It became official this week. Jim Furyk will captain the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2027. He’ll lead the team to Ireland and Adare Manor in hopes of the Americans first away win in 34 years.
Stop me if you’ve heard this all before.
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Yes, this isn’t the first time the PGA of America has put its faith in Furyk to deliver a road W. He was in charge at the 2018 Ryder Cup, where the heavily favoured U.S. team lost by seven points at Le Golf National.
You could make the argument that Furyk was the victim of bad luck back in Paris, and subsequently, he led the U.S. to a decisive win at the 2024 Presidents Cup. Those are very different events played under different circumstances. But for Furyk to have any chance in Ireland, the 55-year-old needs to have learned a few lessons from that fateful week in France.
Don’t get out-prepped
A lot has been made in recent years about the details and work the European Ryder Cup team puts into its process. From bedsheets to ice baths, from virtual reality headsets to intensive statistical modelling, Luke Donald and his team have convinced many that they have found an edge, explaining how the Europeans have won nine of the last 12 Ryder Cups.
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In 2018, the European team appeared to have an advantage before a shot was even hit at Le Golf National. That is because the course was also the familiar home of the French Open. The 2018 edition of the DP World Tour event was played three months before the Ryder Cup and while eight of the eventual European team teed it up that week (including Alex Noren, who won the event), only Justin Thomas from the U.S. side played.
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While the majority of the Americans did eventually make trips to Le Golf National, mainly around the Open in mid-July, Thomas was the lone pro to get competitive reps on the course. He finished in the top 10 at the French Open and went on to be the top points earner at the Ryder Cup, with a 4-1-0 record.
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While it’s unlikely Adare Manor will host a DP World Tour event before the 2027 Ryder Cup, and while several American players have played the course at the 2022 JP McManus Pro-Am (including Xander Schauffele, who won that 36-hole event), prepping for and scouting the course will be a key part of Furyk’s captaincy.
The course in Ireland has been closed since August last year, with significant work and changes being made ahead of the Ryder Cup. It’s due to open next month, and I expect Furyk will be keen to see it himself and arrange a scouting trip for the players likely to make his team.
Getting his backroom team right
Another part of a captain’s preparations is building out a support group that can make his job easier. It’s why Donald confirmed three weeks ago that Edoardo Molinari, his right-hand man and statistical expert, will again serve as vice captain on the European team in 2027. The pair were at Adare Manor last week walking and scouting the course.
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In 2018, Furyk did similar, announcing Davis Love III as a vice captain soon after his own appointment in January 2017. Love had won as captain in 2016 and the continuity seemed smart. However, Furyk then named Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods as a vice captains in February 2018. Of course, Tiger would go on to play in Paris, meaning that three weeks before the first session, Furyk had to pivot and announce three more vice captains in Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson and David Duval.
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Hindsight is 20/20, as the saying goes, and it’s easy to compare that preparation with Thomas Bjorn and the European team in 2018. Bjorn announced Robert Karlsson as a vice captain in May 2017, then a year later but still four months out from the Ryder Cup added Luke Donald, Pádraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood.
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After the “Will he? Won’t he?” headlines that surrounded Keegan Bradley’s participation in the 2025 Ryder Cup, expect to see a clearer, earlier process from the U.S. team this time around.
Re-evaluating his captain’s picks
As Bill Parcells, the Hall of Fame NFL coach, once said, “You are what your record says you are.” In the case of Furyk and the 2018 Ryder Cup, the record of his captain’s picks tells a clear, albeit rough, story. His four captain’s selections went a combined 2-10-0.
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Now I’ll give Furyk some credit (and here’s where that unlucky idea plays out). At the time, at least two of his picks seemed inevitable. Bryson DeChambeau had just won back-to-back playoff events, and Tony Finau was a top-20 player in the world, having the best season of his career with three straight top-10 finishes before Furyk selected him with his fourth and final captain’s pick after the BMW Championship.
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Tiger was in the midst of a comeback that would eventually see him win the 2019 Masters. He had finished runner-up to Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship in August, led the Open Championship with nine holes to play at Carnoustie before losing out to Francesco Molinari (a sign of things to come at Le Golf National, sadly), and he would end up winning the Tour Championship the week before the Ryder Cup. It would have been a big call to leave Woods at home.
Then there’s Phil Mickelson. A staple in every Ryder Cup dating back to 1995, Mickelson would ultimately finish his Ryder Cup playing career on the 16th tee at Le Golf National, shaking Francesco Molinari’s hand after conceding his match and the Ryder Cup, shortly after watching his ball splash into the water on the par 3. Mickelson had won in 2018, at the WGC-Mexico Championship, but hadn’t finished in the top 10 in any of his last 11 starts before Furyk picked him on Sept. 4.
So, you can easily squint and see why Furyk picked the four players he did—all were ranked in the top 25 in the world at the time—you can make the argument he didn’t bring the right type of players. Le Golf National is known to be one of the hardest and tightest layouts on the DP World Tour. Bjorn and his team had narrowed fairways and landing areas and it seemed obvious to many within the game that accuracy was going to be key there..
While Finau, Woods, Mickelson and DeChambeau were all great players, none would be described as accurate, especially off the tee. And it showed. The latter three failed to contribute even a half point across the five sessions of the 2027 Ryder Cup.
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Who should Furyk have trusted instead?
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How about Xander Schauffele? A two-time major champion now, he was a two-time PGA Tour winner at the time and the 2017 Tour Championship winner. He was a top-20 player in the world, finished runner-up at the Open in 2018, as well as the Players, which many equated as the closest PGA Tour test to Le Golf National.
Or how about Kuchar? At the time, one of the most consistent and accurate players in the game, coming off a solid winning performance at the 2016 Ryder Cup.
Regardless of who the contenders are for the 2027 team, I expect Furyk and his team will do their best to find better course fits this time around.
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Get smarter with foursomes pairings
You could argue that Europe won the 2018 Ryder Cup Friday afternoon. Despite a fast start from the Americans, who led all four matches in the opening fourballs at one point and eventually won the session 3-1, they were swept in the Friday foursomes.
Furyk raised some eyebrows when he released his alternate-shot pairings, teaming Mickelson and DeChambeau specifically. The final four holes at Le Golf National play back and forth in a stadium-like setting, with high mounding all round, custom designed for fans. Those fans, however, didn’t see Phil or Bryson on Friday afternoon. Nor did they see Jordan Spieth or Justin Thomas. Both pairs lost their foursome matches, 5 and 4. The other two matches finished on the 16th green and the Europeans had taken control of the Ryder Cup.
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Jamie Squire
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Look at the European pairings and you can see what kind of test Bjorn expected from Le Golf National: Henrik Stenson-Justin Rose, Francisco Molinari-Tommy Fleetwood, Sergio Garcia-Noren, Ian Poulter-Rory McIlroy. It was clear that accuracy tee-to-green was the requirement to success. Yet, no one told that to Furyk.
As we saw at Bethpage last year, with the much-questioned pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English, how a captain chooses his foursomes lineup is often what many consider to be the biggest decision he makes. In Ireland, Furyk will hope to do better than 2-6 foursome records he endured.
Win the locker room
The chemistry players have in the Ryder Cup is often associated with how they pair up in matches, but it’s clear that chemistry on and off the course is required to come together in the sport’s ultimate team format.
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In 2018, Furyk and his team never appeared to gel like they might have hoped. After defeat but before the team plane had even crossed back west over Atlantic Ocean, Patrick Reed vented to the New York Times about the management of the team, described it as a “buddy system” and giving opinions like “for somebody as successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don’t think it’s smart to sit me twice.”
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A subsequent article also came out just hours after a blow-up between Koepka and Dustin Johnson in the team hotel on Sunday night. As someone who witnessed the aftermath of that, in person, in the hallways of the Trianon Palace hotel, I can confirm it didn’t appear like team chemistry was strong, albeit shortly after a disappointing defeat.
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With the likes of Reed and Koepka now leaving LIV Golf and looking to integrate back into the PGA Tour, perhaps the early signs for Furyk and the 2027 Ryder Cup are positive. However, managing both the players and team room will be high on the captain’s to-do list in Ireland.
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