The 45th edition of the Ryder Cup begins Friday at Bethpage Black (par 70, 7,352 yards, POA/Bentgrass greens) in Farmingdale, New York and there will be four foursome matches to begin this three-day match-play event on Friday morning. For the first match, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas of Team USA will be facing Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton of Team Europe. In foursome matches, the players of each pairing play alternate shots until the hole is finished.
Below, I break down this foursome match between DeChambeau/Thomas vs. Rahm/Hatton and give a pick for the match.
DeChambeau/Thomas vs. Rahm/Hatton prediction, pick
The Ryder Cup captains blessed golf fans with this exciting foursome match to begin this highly anticipated three-day event. Rahm and Hatton being a pairing is a very smart move by Team Europe. During Team Europe’s 16.5 vs. 11.5 win over Team USA at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, Rahm and Hatton were a team and they went 2-0 in their two foursome matches, defeating Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns and then Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
Rahm is an excellent 5-2-2 in team matches for his career, while Hatton is a rock-solid 4-3-1. Rahm just closed the LIV Golf season in terrific form with three runner-up finishes in his final four starts and he led the circuit in points for the season. Hatton finished 26th in LIV points, but he is an extremely fiery competitor who clearly has great chemistry with Rahm after their success in Rome.
On the other side of this foursome match, DeChambeau and Thomas will be competing together for the first time on Friday, and while Thomas has been a stud in team matches with a 14-4-4 record, DeChambeau has struggled with a 1-3-1 record. Pairing a big hitter like DeChambeau with a crafty short game player like Thomas makes sense, but both players travel to the demanding Bethpage Black in unappealing form.
DeChambeau finished third in points on the LIV Golf tour this past season, but he didn’t finish higher than T11th in his final four starts on the circuit. As for Thomas, he is on the heels of an underwhelming 69th place finish at the Procore Championship a few weeks ago and he has only finished inside the top-20 once in his last six starts on the PGA TOUR. Thomas did finish T10th at Bethpage Black for the 2016 Barclays, so his prowess for this venue is a boost for this pairing, but defeating a squad in Rahm and Hatton that have flourished together in the past will be a difficult task for Thomas and DeChambeau in their debut as a team.
DeChambeau/Thomas vs. Rahm/Hatton pick, best bet
Thomas and DeChambeau defeating Rahm and Hatton in the former pairing’s first match together would be a real surprise and backing Team Europe to win this match is a must.
