Ryder Cup Team Europe – Whistling Straits 2021

Everything you need to know about Team Europe ahead of the 2020 Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup Team Europe – Whistling Straits 2021

The 2020 Ryder Cup between the United States and Europe gets underway on Friday 24 September at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, with play lasting for three days and finishing on Sunday 26 September.

Europe are the current holders of the Ryder Cup, after beating the US to victory in 2018 at Le Golf National in France.

Padraig Harrington will captain Europe for the first time at the 2020 Ryder Cup, and he'll look to retain the trophy despite having to travel to the United States to do so.

The Irishman represented Europe six times at the tournament between 1999 and 2010, winning on four occasions.

Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell were the last two of Harrington's vice-captains to be announced, joining Luke Donald and Robert Karlsson who were both revealed at earlier dates.

But who will be playing for Europe in the 2020 Ryder Cup?

Ryder Cup Team Europe 

Jon Rahm

Tommy Fleetwood

Tyrell Hatton

Rory McIlroy

Viktor Hovland

Paul Casey

Matt Fitzpatrick

Lee Westwood

Bernd Wiesberger

Three captain's picks

Shane Lowry

Ian Poulter

Sergio Garcia

The number of captain's picks was reduced from four to three for this edition of the Ryder Cup, while the leading four players on the European Ryder Cup points list, and the leading five players on the World Points List who haven't already qualified were  automatically selected for the European team.

The four leading players on the European Ryder Cup points list were those who earned the most points on all Race to Dubai tournaments, though more Race to Dubai points were on offer the more recent they were.

Each Race to Dubai point that was earned between September 2019 and March 2020 was worth one point on the European Ryder Cup points list, while each Race to Dubai point earned between January 2021 and 9 May 2021 was worth 1.5 points.

Finally, each Race to Dubai point that was earned between 12 May and 12 September was worth 2 European Ryder Cup points.

The likes of Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Tyrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Paul Casey and Viktor Hovland had been pretty much cemented in the team since the start of the 2021 season.

The BMW PGA Championship was the final event in which players received qualifying points and this is where Bernd Wiesberger, Matt Fitzpatrick and Lee Westwood confirmed their places in the team.

Bernd Wiesberger had the most productive week at Wentworth and was on the outside looking in before a solid finish earned him enough points to be in the top four players on the European Ryder Cup points list.

Lee Westwood was in and out of the automatic places on half a dozen occasions across the course of the four days at Wentworth, and the Englishman admitted it was hard to focus on both events at once at the BMW PGA Championship.

At one point, Shane Lowry was in an automatic qualification position but, after finishing T20th at Wentworth, he had to rely on a captain's pick to get into the team.

Lowry was probably the most deserving pick of the three after playing the most consistent golf over the last two years that included a Major win and a win at a WGC event.

In Poulter and Garcia, Harrington has gone with pure experience and passion and with these two on board Team Europe has nearly triple the amount of combined Ryder Cup appearances that the combined American team.