The 44th Ryder Cup: Course and current form stats

• Seven of Euro team have competed at Marco Simone

• Seven US players inside world's top 12

• Both sides have four Ryder Cup rookies

Ryder Cup Event Notes

• A strong American team are favourites to claim only a second away victory in more than four decades;

• Their two most recent wins on foreign soil came in 1981 and 1993;

• The first 22 matches (1927-77) involved teams from the United States and Great Britain/Ireland. From 1979, the Great Britain/Ireland team was replaced by Europe;

• Europe has won 11 of the 21 matches since taking over from GB&I, while the United States have emerged victorious on nine occasions, with one contest tied (1989);

• Europe has won nine of the most recent 13 Ryder Cup meetings.

Ryder Cup Format

• The opening two days of this three-day contest are devoted to foursome (alternate shot) and fourball (better ball) matches;

• Friday and Saturday will each have two sessions of play: One foursome session, one fourball session;

• The home captain will decide which session of four games is played in the morning and which session of four takes place after lunch;

• On day three (Sunday), there will be 12 singles, bringing the total number of games for the week to 28;

• Each team consists of 12 players, with this year's contest featuring four Ryder Cup rookies on either side.

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Ryder Cup Course Notes

• Located approximately 10 miles north-east of Rome city centre, this week's host club, Marco Simone, was designed by Jim Fazio and David Mezzacane, and opened in 1991;

• It has hosted four tournaments on the DP World Tour (1994-2021-22-23);

• Marco Simone is a parkland course where water comes into play on nine holes, ranging in shape from ponds to streams;

• Fairways change direction on around half of the holes, with some of the dog-legs more abrupt than others;

• It is a gently undulating layout from tee-to-green and, for those unable to keep the ball on the fairway, the main hazards are rough and water. Trees and bushes are not a major feature of the layout;

• The ability to scramble effectively around these sloping putting surfaces will also be important this coming week.

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Ryder Cup Statistical Pointers

• All 12 members of the US team are currently ranked inside the world's top 25. This includes seven of the top 12. And this figure would have been even more impressive had Brooks Koepka not played most of 2023 on the LIV Tour which is not affiliated to the World Ranking system;

• Seven of Europe's 12 members are inside the top 25, including five in the top dozen;

• In 2021, the Americans had six rookies, but still posted the biggest winning margin since Europe replaced GB&I over 40 years ago. And it was the largest percentage of points won by a team since 1967;

• Likewise, in 2018, Europe had five rookies but still romped to victory in France. Therefore, the number of rookies does not seem that significant, especially on home soil;

• It's more to do with class, form and quality, as the US showed two years ago. In 2021, the average World Ranking for their team was below 10 - this was the first time this had happened since the Ranking was formed in 1986;

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• However, despite most stats pointing to an American victory, one or two aspects will certainly give the Europeans hope;

• Seven European members have competed at Marco Simone previously, with six of them posting top-10 finishes;

• The weight of history is on Europe's side, having not lost at home for 30 years;

• Only four members of the American team have played a Ryder Cup outside of the United States.

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