U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker breaks up winning teams for afternoon Four-Balls against Europe

September 24, 2021

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HAVEN, Wis. – U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker said he would not deviate from his script concerning his pairings, no matter what happened Friday morning.

Well, the Americans jumped out to a 3-1 lead as the teams of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger, and Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa delivered victories in Foursomes play at Whistling Straits.

Europe’s lone point came in the first match when Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia combined to defeat Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.

Whether or not Stricker changed up things because of what he saw in the morning is unknown, but he is sending out all 12 of his charges on the first day. And he did break up some groups, including the Schauffele-Cantlay team that devoured the European stalwarts, Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter.

For the Four-Balls session, Johnson will play with Schauffele against Paul Casey and Bernd Wiesberger. In the second match, Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler come off the bench to face Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. In the third match, Tony Finau and Harris English play for the first time against McIlroy and Shane Lowry. In the anchor match, Thomas will partner with Cantlay against Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland.

Europe captain Padraig Harrington is also playing all 12 of his troops.

Sitting in the afternoon for the U.S. are Spieth, Morikawa, Berger and Koepka. Sitting for the Europeans are Poulter, Garcia, Westwood and Fitzpatrick.