Six golfers who could decide the Ryder Cup

The pantomime villain of Team USA’s successful 2016 Ryder Cup team, Patrick Reed comes into this year’s tournament stronger than ever. He’s the newly crowned Masters champion, as well as backing that up with a fourth-place finish in the US Open – on both occasions proving a knack for dialling in iron shots and making pressure putts when it counts. 

If his driver behaves, he is one of the most formidable foes in the US line up – and that’s before you look at his Ryder Cup record: winning six matches, losing one and halving two in his two previous appearances, Reed is a proven warrior in the match play arena. 

No doubt he’ll receive a suitably rowdy reception from the European fans, but make no mistake: that will only prove to fuel the fire for the self-dubbed ‘Captain America’.

Four-balls pairing: Jordan Spieth. The duo have teamed up on seven occasions over the last two Ryder Cups and have only lost once. They are a real danger.

Last year may have been a so-so season for the Northern Irishman, with putting woes being the main contributor to a lack of success, but the four-time major winner is bubbling up nicely ahead of the 2018 Ryder Cup. 

His final round 64 blew away the field on route to victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, while strong showings in The Masters (T5) and The Open (T2) suggest McIlroy’s game is heading in the right direction. 

As one of the most proficient players tee-to-green, there’s no doubt that an on-song McIlroy is one of the sharpest tools in the European armoury. Forget his spotty record of 9-6-4 (wins/losses/halves), if the boy from Holywood can get a handle on the tricky greens of the Albatros course, he might just be an unstoppable force for Europe.

Four-balls partner: Ian Poulter. The Ryder Cup hero is a gifted putter, and may well prove the perfect tonic to McIlroy’s troubles on the greens.

When Brooks Koepka missed this year’s Masters due to a wrist injury, the media wasn’t asking whether the huge-hitting American could add to his maiden major victory from the 2017 US Open, but how much golf he could play at all. 

The answer? Koepka muscled his way to victory at Shinnecock Hills to join an elite club of players to have successfully defended a major – and followed it up by joining an even more exclusive group by winning the PGA Championship in August (only Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen have previously won both in the same year).

Koepka’s will to win makes him a fearsome foe for Team Europe, plus he hits it miles, has a deft hand with a wedge and can putt… yikes.

Four-balls pairing: Dustin Johnson. Koepka’s close friend and 19-time winner on the PGA Tour is one of the only players in the game who can match Brooks for athleticism.

I have an affectionate nickname for the brilliant Francesco Molinari: PC Plod. It originates from his arrow-straight drives off the tee, his peerless iron play and a matter-of-fact short game that gets the job done. 

In an age of mammoth hitters, do-it-for-the-camera shotmakers and Hail Mary flop shots, Molinari is what might be harshly termed a ‘plodder’, but in reality is nothing short of superhuman in his metronomic consistency. 

That’s certainly how the Italian bagged both the BMW PGA Championship and The Open this year. On both occasions he simply wore down his opponent (paired in the final round against McIlroy at Wentworth and Tiger Woods at Carnoustie) and outlasted them in a war of attrition. On paper, he might not be an offensive threat of the tee but he is no doubt primed to be a painful thorn in Team USA’s side. 

Four-balls pairing: Justin Rose. A great servant for Europe over the years, the current World Number Four compliments Molinari’s consistent style of play down to a tee. 

You didn’t really think we’d forget about the Big Cat, did you? Twelve months ago, you’d have been laughed at for suggesting Tiger had more to offer Team USA than a vice-captaincy role, but he has been transformed since going under the knife for an Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion operation in April 2017. 

Question marks over just what kind of golfer we would see on his return have been answered with unequivocal evidence that the 14-time major champion still possesses the game to win tournaments. He’s finished inside the top ten on five occasions in 2018, including thrilling tussles for The Open and PGA Championship that, baring the odd slip, could have ended differently. 

Still, one of golf’s all-time greats will rely on a captain’s pick to make the team, but Jim Furyk (old pals with Tiger) would be out of his mind to not select the former-World Number One and Ryder Cup veteran. Plus, there’s no denying that only Tiger Woods has the ability to add literally thousands to the TV viewing figures… 

There may be more consistent players available this year, but Woods has shown flashes of his ludicrously gifted younger self on too many occasions to be overlooked.

Four-balls pairing: Justin Thomas. Good friends with Woods, the Kentucky boy has an air of the young Tiger about him – an ideal recipe to get the Big Cat roaring.