Hello friends, and happy Thursday from Marco Simone! My spirits are extremely high after the Lazio vs. Torino Serie A soccer game last night, which I followed up with some gelato!
While those two things definitely have me feeling good, 95 percent of my good vibes have to be attributed to the fact that the Ryder Cup gala was on Wednesday night. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been looking forward to this event for months. And to clarify, I wasn’t even there. It truly is my version of the Met Gala.
They (I’m not really sure who “they” are here, to be honest) shut down the Spanish steps on Wednesday night and turned them into the Ryder Cup’s very own red carpet. After that, the players and their gals headed into town for dinner.
All right, now for what you’ve all been waiting for: the photos from the evening. I searched high and low for the best content from the night so you, my dear readers, can take it all in here in one place.
European Team
It’s only fair that we start off with European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald. Apparently his wife, Diane, organized the whole evening, which is no small feat! I think the biggest event I’ve organized is having like, two friends over for dinner.
Diane Donald always brings things to the next level. She’s even rocking European Team Ryder Cup pajamas this week!
Ludvig Aberg
Ludvig Aberg was playing in college golf events six months ago, and this week he’s teeing it up on one of golf’s biggest stages. He seems to be adjusting to this whole fame thing pretty well, and he and Olivia Peet looked dapper as they took on the Spanish steps. While other kids their age are heading to college formals, these two are kicking it with the world’s best golfers! Not a bad deal.
Matt Fitzpatrick
Matt Fitzpatrick and Katherine Gaal got engaged in Bay Head, N.J., earlier this month, so this gala (which technically wasn’t a gala, but for lack of a better term that’s what I’ll call it here) was a debut of sorts for the fiancees. And Gaal even wore white! How fitting.
Also, can we take a moment to appreciate how great these professional photos are? My friends really need to step up their Instagram-taking game for me.
Tommy Fleetwood
Tommy and Clare Fleetwood had two big days in a row here at the Ryder Cup. Wednesday evening they got all dressed up, and Thursday was their son Frankie’s sixth birthday.
You may remember how Frankie stole the show at the Masters Par 3 Contest a few years back. Thursday at Marco Simone was no different.
How cute is that? Heading into work with your dad might not be an ideal way for most kids to spend their sixth birthday, but it’s probably pretty great if your dad is on the Ryder Cup team.
Tyrrell Hatton
The Hattons had their own moment on the Spanish stairs, but they also invited Viktor Hovland to walk down with them, which was so, so wholesome.
Any picture that includes Viktor Hovland laughing is great for the soul.
Nicolai Hojgaard
Nicolai Hojgaard may be 22, but this photo is giving serious “heading to prom!” vibes in the best way possible. Look at those happy kids! I like to think this has been posted on their parents’ Facebooks.
Viktor Hovland
On to Viktor Hovland, who may be single but definitely did not arrive alone. He rolled in hand-in-hand with Jose Maria Olazabal, and the two of them stole the show.
Shane Lowry
Shane Lowry arrived with his wife, Wendy, who has become an MVP of Ryder Cup content this week on Instagram. Wendy, if you are reading this: thank you for making my job (okay, social media perusing) a lot easier.
Robert MacIntyre
Rory McIlroy
Okay folks. It’s time. By the power bestowed upon me, I hereby crown Rory and Erica McIlroy the king and queen of the Ryder Cup gala. They look like movie stars!
Fans were going nuts for these two as they walked through town to head to dinner. Also, it kind of looks like Rory is campaigning? Or maybe he’s giving Pope energy? These photos make it look like he’s two steps away from blessing babies in the street.
I won’t lie, as great as this all looks, the whole thing seems very overwhelming.
Jon Rahm
On to our 2023 Masters champion! John and Kelley Rahm killed it.
Her little basket of flowers there does kind of look like a bucket of range balls, which likely wasn’t on purpose, but was definitely very fitting for the occasion.
Justin Rose
This photo of Justin and Kate Rose absolutely screams elegance.
I need to know where these gals are finding their dresses, because my Abercrombie ones simply aren’t cutting it anymore.
Sepp Straka
American Team
Zach Johnson
Okay, on to the American team. Shout out to Kim Johnson for sporting a patriotic color and to Zach for cleaning up well. I saw him sporting shorts with some pretty high Ryder Cup socks earlier in the week, which he decided to ditch for a night out on the town.
Actually, all the guys on the U.S. team ditched their socks on Wednesday night.
Can we take a second to look at those sock tans? My goodness.
Sam Burns, Brian Harman
Okay, Getty unfortunately did not provide couples pictures for the American team the way they did for the Europeans. Worry not, I can work with what I’ve got.
Brian Harman’s wife, Kelly Van Skyke, wasn’t at the Open when Harman won in July, so Wednesday evening was sort of her “hello, world” in the golf spotlight. Sam Burns’ mullet somehow seemed to work in a formal setting as well, which I was very pleasantly surprised by.
Patrick Cantlay
Wyndham Clark
Rickie Fowler
Max Homa
Brooks Koepka
Collin Morikawa
Xander Schauffele
Xander Schauffele looked a lot more relaxed on the Spanish steps than he did when I interrogated him about the Ryder Cup and more a few weeks ago.
Scottie Scheffler
The first couple of golf looked fabulous on Wednesday night, and Scheffler snapped some photos of his own.
I love that he took some solo shots of Meredith, but I do worry a little bit about his technique here. He’s much taller than her and leaning back to take the photo. Is he photographing her from the neck up? The dress deserves to be photographed, too!
I’d love to see how these photos came out. And in the meantime, if you are a professional golfer in need of an Instagram-taking lesson, hit me up. I can help you take your skills to the next level (my references here include my father, who I dragged over to a golf course with a camera in March of 2017 to teach him how to correctly take great photos before we headed to the Masters together a month later).
Jordan Spieth
Annie Spieth had a baby a few weeks ago, so she didn’t make the trip to Rome this week. Worry not, because we still got some photos of Jordan doing his thing.
And like any good friend should, Spieth made sure to get some photos of his pals Justin and Jillian. He seems to be taking some good pictures — he’s got the Thomases in the foreground of the photo with the camera tilted up just a bit in order to capture the scenery as well.
If Spieth ever explores a career change, he should look into photography.
As for Annie, she was involved in the gala thanks to some creativity from the fellow U.S. Ryder Cup team wives who photoshopped her into a photo.
Justin Thomas
The thing about the Ryder Cup gala is that there’s always going to be a meme that comes out of it. In 2018, it was Dustin and Paulina. This year, we have Justin and Jillian Thomas to thank for taking over.
What a night! I’m already excited for the 2025 Ryder Cup gala in New York.
