In the world of golf, late September means a few things like this year’s season end is approaching. However, for many golf fans this year, it means that the 2023 Ryder Cup is upon us. The Ryder cup is a team-style competition that occurs every other year and pits American golfers against European golfers. Here’s what you need to know about this year’s matchup.

Tournament Details

The Ryder Cup trades off every year for who should host. This year’s home team will be Europe, with the competition being hosted in Rome, Italy, at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club. As mentioned, the Ryder Cup is typically held in late fall, with this year’s dates starting on September 25th and ending on October 1st.

The Ryder Cup is a match play event, with the first two days of competition holding 4 foursome (alternate shot) and 4 fourball (better ball) matches. The home captain, in this case Europe’s captain, chooses which are played in the morning and which are played in the afternoon, which can be a strategy decision. The final day of the competition is 12 head-to-head matches.

All matches are played to a maximum of 18 holes. Each match is worth 1 point with a total of 28 points to win, and teams need 14½ points to win. However, the defending champions (the U.S. with a 19-9 win in 2021) only need 14 points to win.

Team Selection

This year’s selection process differs from past years, mainly for the European Team. The qualifiers can now come from both the European and World points lists — three from each. Additionally, the captain’s picks increased from three to six, and the weighting of points was updated. The highest ranked events are now worth quadruple the points compared to the lowest, a decrease from years prior.

The U.S. did not change their selection process other than the amendments made to the selection process (6 picks from points lists and 6 captain’s picks). However, one major difference in this year’s selection is that LIV Golf tournaments did not count towards the points lists.

Team U.S.A.

This year’s U.S. Captain Zach Johnson was selected early last year. To accompany him, 5 Vice Captains were selected: Steve Stricker, Davis Love III, Jim Furyk, Fred Couples, and Stewart Cink. Competing for Team U.S.A.:

• Scottie Scheffler – World number one; points qualifier
• Wyndham Clark – U.S. Open winner; points qualifier; rookie
• Brian Harman – Open Champion; points qualifier; rookie
• Patrick Cantlay – Points qualifier
• Xander Schauffele – Points qualifier
• Max Homa – Points qualifier; rookie
• Brooks Koepka – PGA Champion; captain’s pick
• Rickie Fowler – Captain’s pick
• Collin Morikawa – Captain’s pick
• Jordan Spieth – Captain’s pick
• Justin Thomas – Captain’s pick
• Sam Burns – Captain’s pick; rookie

Team Europe

EyePromise ambassadors Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie have both had the pleasure of captaining the European team in the past, with Harrington serving most recently in the 2021 tournament and Montgomerie in 2010. This year’s European Captain was Henrik Stenson and selected early last year with Johnson. However, he was replaced in August of this year with Luke Donald due to his participation in LIV Golf. The five European Vice Captains are Thomas Bjørn, Nicolas Colsaerts, José María Olazábal, Edoardo Molinari, and Francesco Molinari. Competing for Team Europe:

• Rory McIlroy – European points list
• Jon Rahm – European points list
• Robert Macintyre – European points list; rookie
• Viktor Hovland – World points list
• Tyrrell Hatton – World points list
• Matt Fitzpatrick – World points list
• Tommy Fleetwood – Captain’s pick
• Sepp Straka – Captain’s pick; rookie
• Justin Rose – Captain’s pick
• Shane Lowry – Captain’s pick
• Nicolai Højgaard – Captain’s pick; rookie
• Ludvig Åberg – Captain’s pick; rookie; won final qualifying event despite competing professionally for less than 3 months

The Ryder Cup is one of the most anticipated tournaments in all of golf, and this year’s competition is sure to be exciting! Watch all the action on Golf TV and Peacock and comment below to tell us who you think will take home the cup.