The anticipation for Day 1 of the 2023 Ryder Cup has been building since … well, since a jubilant American team walked out—sipping champagne and smoking cigars—of their post-event press conference at Whistling Straits nearly two years ago. A 19-9 runaway victory over the Europeans, the biggest winning margin in 40 years, was a statement performance. And yet, it came with a caveat. The U.S. team had won once again at home, but there was still the matter of ending a road winless drought that dated to 1993.
“We needed to win this one and I think it was a massive stepping stone for this team,” said Jordan Spieth that Sunday afternoon in Wisconsin. “The group that we have here that have really known each other since almost back to grade school, [and we need to] continue to try to work hard to be on these teams that go over there. [But] it’s one thing to win it over here, and it is a lot easier to do so and it is harder to win over there. If we play like we did this week, the score will look the same over there in a couple years. And that’s what we’re here for.”
Of course, the 12 men playing this week for Europe—and 50,000 raucous fans cheering them on at Marco Simone in Rome—are here to stop that from happening.
So it is the 44th playing of the biennial event comes is packed with intrigue and drama—which we’ll be chronicling over the course of the next three days. Below you’ll find everything you need to know to follow Friday’s opening play in sunny and warm Italy. Check back throughout the day for updates and insight as golf’s most compelling event resumes.
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WHERE THINGS STAND
Friday morning’s opening session is foursomes (alternate shot) is off and running. Here’s a link to the live leaderboard.
A total of 28 matches (points) are on the line this week, with the U.S. needing to win 14 to retain the Cup (having won it last time) and Europe needing 14½ to win it back.
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Ross Kinnaird
TEE TIMES
Friday morning foursomes: 1:35 a.m.: Scottie Scheffler/Sam Burns (U.S.) vs. Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton1:50 a.m.: Max Homa/Brian Harman (U.S.) vs. Ludvig Aberg/Viktor Hovland2:05 a.m.: Rickie Fowler/Collin Morikawa (U.S.) vs. Shane Lowry/Sepp Straka2:20 a.m.: Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay (U.S.) vs. Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood
For our analysis of the morning pairings, click here.
HOW TO WATCH FRIDAY’S PLAY
If you haven’t found it by now, live TV coverage of Day 1 play is on USA Network from 1:30 a.m.-12 noon (EDT). You can watching it streaming on Peacock, RyderCup.com and the Ryder Cup app.
Click here to see how to watch the rest of this week’s coverage.
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OPENING TEE SHOT 
Ramsey Cardy
If you weren’t up at 1:35 a.m. Eastern time to see this live, here’s the opening shot.
We're underway in Rome ⛳️
Scottie Scheffler's opening tee shot gets the #RyderCup started. pic.twitter.com/70UgUSQCei
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 29, 2023
What’s it feel like to hit the first ball for your team? Luke Kerr-Dineen asked a Ryder Cup veteran who has done the honors three times to tell us all about it—and how to hit the shot.
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PREDICTIONS
Our writers’ roundtable provides our final thoughts ahead of all the action at Marco Simone. Heros, goats, controversies … don’t say we didn’t warn you.
If you’re looking for reasons to think this is finally the year that the U.S. ends the winless drought, check out this story from Shane Ryan.
Conversely, if you want to hear why this week will be another big one for Europe, Joel Beall has you covered here.
Ramsey Cardy
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A HALF CENTURY OF PERSPECTIVE
John Huggan, our European correspondent has been covering the Ryder Cup for 50 years now. Earlier this week, he put together this essay about what he’s seen and how the event has evolved.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
