2023 Ryder Cup: Predictions, picks for U.S. vs. Europe - ESPN

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy — There has been a transformation of the European Ryder Cup team, which might be a good thing after the United States handed Europe a 19-9 defeat at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in 2021.

That was the worst defeat for Europe since players from outside Great Britain and Ireland were made eligible to compete in the Ryder Cup in 1979. The American team that walloped Europe on Lake Michigan's banks two years ago was the youngest the U.S. had ever fielded in the biennial international competition.

Of course, winning a Ryder Cup away from the United States has been an entirely different matter for the Americans. Europe hasn't lost a home match since a 15-13 defeat at The Belfry in Warwickshire, England, in September 1993.

Yes, you read that correctly: The U.S. hasn't won a road match in three decades.

«This is an entirely different animal than Wisconsin,» U.S. team captain Zach Johnson said. «What happened there, certainly the result of that, and then everything that goes into it, we learn from it. But it's done, and this is an entirely different team and an entirely different venue, obviously an entirely different continent. It's going to be more trying. It's going to be more difficult.»

What will the Americans have to do to end their 30-year drought in the 44th Ryder Cup, which starts Friday at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club outside Rome? Here are some of the biggest storylines this week.

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Team Europe
Team U.S.
Our picks

The European record at home is ridiculous. The last time Team Europe lost on familiar turf was back in 1993, when the U.S won 15-13 at The Belfry. Mariah Carey's «Dreamlover» was top of the charts in the U.S. and Ludvig Aberg wouldn't be born for another six years.

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