{"id":448722,"date":"2025-09-24T20:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T20:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/448722\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T20:14:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T20:14:11","slug":"perfect-pairings-key-if-europe-are-to-retain-ryder-cup-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/448722\/","title":{"rendered":"Perfect pairings key if Europe are to retain Ryder Cup \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mind games were at play to some extent around the course recommended only for highly-skilled golfers. As Team Europe navigated its way through the expansive and expensive piece of Long Island real estate, there was a chopping and changing of groups which, perhaps, contrived to make it look as if there were doubt yet as to who exactly would be paired with who.<\/p>\n

Such are the manifestations of the phoney war escapades which make up the practice days, with the statistical data complied over the past number of years \u2013 and most especially this season \u2013 at play behind the scenes in determining the pairings, as Europe seek to retain the Ryder Cup<\/a> and win on US soil for the first time since 2012.<\/p>\n

If Europe are to win, then the role played by Rory McIlroy<\/a> will be the making or breaking of their bid to go back-to-back.<\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s Ryder Cup history has seen him play on five winning and two losing teams. His individual record, though, doesn\u2019t quite match such heights. In 33 individual matches, he has 16 wins, 13 losses and four halved matches, equating to winning 54\u00bd per cent of the points available.<\/p>\n

But there was a clear change in McIlroy\u2019s leadership role at Marco Simone, where he played in all five sessions and winning four of his matches. That gave him an 80 per cent win percentage, compared to just 25 per cent when part of the 2021 losing team at Whistling Straits where the Northern Irishman lost three matches and won just one, departing in tears of disappointment.<\/p>\n

Come Rome, McIlroy was the strong man, the leader, forming a magnificent partnership with Tommy Fleetwood<\/a> in the foursomes (winning two from two) and also teaming up with Matt Fitzpatrick in the fourballs (one win, one loss). <\/p>\n

In all, McIlroy has had nine different partners in the Ryder Cup since making his debut in the event at Celtic Manor in 2010 \u2013 Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters, Shane Lowry, Thorbjorn Olesen, Andy Sullivan, Fleetwood and Fitzpatrick \u2013 and could well add to that number this week.<\/p>\n

\"JustinJustin Rose during a practice round on Wednesday. Photograph: Mike Egerton\/PA <\/p>\n

Although Fleetwood is seen as a certainty to partner McIlroy in the opening day\u2019s foursomes, there is the potential for a new partner in the fourballs. Perhaps Justin Rose?<\/p>\n

Fleetwood, though, would appear set to play foursomes with his partner-in-crime from Rome: \u201cI think whoever gets to play with Rory this week, like what a privilege, what an amazing thing to be able to do, to stand next to him on the golf course and play alongside him. He\u2019s one of, if not the, greatest players of our generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the energy that I think he has, that he brings to your team, that he brings to the Ryder Cup. I think it\u2019s amazing. If I\u2019m one of them that gets a chance to play with him, I would love that opportunity. And whatever energy he decides to bring, I\u2019ll be there to support him and be a good partner for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rose, for his part, has had seven different partners through his Ryder Cup years, the most notable pairings being with Henrik Stenson (six wins, two losses) and Ian Poulter (four wins, one loss), and he was unbeaten playing with Bob MacIntyre on the Scot\u2019s debut in Rome two years ago (one win, one halved match).<\/p>\n

As for what makes players tick, Rose remarked: \u201cI think what makes a great pairing is just the fact of having that mutual respect, ultimately, and the ability to not feel like you have to say \u2018sorry\u2019 to your partner; having enough of a comfort level where if things go wrong there\u2019s not that moment where heads go down and you feel like you\u2019re letting one another down. That\u2019s kind of like the line you can\u2019t cross.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pairings question will be answered by Luke Donald<\/a>. The stats men have offered the info, now it\u2019s up to the captain to work out the vibes, the energy and the compatibility of temperaments that ultimately make players click.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mind games were at play to some extent around the course recommended only for highly-skilled golfers. As Team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,83846,4287,4321,24031],"class_list":{"0":"post-448722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-luke-donald","12":"tag-rory-mcilroy","13":"tag-ryder-cup","14":"tag-tommy-fleetwood"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115261110021117171","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}