Ryder Cup pairings confirmed as McIlroy could be frustrated by 'appalling' rival
Rory McIlroy will kick off his 2023 Ryder Cup alongside Tommy Fleetwood, as the European pair will take on Team USA stars Xander Schuaffele and Patrick Cantlay. McIlroy and Fleetwood will do battle with their American rivals in match four of the opening session.
The event will kick off at 6:35am (BST) on Friday when Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton take on Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns in match one. Match two will then see rookie Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland take on two other debutants in Max Homa and Brian Harman at 6:50am (BST).
10 minutes later Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka will team up to take on the returning Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa in match three which gets going at 7:00am (BST).
They will then be followed by arguably the biggest match of the morning when two of Europe's biggest names in McIlroy and Fleetwood join forces to take on the formidable pairing of Schauffele and Cantlay. It might not be all fun for McIlroy though, with his American rival Cantlay having been heavily criticised for his pace of play in recent months.
The slamming of the American's speed out on the course kicked off at this year's Masters, when his current Ryder Cup teammate Brooks Koepka hit out at the pace of play. This was then reiterated by one of his European opponents in Matt Fitzpatrick labelled Cantlay's pace 'appalling' a week later at the RBC Heritage.
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Rory McIlroy is joined by Tommy Fleetwood (Getty Images)Discussing the pace of play after playing alongside the American he said back in April: "If you're in a three-ball, in my opinion you should be round in four hours, four-and-a-half absolute maximum - it's a disgrace to get anywhere near that. You're talking five hours and 15 minutes, five-and-a-half hours at some venues and its truly appalling.
"The problem is this conversation has gone on for years and years and years, and no one has ever done anything so I feel it's almost a waste of time talking about it. I have strong opinions, but no one's going to do anything about it...
"It's like hitting your head against a brick wall. No one ever gets penalised. I think the last person to get penalised was the young lad (Guan Tianlang) at The Masters in 2013. I think that tells you enough about where people are at with this. It's ridiculous really.
Patrick Cantlay's pace of play has been slammed (AP)"I think it's a real issue, way more needs to be done. The thing is I really like referees over here, they are great people, but I did not see a single ref all day. There were a few shots we were waiting and I don't understand where they are all hiding. It does become frustrating when you are waiting so long."
Fitzpatrick himself will sit out Friday morning's foursomes alongside Nicolai Hojgaard, Robert MacIntyre and Justin Rose - although Donald admitted in his press conference that his plan is to get all 12 players out on the course. The big omission on the American side is that of Brooks Koepka, with captain Zach Johnson opting to leave the LIV Golf star out of the foursomes match-up.
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