The last big golf event for 2023 is getting closer. It’s the 2023 Ryder Cup. It’s the epic team battle putting the best golfers in the United States versus the best golfers in Europe.
When and where is the 2023 Ryder Cup
The 44th edition of the Ryder Cup will take place over in Europe this year at the Marco Simone Country Club near Rome Italy. The matches will start on Friday, September 29th and end on Sunday, October 1st. Additionally, the captain of the United States team is Zack Johnson and the captain of the European team is Luke Donald.
What is the selection criteria for the United States Team?
The top six players in the points system automatically qualify for the team. The points are based on performance in the four majors and performance on the PGA Tour. The next six players are chosen by captain Zack Johnson. Here are the present U.S. team rankings.
Full rankings can be seen at the Ryder Cup Ranking Website
What is the selection criteria for the European team?
The European selection criteria is slightly different. The top three players on the European points list automatically qualify. To that, the top three players on the world golf rankings automatically qualify. Then, captain Luke Donald can make six captain picks to round out the team.
The full European Ryder Cup team rankings can be found at the official Ranking Site.
What’s the golf politics drama this time?
With the launch of the LIV Golf tour, the fracture in professional golf’s normal smooth infrastructure remains. Here is some of the turbulent air:
- The European Captain Luke Donald is actually a replacement captain. Henrik Stenson was the original team captain but was removed in the last half of 2022 when he joined the LIV Golf tour.
- Presently, the United States team has not banned any LIV Golf tour players. However, the points system does not allow any points for performance on the LIV Golf tour. So, unless players on that tour qualified and played well in the four majors, they just wont have the points to automatically qualify.
- The European team qualification system has been more severe to LIV Golf tour players. The players on LIV were heavily fined by the DP World Tour to the point where they resigned their DP World tour memberships which made them ineligible for their country’s Ryder Cup team. That will undermine the ability to bring in the past Ryder Cup European vets.
Any news on players on the bubble on the U.S. team?
Recently, Assistant Captain Fred Couples may have dropped a few clues to who might make the team or may be on the bubble.
Who “owns” the Ryder Cup and who is the favorite?
The United States won the 2021 Ryder Cup winning in large fashion 19-9 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. The United States is also presently a pretty big favorite a couple months out.