Ryder Cup 2023: Meet Team USA including Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas

The United States aim to retain the Ryder Cup in Rome and capture its first win on away soil since 1993 at the Belfry.

The Stars and Stripes are favourites to defend the trophy they claimed with a dominant victory at Whistling Straits in 2021.

Zach Johnson has a wealth of options and is boosted by Brooks Koepka, the only LIV Golf player in Rome.

Koepka, together with Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman, the USA have three of this year’s four major winners, bolstering the Americans’ hopes of winning in Italy.

Here, Independent Sport examines the strengths and weaknesses from Johnson’s team.

Qualification for Team USA began in March 2022 and closed on 20 August 2023.

The USA selected six players on the points list to automatically quality and then captain Johnson selected six wildcard picks to complete the team.

The top six automatic qualifiers were Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele. The six wildcard picks were Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Sam Bruns, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas.

It's funny what a difference two years can make. Scheffler entered the 2021 Ryder Cup as a 'last man on the plane' rookie wildcard pick and comes into the 2023 edition as the first name on the list. From the USA's lowest-ranked player at Whistling Straights, he heads to Rome as their highest-ranked and possibly the best golfer on the planet. Arguably drew the short straw when put on ‘Bryson babysitting duty’ in Wisconsin but thrived to secure a win and a half alongside DeChambeau in the fourballs sessions before obliterating the previously unbeaten Jon Rahm 4&3 in the singles for a very impressive 2.5 points from 3 on debut. Zach Johnson will surely have pencilled Scheffler in