think four times. I think he’s really been that good and that consistent. These two guys both drive the p— out of it. And again, I think getting Bryson out there early, the crowd is going to be insanely on Bryson’s side. I think these two can make a lot of birdies.
“My third pairing, got to throw them out there, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Team Southern California. I saw Patty was wearing a hat in the warm-up today, which is a positive start, good to see the hat on all the guys. They’re close friends. For all the schtick that we might give Cantlay, he has the deep respect of his peers and of his captains. He comes up more often in conversation than maybe any other tour player, because guys always use him as the example, like when I was talking to Sahith [Theegala]. Sahith had this incredible year and then he drops off and he’s outside the top 50, he’s like, ‘a guy like Cantlay, you talk about how he’s had a terrible year, he’s still made the Ryder Cup, he’s still making East Lake’. I think Cantlay was probably the US’s best player at the Presidents Cup last year. He was amazing and I think that hat-gate stuff really gave him a little bit of juice in these team competitions. And he’s our guy this week.
“My last is another Team California, I’m going Collin Morikawa and J.J. Spaun. Collin’s a really valuable player in alternate shot because he doesn’t really hit wild shots. He does not hit wild shots and Spaun is a great putter where Morikawa kind of lacks at times. I get J.J. in there. I think he’s going to be a guy that the Bethpage Black faithful really adopt as their own. He’s the furthest thing from a country club kid. He’s got a kind of skater aesthetic, he’s the reigning United States Open champion, won the United States Open at Oakmont, only guy under par. Had a really good week at Napa, I know he was up there all week, playing really well. It’s going to be his first Ryder Cup. Got to get your feet wet at some point so I’m throwing him in there in the first session.”
How Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele have performed together for Team USA
It would potentially alarm some American fans if Bradley had a similar idea. There are Ryder Cup rookies in three of the four pairings, while two of the partnerships are brand new in any team competition.
Scheffler and Henley won two of their three matches together at the 2024 Presidents Cup.
Cantlay and Schauffele are the pairing on the American side with, by far, the most experience. The pair have played 13 times together across the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup, winning seven times and losing six matches.
Given how different this American side will look, it would be no surprise to see Bradley put Schauffele and Cantlay out in the first four matches.
The concern is that Schauffele has had a poor year by his standards. So the Europeans can be reasonably confident that they can get the better of them.
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