'He's a gritty Scottish fellow' - Luke Donald sends Bob MacIntyre out in Ryder Cup foursomes

Two years ago as a rookie in Rome, the Oban man only played in the fourballs, partnering Justin Rose on each occasion and picking up one-a-half points from those matches and two-and-a-half in total after beating Wyndham Clark in the singles, as he helped Europe regain the trophy with a 16.5-11.5 at Marco Simone Golf Club.

Donald, the captain on that occasion and now bidding to join Tony Jacklin as the only skipper to win both home and away in the contest, admitted for the first time recently that he didn’t feel MacIntytre had the game at that time to play in the alternate shot format in the biennial event, but he does now.

Consequently, the Scot will join forces with Norwegian Viktor Hovland in the first session on Friday, when they will be up against a strong US pairing of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay in the bottom match.

“Bob is a gritty Scottish fellow,” said Donald of MacIntyre as he explained his decision to involve the world No 9 from the start on this occasion. “He picked up two-and-a-half points, which was incredible for a rookie in Rome, but he is a much, much better player than two years ago.”

“It should be good,” said MacIntyre of his selection alongside Hovland. “Spent a lot of time with him this week and last week. I've known him since we were young boys playing in European Team Championships.

“Look, we've got a job to do and that's to get as many points as we can. So yeah, whoever we go against, it doesn't really matter as long as we do our job and try and get that point.”

Speaking before the pairings were announced, Hovland talked about the possibility of the duo being put together after being in the same group for three consecutive days in the practice rounds after also finding themselves together when the European team paid a recent two-day visit to the Long Island venue.

“Yeah, I've played a bunch with Bob over the past few years,” said the seven-time PGA Tour winner. “We obviously came out at a similar time. We played some junior golf and amateur golf together. So I get along great with Bob. He's obviously a great player and had an amazing year this year.

“Yeah, I think we really vibe well off of each other, and we've had some good games here the last couple weeks. I think we'd make a good team.”

Schauffele, the 2024 Open champion, and former FedEx Cup winner Cantlay were double foursome winners in Team USA’s record 19-9 victory at Whistling Straits in 2021.

On the back of that and also being a successful pairing in the Presidents Cup, they were retained as a partnership by Zach Johnson in Rome two years ago but suffered a brace of 2&1 defeats.

‘This is a line up that we are very, very comfortable with’

As was the case in Rome, where the home side won the two foursome sessions 7-1, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton will lead Europe into battle and will be up against Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas on this occasion.

Donald has also kept Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood together after they won both their alternate shot clashes as well, with Ludvig Aberg and Matthew Fitzpatrick forming the other pairing for the eagerly-awaited opening session.

“We feel like this is our strongest to go against them,” said Donald. “We want to get off to a good start like we did in Rome, but we also understand the challenge ahead of us. This is a line up that we are very, very comfortable with.”

Foursomes (European names first; local times)

7.10am Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton v Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas; 7.26am Ludvig Aberg and Matthew Fitzpatrick v Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley; 7.42am Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood v Collin Morikawa and Harrish English; 7.58am Bob MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland v Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.