Our Ryder Cup 2023 team predictions
With just over a year to go until the Ryder Cup 2023 gets underway at Marco Simone Golf Club, we take a look ahead to who we think might make the respective teams.
Luke Donald has taken over as captain of Team Europe after Henrik Stenson left for LIV Golf. Although there are seven players who already look nailed on make the trip to Italy, Donald has big decisions to make over the rest of his team. He's lost a number of Ryder Cup stalwarts to LIV Golf (Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia to name just three) but that may well turn out to be a positive factor given the course favours players with more power off the tee.
Things are a bit more settled for the American team, with Zach Johnson the only man tasked with the job of retaining the trophy. Like his European counterpart, Johnson has lost a few players to LIV Golf (Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka were in the 2021 Ryder Cup team) but he doesn't have the potential threat of Patrick Reed causing disharmony amongst the team.
A lot can happen in golf in a year, not least players leaving to join LIV Golf and potentially taking themselves out of the Ryder Cup equation. If you had asked us to predict the Ryder Cup teams six months ago it's fair to say the teams on both sides would have looked very different. However, we'll review our Ryder Cup predictions when the teams are announced and see just how right (or wrong) we got it.
Ryder Cup 2023 Odds
Let's start with the odds, the USA are a best price 4/7 to win the Ryder Cup in 2023. Fancy an upset? Europe can be backed at a best price of 19/10 (all prices correct as of 26th September 2022).
Who makes the USA Team for the 2023 Ryder Cup?
Ten of our twelve selections featured in the victorious 2022 President's Cup team and eight of those selections played in the last Ryder Cup. Zach Johnson has an easier job than his counterpart, Luke Donald, when it comes to team selection and the USA have a pool of young players with plenty of experience of team golf. Our predicted USA team for the 2023 Ryder Cup team is:
1. Scottie Scheffler
2. Xander Schauffele
3. Justin Thomas
4. Jordan Spieth
5. Patrick Cantlay
6. Collin Morikawa
7. Tony Finau
8. Will Zalatoris
9. Max Homa
10. Sam Burns
11. Daniel Berger
12. Cameron Young
We'll go into more detail regarding our selections in tomorrow's blog.
Who makes the European Team for the 2023 Ryder Cup?
Predicting the European Ryder Cup team is a trickier task given the team has lost several names from years gone by. There's no doubt this will be a transitional year for the European team and the odds reflect that. There are likely to be at least two players on the team making their Ryder Cup debut and depending on Donald's approach, there's an outside chance that we see four rookies selected. However, Donald made the most of his strengths as a player and he's expected to be a shrewd captain who mixes experience and youthful exuberance.
1. Rory McIlroy
2. Jon Rahm
3. Viktor Hovland
4. Shane Lowry
5. Matt Fitzpatrick
6. Tommy Fleetwood
7. Tyrrell Hatton
8. Robert MacIntyre
9. Thomas Pieters
10. Guido Migliozzi
11. Francesco Molinari
12. Alex Noren
We'll delve deeper into the decisions Luke Donald must make in Wednesday's blog but it's fair to say there are seven players who will almost definitely be on the plane to Rome. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood will need to lose an arm or defect to LIV in order not to be part of Donald's team. Those of you who follow us on Twitter will have noticed there have been several changes to our predicted team in the past few weeks. Quite simply, the performances of MacIntyre and Migliozzi have been too good to ignore and they are now in the driving seat.
Don't miss tomorrow's blog
In tomorrow's blog we'll take a closer look at our predicted American Ryder Cup 2023 team and examine the potential headaches Zach Johnson will face when selecting his team.
