By Editor,Riath Al-Samarrai

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Ryder Cup pairings revealed with Bryson DeChambeau to lead out USA… while Rory McIlroy joins forces with familiar teammate

READ MORE: McIlroy says America is the world’s best country despite UK move

By RIATH AL-SAMARRAI, CHIEF SPORTS FEATURE WRITER

Published: 21:24 BST, 25 September 2025 | Updated: 23:50 BST, 25 September 2025

Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton will lead out Europe in a blockbuster opening foursomes match of the Ryder Cup against Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas after the captains finally showed their hands on Thursday evening.

Rahm and Hatton were unbeaten in Europe’s demolition of the US in Rome two years ago and will resume their fiery pairing against Bryson DeChambeau. He has been paired with Justin Thomas by Team USA captain Keegan Bradley.

They will be on the first tee at Bethpage Black at 7.10am local time and followed by Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick’s clash with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler and rookie Russell Henley.

The European duo will raise eyebrows after Luke Donald opted to break up the Aberg-Viktor Hovland pairing that left Scheffler in tears after a 9&7 hiding alongside Brooks Koepka in 2023.

Donald’s imperative for a fast start at was underlined by a second heavyweight pairing in Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, who won both their foursomes matches together two years ago. They will take on Collin Morikawa and Harris English, with Robert MacIntyre and Hovland pitted against the battle-tested pair of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.

Bryson DeChambeau is set to lead out Team USA in Friday’s opening Ryder Cup foursomes

Rory McIlroy will take to the tee later in the day alongside 2023 teammate Tommy Fleetwood

McIlroy and Fleetwood won both of their foursomes matches at the previous Ryder Cup

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Bradley has opted to bench US Open champion JJ Spaun for the first session, along with Sam Burns, Ben Griffin and Cameron Young. Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka and Rasmus Hojgaard will also have to wait for their first involvement.

Donald said: ‘We want to start strong. Rahm and Hatton have had a lot of success together.

‘They know how to win, they get along very well and we’re very happy to get them out first.’

He added: ‘Rome was two years ago. Players evolve and change. You have to look at personality match-ups. We have so many options that it’s quite fun for me as a captain.

‘The US are going to be strong. They are strong in foursomes and we wanted to bring our best as well. This we feel is our best.’

Bradley made no secret of his desire to use DeChambeau to whip the crowd into a frenzy. He said: ‘Beside the fact they are phenomenal players and bring a spark to our team, Bryson has been an incredible teammate in the locker room and we want him to lead our team out with Justin in the first match.

‘With foursomes you have to factor in personalities. The analytical data is super important and useful. Everyone wanted to play with each other and we had to narrow it down because of how willing everybody was to play with each other.’

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Ryder Cup pairings revealed with Bryson DeChambeau to lead out USA… while Rory McIlroy joins forces with familiar teammate

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