Winners of 10 of the last 14 Ryder Cups, the Europeans have often defied the odds, relying in particular on a more solid team spirit and sometimes on surprising choices from the American captain. (The DeChambeau-Mickelson partnership in the foursomes in Paris in 2018 on a narrow course with deep rough remains a mystery.)
And this year, if Luke Donald's players want to win on American soil for the first time since the "Miracle" at Medinah in 2012, they will once again have to beat a team that is significantly stronger on paper.
Indeed, after the announcement of the six players selected by Keegan Bradley and his vice-captains to complete the U.S. team, it's clear that Team USA has more weapons, with an average world ranking of 11.33:
Ryder Cup, schedule
Scottie Scheffler (1st), Xander Schauffele (3rd), Russell Henley (4th), Justin Thomas (5th), J.J. Spaun (7th), Collin Morikawa (8th), Harris English (10th), Ben Griffin (17th), Bryson DeChambeau (18th), Cameron Young (20th), Patrick Cantlay (21st), and Sam Burns (22nd).
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Even more surprisingly, the average world ranking of the six Americans who did not qualify mathematically is lower (and therefore higher) than that of the six Europeans automatically selected based on their performances over the past 12 months.
15.5 for Bradley's six picks versus 19.66 for Luke Donald's six mathematical qualifiers.
While four of the six European players selected by the European qualification system are in the world's top 12 (Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose), the latter two are considered "poor performers."
In his defense, Tyrrell Hatton (25th) has a world ranking skewed by the fact that the Englishman plays on LIV Golf. He has therefore only played 22 tournaments counting toward the official world ranking, even though the divisor is at least 40. (This also applies to Bryson DeChambeau on the American side.)
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The last qualifier, Rasmus Hjgaard, only appears 64th in the rankings. Having started from a low position (90th, end of August 2024), he has had a good season and climbed 26 places over the last 12 months. No other player from the old continent has shown such progress over this period and this is the reason why the Dane has joined the team on points
