Sergio Garcia hits a tee shot on the 17th hole at Whistling Straits during a practice round for the Ryder Cup on Wednesday.
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Of all the comparisons between the U.S. and Europe heading into this week’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits (including here and here): these might be the most striking:
— The U.S. has played in a combined 12 total Ryder Cups; the Europeans 38.
— The U.S. has a combined 24-22-3 record; the Europeans are 77-55-24.
— The U.S. has scored a combined 25.5 points; the Europeans have more than tripled that, at 89 points.
Of course, bringing down the Americans’ tally is the fact that they are carrying six first-timers on their 12-player roster, while the Europeans have just three. Still, among the U.S. veterans, only Jordan Spieth, with eight points, and Dustin Johnson, with seven, have scored more than five. The Europeans have four players in double figures, including Garcia, the Euros’ all-time leading point scorer.
Thankfully for the Americans, points do not carry over.
“We are looking to the best players to perform here at Whistling Straits, and these six guys that we picked, we feel like fit Whistling Straits to a ‘T,’” Steve Stricker said in introducing his six captain’s picks to the U.S. team. “We have done some analysis of those rookies since 2008, and U.S. rookies have a 40-29-17 record in Ryder Cup. So rookies fare very well in this type of forms, and we’re excited to have these rookies.
“Some of them aren’t really rookies. They have played in past Presidents Cup teams. Some of these guys have match-play competition under their belt as well and other events that they played, the World Match Play. So we are excited. So we don’t really feel like they are rookies. We are just happy to have these guys, and they fit the course to a ‘T.’”
Below are the Ryder Cups played, records and points for both the U.S. and European teams:
U.S. Ryder Cups played, records and points
Jordan Spieth, three Ryder Cups, 7-5-2 record, eight points Dustin Johnson, four Ryder Cups, 7-9-0 record, seven points Brooks Koepka, two Ryder Cups, 4-3-1 record, 4.5 points Justin Thomas, one Ryder Cup, 4-1-0 record, four points Tony Finau, one Ryder Cup, 2-1-0 record, two points Bryson DeChambeau, one Ryder Cup, 0-3-0 record, zero points Daniel Berger, zero Ryder Cups Patrick Cantlay, zero Ryder Cups Harris English, zero Ryder Cups Collin Morikawa, zero Ryder Cups Xander Schauffele, zero Ryder Cups Scottie Scheffler, zero Ryder Cups Total Ryder Cups, record, points: 12, 24-22-3, 25.5
European Ryder Cups played, records and points
Sergio Garcia, nine Ryder Cups, 22-12-7 record, 25.5 points Lee Westwood, 10 Ryder Cups, 20-18-6 record, 23 points Ian Poulter, six Ryder Cups, 14-6-2 record, 15 points Rory McIlroy, five Ryder Cups, 11-9-4 record, 13 points Paul Casey, four Ryder Cups, 4-3-5 record, 6.5 points Tommy Fleetwood, one Ryder Cup, 4-1-0 record, four points Tyrrell Hatton, one Ryder Cup, 1-2-0 record, one point Jon Rahm, one Ryder Cup, 1-2-0 record, one point Matthew Fitzpatrick, one Ryder Cup, 0-2-0 record, zero points Viktor Hovland, zero Ryder Cups Shane Lowry, zero Ryder Cups Bernd Wiesberger, zero Ryder Cups Total Ryder Cups, record, points: 38, 77-55-24, 89
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.