Europe certainly have the advantage in terms of playing experience, with 32 appearances between their dozen, compared with 15 for the US.
Naturally, Europe’s players have won more points too, leading 68½-30 in that category.
McIlroy and Justin Rose are Europe’s veterans and are the only two players to have won away – although Donald was also on that team at Medinah in 2012.
Between them they have amassed 33½ points from 13 combined appearances and both arrived in New York on the back of excellent years.
McIlroy became just the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam by winning the Masters in April, while Rose, beaten in a play-off at Augusta by his team-mate, won a PGA Tour title in August
Rose missed Whistling Straits but Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick and Shane Lowry are all returning for a second tilt on US soil.
Fleetwood said “all of us on that team didn’t feel like we did ourselves justice” and it was a huge motivating factor for Rome.
But that works both ways and he pointed out the US players will “have been hurt from last time”, adding “they’ll want to win in front of their home crowd, and that’s just as it should be”.
Scottie Scheffler is clearly the standout player for the Americans. The runaway world number one, has had another outstanding year, with two more major titles – the US PGA and Open Championship – among his six victories.
However, Sir Nick Faldo is adamant that Scheffler will be the only player Europe will fear this week.
“Scottie will be a target because he’s meant to win,” Faldo told BBC Sport. “If you just get a half point against him, that’s a victory. The rest don’t scare me.”
Scheffler went unbeaten as a rookie at Whistling Straits in 2021, but was reduced to tears in Rome after he and Brooks Koepka suffered a record 9&7 defeat at the hands of Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg – both of whom return this week.
Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay may have something to say about Faldo’s comments though, given they have the best Ryder Cup records on the US team.
Thomas, who has eight points from 13 matches, was chief cheerleader in 2021, while Cantlay was the pantomime villain in Rome with ‘cap-gate’ and his caddie’s spat with McIlroy. But he has won five of his eight matches.
