Zach Johnson and Luke Donald back Rookies to thrive in Ryder Cup cauldron

Luke Donald and Zach Johnson are backing their Rookies to shine at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club after putting five of them front and centre on the opening morning of the 44th Ryder Cup.

Both skippers arrived in Rome with four first-timers on their teams and U.S. Team Captain Johnson has chosen to put three of his out in the first two matches of the foursomes.

Home Captain Donald has put two of his own Rookies into the pressure cooker of the opening session but with 17 PGA TOUR and DP World Tour wins - including a Major Championship - between them, the five men selected are unlikely to be fazed.

Sam Burns goes out alongside World Number One and great friend Scottie Scheffler in match one and, despite the duo having lost their two foursomes matches at the 2022 Presidents Cup, Johnson is full of confidence in the pair.

"We're very confident in putting Scottie and Sam out," he said. "You've got some experience in there and you've got some chemistry in there as well. Those guys want to get after it and I'm confident that they can do that."

There are three Rookies in match two, with Brian Harman and Max Homa taking on the European pair of Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Åberg.

Harman and Homa are not inexperienced, however, with nine PGA TOUR wins between them including Harman's thumping six-shot victory at The Open in July.

Homa also has some Presidents Cup experience, with three victories in a pair in 2022, and Johnson believes the fact this is his first Ryder Cup will make little difference to his performance.

"History will show, and you can look it up, that being a Rookie is almost irrelevant," he said.

"One of them, the way we look at it, he hasn't played in a Ryder Cup, but he knows team matches. He understands the elements of what's going on.

"And those two guys bond and mesh so well together on and off the golf course that it's a very natural fit, both as a tandem and for the golf course.

"So zero hesitation. Again, the stats will show that being a Ryder Cup Rookie... it's not a bad thing."

Swede Åberg only turned professional in June after a stellar collegiate career that saw him top the amateur rankings but he has already claimed a maiden DP World Tour win in Switzerland.

Sepp Straka, who goes out in match three alongside Shane Lowry, has a win in each of the last two PGA TOUR seasons and Donald has the utmost faith in the Austrian and Åberg.

Photo Credit: AFP via Getty Images

"I'm very impressed with both of these players," he said. "They're very steady players.

"Obviously Ludvig's driving, the few tournaments he played on the PGA TOUR, he was the number one driver in all of golf, ahead of Rory McIlroy, ahead of Scottie Scheffler in the rankings. We know driving is important this week and in foursomes, if you're in the short stuff, it's going to make life a lot easier.

"Sepp, again, very consistent ball striker, very steady. He doesn't do a lot wrong. He feels like his game is in great shape not only this week, but leading up to these matches."

While the United States had some pairings that the pundits felt they could easily predict, Europe presented more of a mystery, although both Captains insisted the focus was purely on their own pairs.

"The U.S., I haven't really given their pairings much thought, to be honest," said Donald. "Nothing really surprises me. They're 12 very strong players. We know our work is cut out. They're going to be very strong, as they always are.

"We're coming off a very difficult defeat two years ago and the U.S. are definitely confident and we're going to have to play some good golf. But I'm excited to see it get started."

Johnson added: "We're so confident in what we have. Let's arrange it in a manner in which we feel is most comfortable for these guys and for our team going forward and for the next session and for the next session and for the next session.

"If you start getting solely caught in those weeds of what they're going to try to do, you lose sight of what you should be doing.

"I've learned that over so many Vice Captainships. You control what you can control. I cannot control what they're going to do.

"I'm at peace with that obviously because it's none of my business, but what is my business is the confidence and, again, the peace of what we have on paper and certainly going forward."