Expert Picks: A U.S. perspective on Team Europe ahead of Ryder Cup

Just 50 days remain until the 2023 Ryder Cup begins at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.

Team Europe, under the leadership of Captain Luke Donald, are looking to reclaim golf’s biggest team prize in Italy next month against Zach Johnson’s U.S. Team.

As anticipation continues to build ahead of golf’s pre-eminent event being held in Italy for the first time, discussion is very much focused on the potential make-up of both teams.

Next week’s ISPS HANDA World Invitational Presented by AVIV Clinics represents the first of three remaining events in the qualification process for Team Europe.

Players looking to make the U.S. Team have until the conclusion of the BMW Championship, the second of three events that form part of the FedExCup Playoffs.

With time running out for players to earn automatic qualification and stake their claims for one of six captain’s picks, the topic of how both teams are shaping up was a discussion point on the latest episode of The Tips.

Joining regular host Ollie Silverton this week are golf writer Ben Coley and Will Gray, Betting & Fantasy Editorial Lead at the PGA TOUR. You can find the latest episode here: https://linktr.ee/dpworldtour.

Here, Gray gives us an American perspective on the European side, which will feature Major Champions Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm after their qualification was confirmed on Wednesday.

U.S. Team ‘ready for a fight’

Six-to-eight months ago, you didn’t know how the team was going to [shape up]. But with Sepp Straka playing so well at the John Deere, Shane Lowry starting to come up again, Fleetwood and Hatton [too], this team is starting to take shape and seems pretty solid.

From the European perspective, I think you have got the right guys starting to play well and trend in a little more positive direction [including] some of the veterans from Whistling Straits and Le Golf National. As an American I am getting ready for a fight.

Youth over experience for a Captain’s Pick?

I am very interested to see where Luke Donald goes with one of the Captain’s Picks to round off his team. You feel like Zach Johnson on the American side is going to go for a veteran presence, maybe like Justin Thomas.

I think Donald might go for a young player, whether it be one of the Højgaards or Ludvig Aberg or even Vincent Norrman who played really well in the last few weeks on the PGA TOUR. Maybe you have someone like that that you try and bring in on a home game where it is a more friendly environment and you start building for the future Ryder Cups.

Home advantage

Listen, it is hard to win on the road. I was lucky to be over in Paris in 2018 and saw that environment. It is just difficult, especially when you have a course in Marco Simone that the DP World Tour folks play year in and year out.

This is a course that the Americans are essentially going to be playing blind. These guys have been playing for a very long season that is going to end in a couple of weeks, maybe there is going to be a scouting trip early September but it is not something that you can really learn as much as if you have some of these guys that are going to be in the Euro team room that have played here, won here.

Who will emerge victorious?

I think this is a much closer battle than maybe the odds makers have it right now. It is hard to pin it down this far out...