McIlroy & Fleetwood reunite in Ryder Cup foursomes

McIlroy and Fleetwood have been practising together this week at Bethpage

European captain Luke Donald has opted for two heavyweight pairings - including reuniting Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood - as he looks for a fast start in Friday's opening session of the Ryder Cup against the United States in New York.

Northern Ireland's McIlroy and England's Fleetwood linked up to great effect in Europe's victory in Rome two years ago, winning together in both foursomes sessions to contribute two crucial points.

Spain's Jon Rahm and England's Tyrrell Hatton, who also won both their matches together last time out, have been selected to start the visitors' bid for a first win on American soil since 2012.

Former world number one Justin Rose has been left out of the morning foursomes, which start at 7:10am local time (12:10 BST).

"We want to start strong," said Donald. "Rahm and Hatton have had a lot of success together.

"They know how to win, they get along very well and we're very happy to get them out first."

As the away team Europe will hit the opening tee shot and Rahm suggested it would be his responsibility.

"I'll be hitting the first tee shot, or actually, I think I'm the one leading us off," said the two-time major champion, who is in Europe's leading group for the fourth successive time.

American captain Keegan Bradley has decided to send out Bryson DeChambeau - who missed the Rome defeat but has emerged as a talisman for the hosts - in his first pairing at Bethpage Black alongside Justin Thomas.

Big-hitting DeChambeau has been described by Bradley as having "X-Factor ability", which the captain hopes can instantly create momentum for the hosts on Friday morning.

DeChambeau knows how to whip up a crowd and, in a bid to further excite the New York fans, might attempt to drive the opening green on the 397-yard downhill first hole if weather permits.

He tried it several times in practice, without success but said: "It's definitely drivable if it's downwind. I could get the front edge if the conditions aren't too soft.

"It's 365 yards, something like that. That's nothing, right? Just a normal long drive shot."

Bradley says he would not dissuade DeChambeau from trying his luck.

"With foursomes you have to factor in personalities," said Bradley.

"Golf balls are really important too and analytical data is super helpful. So much info can help us.

"Everyone really wanted to play with each other. We had to narrow these down."

The match-ups

The top match, on paper, looks a belter. DeChambeau and Thomas form a new partnership, but with DeChambeau's length off the tee and Thomas' iron play they look a perfect match for this opening alternate shot format.

Last time we saw Scottie Scheffler in a Ryder Cup foursomes match in Rome, he was in tears after being demolished alongside Brooks Koepka in a record 9&7 defeat by Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland.

The world number one is partnered with Russell Henley, with whom he won two and lost one match at the Presidents Cup last year.

Europe have ditched the successful Aberg and Hovland partnership, preferring to pair the Swede with Matt Fitzpatrick, who will be desperate to improve on his dismal Ryder Cup record of one win from eight matches.

Fleetwood just doesn't lose in this format, with four wins from four in foursomes. And alongside McIlroy in match three this looks like a strong pairing against Collin Morikawa and Harris English, who haven't played together before.

A prominent golf data website has suggested that out of the 132 possible fourball pairings, Morikawa and English are ranked 132nd. McIlroy and Fleetwood are ranked third.

In the bottom match, the US have gone with the tried and tested pairing of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. The good friends have played nine matches together at the Ryder and Presidents Cup, and have a record of six wins and three defeats - although two of those losses came in Rome.

They play Hovland and Robert MacIntyre. Hovland played all five matches in Rome - to add to the five he played at Whistling Straits in 2021. MacIntyre is making his foursomes debut but has had two years of steady improvement since going unbeaten in Rome.

Why fast start is key to Ryder Cup success

Continuity has been the key for the European team as they look to buck the trend of dominant home victories at the biennial event.

Donald was given a second successive term after proving a popular - and successful - captain in Rome, while 11 of the 12 players who earned victory also return.

However, he has decided against naming the same four pairings which helped Europe race 4-0 ahead at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club.

Sweden's Aberg and Norway's Hovland have been split up, with Aberg partnering England's Fitzpatrick, while Hovland joins forces with Scotland's MacIntyre.

Ireland's Shane Lowry and Austria's Sepp Straka will both sit out of the opening session.

Rookie Rasmus Hojgaard, who replaced his twin brother Nicolai in the only change to Europe's team, also has to wait.

"It's two years ago, Rome, players evolve, players change, their profiles change and you're looking at personality match-ups," said Donald.

"We have so many options that it's really quite fun as a captain.

"But we know the US are going to be strong. They're strong in foursomes. They have some amazing partnerships there and we wanted to bring our best as well and this is what we feel is our best."

Both Donald and Bradley know success in the foursomes format has been a reliable indicator of overall outcomes in recent Ryder Cups.

At Whistling Straits four years ago the US took the opening foursomes 3-1 en route to a record 19-9 victory. In 2016 they won the Friday foursomes session 4-0 at Hazeltine and Europe never truly recovered.

"I've been preparing for 21 months for this," added Donald.

"We understand the task in hand, we understand how difficult it is to win away, but we have done it - we've won four times since 1987 to the US' one win away.

"So it has been done, and we will certainly draw on those experiences."