Netjets US Summer 2023

Can Zach Johnson’s high quality U.S. team
maintain its grip on the old trophy or will Luke
Donald’s mixture of proven major winners and
talented youngsters capitalize on a home
draw and superior course knowledge to win
the cup back for Europe at Marco Simone
Golf & Country Club in Rome this fall?
Nick Bayly ponders the imponderables of this
most intriguing of transatlantic tussles.
RYDER CUP
IN FOCUS
TO THE HILLS
Marco Simone
promises a
challenge to form
and fitness.
THE HOSTING OF the 44th Ryder Cup at the stunning Marco
Simone Golf & Country Club, located just 10 miles from the centre
of Rome, will see Italy become only the third nation in mainland
Europe—after Spain in 1997 and France in 2018—to host the
biannual match-play event.
And while European golf fans will be praying that the result
goes the same way in Rome as it did for Seve Ballesteros just
over a quarter-century ago at Valderrama and for Thomas Bjørn’s
merry band of men in Paris just five years past, there is no doubt
that the 2023 renewal of this drama-filled clash will be one of
the most keenly observed in recent years, given the state of flux
that the professional golf tours on both sides of the Atlantic are
currently experiencing.
Neutrals will, of course, be hoping not only for a close fight,
with matches that go down to the wire, but also one that allows
the game’s best players, and not just those whose faces fit the
bill (or were on your chosen side of the LIV-PGA split before the
merger).
European captain Luke Donald will effectively be leading
his team with one hand tied behind his back in that, as things
currently stand, he will not be able to call on the services of LIV
golfers and experienced Ryder Cuppers such as Lee Westwood,
Sergio García, Ian Poulter, and Henrik Stenson—the latter
being the man Donald replaced as captain—despite the fact
that the DP World Tour has now resolved differences, while U.S.
Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson has the now much easier job
in whether to have PGA Championship winner—and LIV golfer—
Brooks Koepka in his team, should the Floridian continue his
strong run of form in the majors, and fellow LIV golfer Dustin
Johnson should be a shoo-in starter now that LIV Golf has been
effectively absorbed into the PGA TOUR.
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