The 2023 Ryder Cup has officially got underway with teams being shown off in an extravagant opening ceremony. But the main event from the opening ceremony was both team captains unveiling their Friday morning pairings.
All times bst
Match 1 (6.35am)
Scheffler & Burns vs Rahm & Hatton
Match 2 (6.50am)
Homa & Harman vs Hovland & Aberg
Match 3 (7.05am)
Fowler & Morikawa vs Lowry & Straka
Match 4 (7.20am)
Schauffele & Cantlay vs McIlroy & Fleetwood
The Friday morning foursomes are played in the ‘alternate shot’ format with each team playing just one ball. The two-vs-two format will see each team taking alternating shots until the ball has been holed.
The Friday afternoon session will change to a four-ball format with each player using their own ball. The player with the lowest score of the group wins the hole for their team and the hole is halved if the scores are tied.
The four-ball groups for Friday afternoon are usually announced immediately after the morning session. Saturday will follow the same schedule pattern with foursomes in the morning, starting at 7.35am (BST).
Then Sunday is when it all matters with the trophy up for grabs and all 12 players for each team going up against one another in a straight shoot-out. Team Europe are looking for revenge after a miserable defeat to Team USA at Whistling Straits in 2021.
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McIlroy was in tears after the defeat two years ago after being pushed to play first in the Sunday singles. “It was a huge vote of confidence because I was pretty low that Saturday,” McIlroy said.
“I had sat out the morning and lost in the afternoon. It was the lowest I had felt at a Ryder Cup. I would rather have been hidden somewhere in the middle of the order but that gave me a purpose. It gave me something to really, really get up for. It refocused me and got me into a different mindset.
“There was a lot going on. The team standing up and wanting me to go out first, to lead them, after the week I had meant a lot to me. That was part of the reason I got emotional, I felt like the whole team had my back. I felt empowered and a responsibility to go out there and win a point.
“It didn’t end up mattering in the Ryder Cup but the whole thing meant a lot to me.
“That was a pretty big moment in my Ryder Cup career but think of the struggles I had leading up to that and what I did afterwards. The whole run from the end of 2021, all of 2022, this year as well … it all started from that last day at Whistling Straits.”
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