The Sunday singles in the Ryder Cup differs from the other four sessions in that the team aspect is put to one side in a straight battle between each player and his opponent. But how are the Ryder Cup singles matches determined?
The order in which the players begin their session is determined by each captain the night before. So, in the case of the 2023 edition at Marco Simone, Team Europe captain Luke Donald opted for Jon Rahm to go out first, followed by Viktor Hovland, then Justin Rose and so on, until the order for all 12 players is confirmed. Meanwhile, Team USA counterpart Zach Johnson started with Scottie Scheffler, then Collin Morikawa, with Patrick Cantlay next.
That meant that Rahm faced Scheffler, Hovland played Morikawa and Rose took on Cantlay. Where it gets interesting is that there is a random element thanks to a blind draw – neither captain is made aware of the order of the opposing team until each reveals their list.
Because of that, there is likely plenty of second-guessing as captains try to ascertain which player their opposite number will select for each position.
That element of chance also adds intrigue as each captain has to decide whether to go with the strongest players early or hold some back for later, anticipating a strong finish. The state of play going into the Sunday singles will also be a factor in that decision.
For example, in 2023, Team Europe held a commanding five-point lead ahead of the session, and needed just four more to take the trophy. That likely made Donald’s decision to send many of his best players out early quite straightforward, with one eye on getting the job done as soon as possible.
In any case, typically, captains send their strongest players first, which is the lowest-risk strategy as it offers the best chance of getting some early points on the board.
To go back to the Rahm vs Scheffler example, that means that, though each captain will have had a reasonable hunch that each would go with those players to start, they couldn’t know for certain.
As a result, it means that the match-up was not entirely pre-determined, even though the pair also faced each other in their singles match at Whistling…
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