Ryder Cup Player Ratings - Whistling Straits 2021

The player ratings are in for Team USA and Europe at the 2020 Ryder Cup...

United States

Daniel Berger - 7 2-1-0

He’s not your classical swinger but he gets the job done and he brought a lot of new energy to the side.

He played two rounds of foursomes with Koepka, the second where he was quite vocal in the questioning over a drop, before finally playing his own ball in the anchor singles match with Fitzpatrick.

A sound and popular pick.

Patrick Cantlay - 9 3-0-1

There wasn’t much tub thumping from Cantlay, more a ruthless, calculated amassing of points.

Came into the matches fancied to do well and even exceeded those expectations with a foursomes pairing with Schauffele that will already terrify anyone who has to play them in Italy.

Not sure he has any faults whatsoever, roll on the major wins.

Bryson DeChambeau - 9 2-0-1

We began things questioning his decision to feature in a World Long Drive event on Monday morning and those hand calluses, we finished by revelling in THAT drive at the 5th on Friday and a stellar pairing with Scheffler.

In Paris he went zero in three, he sat out a whole day at the Presidents Cup but, this time around, he was beautifully handled by Stricker and he repaid his faith in spades.

Harris English - 6 1-2-0

Like Finau he was rolled out for the two fourballs and he played second fiddle to his partner both times, the second of which when Lowry’s putt stopped them getting a half.

It’s hard to gauge how his singles with Westwood went given that most of it was played with the overall match done and dusted.

He’s only 32 so no reason to think that this might be the first of several appearances.

Tony Finau - 6 1-2-0

Big T was pretty much the player of the Friday fourballs as he partnered Harris English to a sizeable win over Rory and Lowry with Finau doing the bulk of the damage.

But Lowry then tucked him up the following evening and Finau then did what most other Americans have done in a singles with Poulter.

Much like the rest of his team-mates we saw a different side to Finau this week and he’ll have loved the experience.

Dustin Johnson - 10 5-0-0

What else could you give someone who became just the third player to record five from five.

The plan wasn’t to play all five but Johnson’s form and his partnership with Morikawa was too good to leave alone.

To state the bleeding obvious, Johnson’s pitching is out of this world and how often did we see the oldest player on the American team lumbering on to the green having just played one in to a few feet.

Bizarrely this is the second time he has won all his matches having gone 3-0-0 at Medinah but this was on another level.

Brooks Koepka - 7 2-2-0

Twice came up against the Spanish juggernaut and not his finest moment when he requested a drop on Saturday morning.

But the shot that followed was pure Koepka, very little, if anything, bothers him and he somehow found the green.

In the singles he just seemed to freewheel against Wiesberger as he pocketed eight birdies and very nearly signed off with an incredible hole-in-one at the 17th.

Collin Morikawa - 9 3-0-1

It almost became a parody of itself, every time we saw Morikawa have an approach shot we’d hear about his iron-play credentials and he would stick it in close time after time.

It’s rare these days to see any long irons come out of the bag and Morikawa would repeatedly locate the heart of the green from 200+ yards with the minimum of fuss.

The pairing with Johnson was one that wasn’t as obvious as some of the others but it played out absolutely perfectly.

Xander Schauffele - 8 3-1-0

Along with Cantlay he was spectacularly good in the foursomes particularly on the opening morning when they pieced together seven birdies.

It remains bizarre to think that he was a rookie here, particularly with how his game might have suited Le Golf National, and he came through in style.

Some year for the American and yet another who, by the 2023 Ryder Cup, we’ll probably be looking at a major winner.

Scottie Scheffler - 9 2-0-1

The 25-year-old went unbeaten on his debut and, with it, we discovered someone who helped bring out the best in DeChambeau.

He would have secured a perfect debut had Tyrrell Hatton not made a brilliant birdie at the climax of the Friday fourballs.

What happened in the singles against Rahm was almost spiritual for the highly likeable Texan.

Jordan Spieth - 6 1-2-1

Twice Spieth was taken down by the Spaniards and things didn’t play out as expected in terms of Spieth and Thomas going all four.

His ability to play certain shots, particularly given all the funky lies we’ve seen, is extraordinary and things are never dull.

It was nice to see he and Fleetwood play out a half however hollow it was.

If these matches had been played a year ago Spieth wouldn’t have featured, now he has a second Ryder Cup victory.

Justin Thomas - 7 2-1-1

Thomas’ match got better the longer it went on.

After day one he could only add half a point but he then posted two wins, a feature of his play the ability to hit some incredible approaches to the par-5 16th.

Thomas was as excited as anyone at Whistling Straits, maybe even Wisconsin, and he’ll enjoy this one for quite some time.

And he broke some new ground, with Berger, by knocking back a can of weak lager in between sessions.

Europe

Paul Casey - 3 0-4-0

This week, it was hoped, would play into Casey’s sizeable forearms with his ball-striking ability but it never got going.

The pairing with Hovland looked great on paper but they came up against Johnson and Morikawa and he finished the week with three different partners and a blank ledger.

His final putt, to halve against Johnson, slid by and that was most likely that for Casey and the Ryder Cup.

Matt Fitzpatrick -3 0-3-0

Fitzpatrick has now played five matches and lost all of them, which is the way these things can play out sometimes.

His game, and putting in particular, always makes you relish the prospect of Fitzpatrick at matchplay but he just came up short this week.

At the 18th on Sunday, with his drive in the fairway, he then dumped his ball, albeit with the overall match long since over, in the water to gift Berger the point.

Tommy Fleetwood - 6 0-1-2

At one point he and Hovland were three up against Thomas and Cantlay on Friday afternoon before the Americans chipped away at the lead for a half, a result that was repeated in the singles with Spieth.

Fleetwood was one of the curious cases of the week as he didn’t feature in any foursomes when you might think, naively perhaps, that his game is built for alternate shot.

Anyway, that’s for another day and let’s hope we get to see some more of he and Hovland or, better still, a return of Moliwood.

Sergio Garcia - 8 3-1-0

He’s 41, breaking records galore with every session and we’re already licking our chops that he’ll be part of Team Europe in Italy.

Not many even predicted the Garcia-Rahm alliance, now it’s talked about in the highest of terms alongside the other great Spanish partnerships.

We hear plenty about his influence in the team room but his on-course efforts remain exceptional.

Whilst others look like they’ve played their last match, Garcia should be eyeing up Bethpage in 2025.

Tyrrell Hatton - 5 1-2-1

Hatton will look back on the formidable 18th with some fond memories as, first, he made a brilliant birdie to thwart DeChambeau and Scheffler before watching on, having made a mess of the hole himself, as Lowry hole that crucial putt to give Europe a rare point.

Didn’t have his best stuff with him but still produced some word-class bits, sadly there wasn’t enough of them and much of the week seemed to be spent watching Hatton looking bemused with certain shots.

Viktor Hovland - 6 0-3-2

If anyone deserved a better record then maybe it is Hovland.

As a 24-year-old rookie he played in all five matches, three times he would go down the 18th and he came away with one point from his five outings.

He deserved a break when Morikawa missed his putt at the last and he’ll come away from here with his reputation even more intact as he impressed throughout so much so that Phil Mickelson was moved to say how much he loved Hovland’s game while walking round with one of his matches.

Shane Lowry - 5

1-2-0

What a sight for the European golf fan when big Shane knocked in a birdie.

He and McIlroy came up against a red-hot Finau and English but then he and Hatton gave Europe their first full point, not secured by a pair of Spaniards, on Saturday night.

The reaction to that was unlike anything that we saw at Portrush before Cantlay held him off on Sunday where the handshake was, at best, brief.

Rory McIlroy - 4 1–3-0

It was almost Augusta-like as expectations fell well short for McIlroy and it all ended in tears.

He missed his first session when he sat out the Saturday foursomes and he hardly made any birdies over the first two days but was still sent out in the top slot and he brought it home against Schauffele.

We’ll be shown the post-match tears for years to come and the questions about his game will continue, as they always do with McIlroy.

Ian Poulter - 5 1-2-0

This year started off by losing the first five holes alongside McIlroy in the Friday foursomes and he and Rory won just three holes in their two matches together.

This wasn’t a good course fit for Poulter but, come the singles and a formidable opponent in Finau, The Postman delivered for one final time with a 3&2 win.

This was his seventh singles and he’ll sign off having never been beaten.

Jon Rahm - 9 3-1-1

The Spaniard played like a World No. 1 as he and Garcia carried the European hopes.

Time after time something spectacular would happen just when it was required and, in the space of three days, he has gone from useful commodity in the team arena to being absolutely priceless.

Contributing 3.5 points in such a drubbing is seriously impressive.

Lee Westwood - 5 1-2-0

Both his foursomes with Fitzpatrick finished at the 17th, the first Westwood thinking that they deserved to win against Koepka and Berger.

His final contribution in a Ryder Cup came in typical Westwood fashion; a perfect drive and an iron to the heart of the green to see off Harris English.

In the end the only Europeans to win on Sunday were Rory, Poulter and Westwood.

Bernd Wiesberger - 4 0-3-0

He might have lost all three matches but he reached the 17th on all three occasions and he battled his proverbials off.

Koepka nearly birdied half his holes against him in the singles and his best chance of a point came on the Saturday morning when he and Hovland marched into an early three-hole lead before too many bogeys, including another at 18, saw them lose to Spieth and Thomas.