Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
The Americans were embarrassed Day 1 at the Ryder Cup, and captain Zach Johnson doesn’t appear to have learned his lesson.
Team USA’s start to the 44th Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club went as poorly as humanly possible. The Americans did not win a single match during an individual day for the first time in Ryder Cup history.
They trail 6.5 to 1.5 after Day One.
A lot of people laid blame at the feet of captain Zach Johnson, with some calling for his job.. His choices for foursome and four-ball pairings were very peculiar. Particularly, he paired Ryder Cup rookies together in both sessions.
Brian Harman and Max Homa were smoked 4 & 3 by Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg during the morning. In the afternoon, it was Homa and Wyndham Clark choking away a two-hole lead with two to play to halve their match with Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre.
European captain Luke Donald, who also has four first-timers on his team, paired veterans with a rookie each time.
Yet, Johnson does not appear to have learned anything.
The Day Two foursome pairings were released Friday afternoon. Although Johnson made some tweaks, he once again put two rookies together.
Homa and Harmon will square off against Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka. They go off as the third pairing of the morning.
Johnson did however make a change up front. He will lead with Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth as he did during four-ball Friday. Thomas played exceptionally well while Spieth left him hanging on the back nine.
They are up against Rory McIlroy, who went 2-0-0 on Friday, and Tommy Fleetwood.
The next match features Scottie Scheffer and Brooks Koepka against Hovland and Aberg. The final match of the morning pairs Xander Schauffele (0-2-0 thus far) with Patrick Cantlay. They lost their Friday foursome match to Rory and Fleetwood.
The duplication of similarly perceived mistakes was noticed by fans. They didn’t pull any punches online, letting Johnson know about it.
What is Zach Johnson doing? Spieth was a train wreck today and you’re leading off with him and a guy who had a horrible season? Homa and Harman again? Not a fan of any of these really. https://t.co/0sLe2Tglvu
— DY (@chicagogolfnut1) September 29, 2023
What Zach Johnson gets for selecting the most popular kids at school.
— mud (@Mudson) September 29, 2023
Cantlay and Schauffele getting the nod tomorrow after they lost their first match and Xander got boatraced 5&3 in his second is insane. And Zach Johnson is trotting them out against Jon fucking Rahm. https://t.co/rxsqtEwO6v
— Kelley (@KelleyAnneMac) September 29, 2023
Time to bench Zach Johnson. Running out Spieth tmmrw after arguably the worst performance by a US player in a couple decades, & then also putting out Xander, is criminal. It shows he has no courage to make changes & no imagination. Scared to hurt feelings. #RyderCup2023
— Chris Cronenweth (@c_cronenweth) September 29, 2023
Fans’ frustration is completely understandable. Team USA was embarrassed on Friday and things look bleak heading into the weekend.
In order for the Americans to pull off a historic comeback, they will need to win 12.5 of the 20 possible points remaining. It’s hard to see that outcome with these types of choices from their captain.
Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor/Site Manager for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms.
