Tale of the Tape

With Ryder Cup week here, we finally have full rosters to analyze.

Just days after Steve Stricker rounded out the American squad with six captain’s picks, Padraig Harrington made the final selections for Team Europe. That means that we now know the 24 players who will suit up for the 43^rd Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.

But now that the discussion is shifting from who will be on the team to which squad will perform better, let’s look at how the two teams stack up across some notable metrics:

Average Age

USA: 29.08, ranging from Collin Morikawa (24) to Dustin Johnson (37) with one player over 32

Europe: 34.58, ranging from Viktor Hovland (24) to Lee Westwood (48) with six players over 34

Average OWGR ranking

USA: 9, ranging from Dustin Johnson (2) to Scottie Scheffler (21) with nine players ranked 11^th or higher

Europe: 30.08, ranging from Jon Rahm (1) to Bernd Wiesberger (61) with six players ranked 34^th or lower

Players with tournament wins in 2021

USA (11): Patrick Cantlay (Memorial, BMW, Tour Championship), Collin Morikawa (WGC-Workday, The Open), Harris English (Sentry TOC, Travelers), Justin Thomas (The Players), Brooks Koepka (Waste Management Phoenix Open), Bryson DeChambeau (Arnold Palmer Invitational), Daniel Berger (AT&T Pebble Beach), Tony Finau (Northern Trust), Jordan Spieth (Valero), Dustin Johnson (Saudi International), Xander Schauffele (Olympics)

Europe (6): Jon Rahm (U.S. Open), Tyrrell Hatton (Abu Dhabi), Viktor Hovland (BMW International Open), Paul Casey (Dubai Desert Classic), Bernd Wiesberger (Made in Himmerland)

Ryder Cup rookies

USA: 6 (Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Harris English, Daniel Berger, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler)

Europe: 3 (Viktor Hovland, Bernd Wiesberger, Shane Lowry)

Returning players from 2018 Ryder Cup

USA: 6 (Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau)

Europe: 7 (Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Paul Casey)

Players with 4+ prior Ryder Cup appearances

USA: Dustin Johnson (5^th appearance)

Europe: Paul Casey (5^th appearance), Rory McIlroy (6^th appearance), Ian Poulter (7^th appearance), Sergio Garcia (10^th appearance), Lee Westwood (11^th appearance)

Most career Ryder Cup points

USA: Jordan Spieth, 8 points (7-5-2 all-time record)

Europe: Sergio Garcia, 25 ½ points (22-12-7 all-time record)

Notable results from 2015 PGA Championship (last major played at Whistling Straits)

USA: Jordan Spieth (2^nd), Brooks Koepka (T-5), Dustin Johnson (T-7), Tony Finau (T-10), Justin Thomas (T-18), Harris English (T-48), Daniel Berger (MC)

Europe: Rory McIlroy (17^th), Tyrrell Hatton (T-25), Paul Casey (T-30), Lee Westwood (T-43), Sergio Garcia (T-54), Shane Lowry (MC), Tommy Fleetwood (MC), Ian Poulter (MC), Bernd Wiesberger (MC)