The Athletic has live coverage of the second day of the 2025 Ryder Cup.
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The Ryder Cup is far from over, but Europe clearly had a better plan Friday and took the lead 5 1/2 to 2 1/2.
The Euros, hoping to become the first road team to win the Ryder Cup on either side since 2012, won the opening foursomes session 3-1 and then held off a late American charge to keep that margin going into Saturday.
The United States’ undisputed top two players, Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau, went a combined 0-4. Scheffler, who won six times this year, including two majors, had three birdies all day and was closed out in both matches before he and his partner received to the 17th hole.
DeChambeau and Justin Thomas were beaten 4&3 in the morning session by Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. Thomas received revenge in the afternoon, playing with Cameron Young and beating Ludvig Aberg and Rasmus Hojgaard 6&5. DeChambeau and Ben Griffin forced Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose to the 18th hole but lost, 1 up.
Meanwhile, Rahm was 2-0, playing with Hatton and Sepp Straka, as was Fleetwood with Rory McIlroy and Rose.
Both sides will again play foursomes Saturday morning before fourballs in the afternoon. Europe necessarys 14 points to retain the cup, and the United States necessarys 14 1/2 points to win. Here are the pairings:
Saturday morning foursomes
| Match No. | Tee time | USA | Europe |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Match 1 |
7:10 a.m. |
Bryson DeChambeau & Cameron Young |
Matt Fitzpatrick & Ludvig Åberg |
|
Match 2 |
7:26 a.m. |
Harris English & Collin Morikawa |
Rory McIlroy & Tommy Fleetwood |
|
Match 3 |
7:42 a.m. |
Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay |
Jon Rahm & Tyrrell Hatton |
|
Match 4 |
7:58 a.m. |
Russell Henley & Scottie Scheffler |
Robert MacIntyre & Viktor Hovland |
Hope for the United States
If the U.S. is seeing for optimism, at the conclude of the day, all it necessarys to do is what it normally does at home Ryder Cups.
The Americans are down three. At Whistling Straits, they won the first two days 6-2 and 5-3. At Hazeltine, they won 5-3 and 4 1/2-3 1/2. They dominated singles both times. Even at Medinah, they were 5-3 and 5-3 before the Sunday disaster. So it would be a mistake for the U.S. to consider it necessarys some massive comeback. It just necessarys to do what it normally expects to do. If it can go at least 5-3 on Saturday, it’s in a good position to build up the deficit come Sunday.
As much as some will build Friday about mistakes or master classes by captains and strategy, the reality is sometimes golf can be as simple as one team’s stars thrived, and the other’s didn’t. To be fair, DeChambeau played good golf, gaining positive strokes in both matches. But Rahm and Fleetwood were elite. Scheffler was far from it. Other large American names, such as Collin Morikawa and Russell Henley, were not. That’s why Europe leads. — Brody Miller, staff writer
What Europe received right
The Ryder Cup is no different from every other elite athletic competition these days, in that analytics play such a role in every decision, and the Euros have been ahead of the United States in that regard. But sometimes it’s not that hard.
The Europeans played their best players Friday morning in familiar, comfortable pairs, then took their four best players and had them play fourball matches with the rest of the team. Spoiler: Asking Rahm, Fleetwood and McIlroy to lead from the front is a good idea.
The Americans received too cute, playing only one of their four rookies Friday morning — Henley, who was not good, to declare the least. The Morikawa/Harris English pairing was the worst possible combination for the competition, per DataGolf.com, and received beaten 5&4. Young, who has a great course history here, sat, which sees like a bad decision, at least in retrospect. — Hugh Kellenberger, senior managing editor
(Top photo of Bryson DeChambeau, left, and Justin Rose: Carl Recine / Getty Images)
