Come and yell at us over our 2025 Ryder Cup team predictions

Let's face it, the winter is particularly gloomy for golf fans. 

We struggle to get out to play, no major championships are on the horizon and all we have are hit-and-giggle exhibitions that nobody really cares about. 

But we can block out some of the sadness by looking forward to the best event on our calendar: the Ryder Cup. 

It will be September in absolutely no time and in the months ahead we can look forward to discussing at length the headaches facing captains Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley. 

GolfMagic's editorial team of Andy Roberts and Ben Smith have decided to stick their necks on the line by having a way, way, way too early look at who they think will be heading to Bethpage Black. 

Related:

• European Ryder Cup rankings
• U.S. Ryder Cup rankings

Before we unveil our picks, it goes without saying that there are some dead certs on each side. 

Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele will be wearing the red, white and blue. 

And you'd also argue the same can be said for Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay. 

Rory McIlroy is, of course, Europe's leader. 

McIlroy, you'd assume, will be joined by Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood. 

But beyond that? It gets a little bit interesting, doesn't it?

A lot can happen. 

A lot will happen. 

Let's dive in...

Yes that's right, I'm going with three LIV Golf League players in Luke Donald's Ryder Cup team.

Rahm and Hatton are absolute locks in the side, and I don't think Donald will be able to resist the urge to take record points scorer Garcia, who has been playing some terrific stuff on LIV Golf of late.

Garcia will first need to sort out his 'outstanding sanctions' with the DP World Tour in order to be let back in, but providing that all goes to plan before the 17 November 2024 deadline, I am confident he will be punching a ticket to New York next September. 

McIlroy is of course a banker to make the team, and I fully expect Aberg, Fleetwood, Hovland, Lowry, Fitzpatrick and MacIntyre to retain their places in Donald's team.

Fitzpatrick's form is a slight concern at the moment, but he has no doubt had other things on his mind such as getting married to Katherine Gaal. 

Despite a fairly drastic dip in performances on the PGA Tour in 2024, I do think the former U.S. Open champion will step things up in 2025. 

If he doesn't then I'm fairly sure his caddie Billy Foster will crack the whip to make sure he does.

As for the final two players in the team, I'm going to take a punt on Rai, who finally broke through on the PGA Tour this season. 

Rai has evolved into an extremely solid golfer and I think he would be a key asset for Donald's team away from home. 

I also think there will be another Hojgaard on the team, but not Nicolai like in Rome. I think the baton will be passed to his twin brother Rasmus, who has played some fantastic golf this year, especially when taking down McIlroy on his home patch to win the Irish Open.

I was contemplating Alex Noren for a place in the team, as well as Matt Wallace, but I think both of them will need to seriously turn it on in 2025 in order to fully stake a claim to Donald. 

Bradley's U.S. team is much more straightforward.

The first six names on my list essentially pick themselves, and I have no question marks about any of them.

Clark, Theegala, Burns and Henley should also make the team, just as they did at the Presidents Cup last month. but they are definitely not certainties.

On current form, you would have to take Horschel, especially after he defeated McIlroy for his second career BMW PGA last month.

As for the final pick, I think Thomas will be more determined than ever to get back into the team having missed out on the Presidents Cup.

Thomas might have endured a big dip in form in recent seasons but he's a proven match player and someone who will fire up the New York crowds. 

I very much expect Thomas to turn things around and once again prove he is a world class player in 2025.

It seems weird to look at a Ryder Cup team these days and not even give Dustin Johnson any consideration, but we've just seen nothing at all from him of late to make me think he'll return.

There's a lot of speculation about whether Bradley will make the team as a player, but I don't think he will. 

I say that because I can't see him making the automatic top six spots, and he's already confirmed he will not be picking himself, so I think he'll remain as just the captain. 

The top order of Donald's side looks settled, doesn't it?

McIlroy is Europe's beating heart and you could see just how much the contest means to him in Rome. 

Make no mistake, other than completing the career grand slam, one of McIlroy's remaining career goals is to win an away Ryder Cup. 

In the immediate aftermath of Europe's victory in Italy, McIlroy declared Europe would become the first side to win an away Ryder Cup since the Medinah fluke. 

Donald will be counting on McIlroy to deliver and you wouldn't bet against the Northern Irishman improving on his 16-13-4 record. 

Jon Rahm has irked me with his approach to Ryder Cup qualification. 

I've already written about it before, but the fact he was willing to put his space in the team in jeopardy was baffling, especially considering he knew before he joined LIV what was required. 

Still, it's clear that Europe need Rahm. 

The same can be said for Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg.

It looks as though the Norwegian and the Swede will be a powerful pairing for years to come. 

It also seems improbable that Tyrrell Hatton won't be involved. 

Hatton has an overall record of 5-4-2 and, more importantly, has already demonstrated that he is not overawed by the occasion. 

Matthew Fitzpatrick's form across the 2023-2024 season has been perplexing. His best finish at the majors came with a T22 at The Masters but beyond that he's been poor.  

He's had a few issues with his equipment, but that's no real excuse. 

I think Fitzy will be at Bethpage, though. 

So too, will Shane Lowry. 

Lowry is now 37 years old but I'm backing him to be involved before one last hurrah (?) at Adare Manor in 2027?

I disagree with Andy over the pick of Garcia. 

Even if he were to take up his DP World Tour membership again, he'd fall hopelessly short of automatic qualification. 

I reckon Donald would prefer to take Justin Rose in his place. 

Which leaves the final three spaces. 

I'm going for Bob MacIntyre, Aaron Rai and Niklas Norgaard. 

Rai has shown remarkable consistency over the last few months, rising to the top-20 of the OWGR. 

His driving accuracy is one of his many strengths and that, of course, will be handy at Bethpage. 

I fancy Rai to force Donald's hand to shake things up. 

MacIntyre enjoyed a stunning year in 2023 which led to his Ryder Cup selection. 

There is a swagger about the Scot that I like and a real mental toughness there. 

Sure, the aforementioned Rose carried him in the four-balls, but in my opinion he showed enough to suggest he can deal with the expected intensity at Bethpage. 

My final pick is one that I wrestled with for some time. 

In truth, it could be one of Rasmus Hojgaard, Nicolai Hojgaard, Sepp Straka, Matt Wallace or Matthieu Pavon. 

There's also outsiders such as Matteo Manassero, Thomas Detry and Alex Noren to consider. 

But I've landed on Norgaard. I think he'd be an extremely attractive proposition for Donald. 

Have you seen how far he drives the golf ball? It's madness. 

This year, he is averaging 322.99 off the tee. 

He reeled off a number of impressive results after the qualifying period got underway, winning at the British Masters.

I'm backing him to keep it up over the next few months. 

Do we need to say anything about the top order?

Scheffler and Schauffele are locks considering their unfathomable consistency and major championship performances. 

Whilst Patrick Cantlay is yet to win a major, he continually comes up clutch for the U.S. in team events. 

There's just something about Cantlay when he gets hot in these events. 

He's like a freight train and there is a sense of inevitability as he stands over each and every putt. 

You just know it's going centre of the cup. He'll be at Bethpage. 

Morikawa is not exactly a flashy player, is he? But he's dependable. 

All four of the above were great at the Presidents Cup and you'd assume as long as they are healthy then they will be part of the team. 

Which leads us to Bryson DeChambeau. 

DeChambeau is not quite considered 'a lock' but you'd be baffled if he wasn't there. 

He will struggle to earn points but the smart money suggests he'll make it easy for Bradley by doing enough in the majors to remain in the top six.

Justin Thomas and Max Homa need to up their games. 

Homa was a bright spark in Rome whereas Thomas didn't show up. 

But it's clear they are both leaders in the locker room and well liked by the nucleus of the team. 

Sam Burns should be there, too, providing his form doesn't dip dramatically over the next few months. 

Brooks Koepka is an interesting one. He won two LIV events in 2024 and was fairly mediocre (by his standards) in the majors. 

I think it's fair to assume that Koepka is in, providing he shows up in the majors next year. 

Elsewhere, Russell Henley's stock is rising. 

He played great alongside Scheffler in Montreal, going 2-1 with the World No.1. 

In fact, you could argue that it was Henley who carried Scheffler at times. 

If Henley can stay around the top 15 in the rankings, then I reckon Bradley will hand him a pick. 

My final choice? Wyndham Clark. 

Sure, there is also Sahith Theegala, Tony Finau, Brian Harman, Rickie Fowler or even Billy Horschel to consider. 

But I'm going with Clark. 

He did admit that he wasn't prepared in Rome and will be desperate to put that right. 

I think he'll do just about enough to receive good news from Bradley. 

So there we have it. 

What do you make of our picks?

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