The 2023 Ryder Cup is a biennial event set for Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy, where Team Europe will go head-to-head against Team United States in hopes of taking the title after falling short in 2021's contest. Both teams consist of former NCAA golfers, including some of the most well-known collegiate players.
Here's everything you need to know about the college careers of the 2023 Ryder Cup participants.
United States
Sam Burns
College:
Years: 2015-17
Hometown: Shreveport, La.
Scoring Average: 71.3
Career low: 70.05
Burns was the 2016-17 NCAA Division I Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year, PING First Team All-American by the Golf Coaches Association of America, SEC Player of the Year, Arnold Palmer Cup winner as a member of Team USA and First Team All-SEC Selection. He became a two-time All-American and earned the PING Honorable Mention All-America honors as a freshman (2015-16).
Burns won four tournament titles while at LSU and earned 15 top-10 and 22 top-20 finishes from 27 tournament appearances. Burns participated in the 2014 U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team before starting his career at LSU.
Patrick Cantlay
College:
Years: 2010-12
Hometown: Los Alamitos, Calif.
Career scoring average: 70.80
In 2012, Cantlay became the first UCLA golfer to win the Ben Hogan Award, awarded to the best collegiate and amateur golfer. He was also named Pac-12 Player of the Year, First Team All-Pac-12 and a second-team All-American.
As a freshman, he earned the Phil Mickelson Award, which is given to the best freshman in the country, and he also took home the Jack Nicklaus Award, which is given to the best player in the country.
Cantlay's four tournament wins were the fourth most in program history during the 2010-11 season. For the season, his scoring average was 70.49, making it the second-best by a UCLA golfer.
Wyndham Clark
School:
Years: 2012-17
Hometown: Denver, Colo.
Lowest season scoring average: 65 (2016-17)
Season stroke average: 72.85 (2015-16)
Clark was named 2016 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Pac-12 April Golfer of the Month, All Pac-12 First Team, DI Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year finalist and was ranked No. 1 in the 2017 Arnold Palmer Cup Rank.
During his 2016-17 season, he finished 2nd at the NCAA Baton Rouge Invitational and was named the Pac-12 Championship winner－averaging 69.29 in 2016.
Rickie Fowler
School:
Years: 2007-08
Hometown: Anaheim, Calif.
Lowest season scoring average: 65 (2008-09)
Fowler set a program record as the first freshman to win the 2008 Ben Hogan Award. He earned his second career victory at the Big 12 Championship after posting a 9-under 279 total. Fowler averaged 2,596 strokes and by his sophomore year and scored a season-low of 65.
After earning the 2008 Phil Mickelson Award and being a member of the U.S. Walker Cup team he was named a PING-All America First Team member, First Team All-American pick by Golfweek, National Player of the Year by Golfweek, Big 12 Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year.
Brian Harman
College: Georgia
Years: 2005-09
Hometown: Savannah, Ga.
Harman began his collegiate career at UGA where he became a three-time Second Team All-American. Harman was a part of the 2007 Palmer Cup and became the youngest member of the 2005 and 2009 Walker Cup teams.
Harman's 22-under-258 in the Porter Cup in 2007 was named a tournament record. He became the 2005 Players Amateur and NCAA Preview winner.
Max Homa
College:
Years: 2009-13
Hometown: Valencia, Calif.
Career stroke average per round: 72.1
Lowest 18-hole score: 63
Homa got his collegiate start at UC Berkeley where he was well known for winning the individual 2013 NCAA DI Men's Golf Championship after shooting a 4-under-66.
By Homa's junior year, he became the first Cal men's golfer to finish top-10 in the NCAA Championships, a NCAA Regional and claim the 2012 Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Month. During his senior year, Homa was ranked No. 17 nationally by Golfweek and No. 18 by Goflstat after averaging 71.1 strokes on 1,067 shots that season alone.
Brooks Koepka
College:
Years: 2008-12
Hometown: West Palm Beach, Fla.
Lowest single-season scoring average: 63 (2011-12)
Koepka is a four-time major champion and has made three previous appearances in the Ryder Cup — going on four come Friday.
While at Florida State, he won three events over the course of four years and became a three-time All-American honoree. He was a two-time ACC Men’s Golfer of the Year in 2010 and 2012. Koepka averaged 71.84 strokes and had a season low of 63 during his senior year.
Collin Morikawa
College:
Years: 2015-19
Hometown: La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.
Lowest career scoring average: 63
Career stroke average: 69.78
Morikawa got his collegiate career going at UC Berkeley where he set a program record as the only player to become a four-time All-American and a three-time First Team All-American. He became the program's all-time stroke average leader and holds the 54-hole school record with a 17-under-par score of 196.
Morikawa has appeared in two NCAA Championships, four Pac-12 Championships and four NCAA Regionals. He was named the 2017-18 Goldweek Men's National Player of the Year, two-time All-Nicklaus Team member (2016-17, 2017-18), four-time DI PING All-American and the 2018-19 Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Year.
Xander Schauffele
College: Long Beach State (2011-12) |
Hometown: San Diego, Calif.
Career scoring average: 70.49 (2014-15)
Schauffele got his collegiate career going at Long Beach State where he helped the 49ers to five team titles. With the 49ers, his season scoring average was 72.52 with eight top-20 finishes. In 2017, Schauffele placed fourth in the NCAA Raleigh Regional (69-65-68=202).
A year later, Schauffele took his talents to SDSU where he was able to set an all-time career scoring average record of 71.50. He was named the 2014-15 PING Third Team All-American, 2014-15 Golfweek Third Team All-American, 2014-15 PING All-West Region Honoree, 2014-15 All-Mountain West Selection, 2014 California State Amateur Champion, 2013-14 PING All-West Region Honoree, and 2013-14 All-Mountain West Selection.
Scottie Scheffler
College:
Years: 2014-18
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Lowest single-season scoring average: 65 (2015-16)
During Scheffler's sophomore year, he appeared in The Maxwell where he set a career-low of 65. He went on to win the individual stroke play round at the East Lake Cup in his junior year and finished the season with six top-three finishes.
Scheffler won the 2015 Big 12 Championship, named the 2015 Phil Mickelson Award recipient, a 2017 Golfweek All-America First Team member and a 2017 PING All-American Third Team member. By the end of his collegiate career, Scheffler posted a scoring average of 70.45, the second-best on the team.
Jordan Spieth
College:
Years: 2008-2011
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
During his time at Texas, Spieth placed second in the 2011 Jones Cup Invitational, was a First Team All-American and a finalist for the Ben Hogan award after taking the title of U.S. Junior Amateur Champion in 2009 and 2011.
Justin Thomas
College:
Years: 2011-12
Hometown: Goshen, Ky.
Single-season scoring average: 70.44
As a freshman at Alabama, Thomas walked away as a Haskins Award winner, awarded to the most outstanding collegiate golfer in the nation. He became the first Alabama golfer to win the Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson Awards. Thomas' four medalist honors, nine top-10 finishes and a 70.44 stroke average helped him set school-records.
Thomas won the 2012 Jones Cup Invitational, was a member of the 2012 World Amateur Team and was named SEC Player of the Year.
Europe
Note: Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Nicolai Højgaard, Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose didn't attend college in the U.S.
Ludvig Aberg
College:
Hometown: Eslöv, Sweden
Years: 2019-23
Single-season scoring average: 68.78 (2022-23)
Lowest 54-hole score: 196
Aberg etched his name in the record books while at Texas Tech as he became the seventh player all-time to claim the "Big Three" －Ben Hogan, Fred Haskins and Jack Nicklaus awards. Aberg became the top ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Goflstat and PGA Tour U Rankings.
By his senior year, Aberg recorded seven top-five finishes and was fifth-best in the country for a scoring average of 68.78. Aberg became the first player in Big-12 history to repeat as an individual medalist. He was named three-time First Team All Big 12 Selection and two-time GCAA All-American.
Viktor Hovland
College:
Years: 2016-18
Hometown: Oslo, Norway
Hovland earned Big 12 Player of the Year honors, and received the Ben Hogan Award in 2019 as he and teammate Matthew Wolff each received a top national award. In 2019, Hovland was the low amateur at both The Masters and the U.S. Open.
After being an honorable mention All-American in 2017, he was named a First Team All-American as a sophomore and junior. He earned All-Big 12 honors in each season.
Robert MacIntyre
College:
Years: 2014-15
Hometown: Oban, Scotland
Season scoring average per round: 71.81 (2014-15)
While at McNeese State, MacIntyre set a program record with a 63 in the Arizona Intercollegiate and led the team with his scoring average (71.81 in the 2014-15 season). He finished the season with three top-five finishes and tied for first place at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic.
Jon Rahm
College:
Years: 2012-16
Hometown: Barrika, Spain
Career stroke average: 70.21
Lowest 18-hole individual score: 61
Rahm is a golfer who has etched his name in the Sun Devils' record books. He set records for the best scoring average in a season (69.15 in 2014-15), broke a record set by Jack Nicklaus as the 2014 World Amateur winner, the lowest 54-hole tournament final score (a 21-under 192) and helped Arizona State claim their first Pac-12 individual conference title (2016 Pac-12 Championship).
Rahm became the 2016 Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award recipient, the first two-time Ben Hogan Award recipient (2015, 2016) and finished his collegiate career as the No. 1 ranked player by WAGR.
Josef "Sepp" Straka
College: Georgia
Years: 2011-16
Hometown: Vienna, Austria
Season low scoring average: 65 (2015-16)
Straka began his collegiate career at Georgia. He was named the 2016 All Conference Second Team and PING All-American (honorable mention).
By Straka's senior year, he averaged 71.50 with a low of 65 and finished in the top-20 five times. He was named the 2016 SEC Player of the Week and helped UGA win the 2014 Carmel Cup, Querencia Cabo Intercollegiate (2015-16), Southern Intercollegiate (2015-16) and the 2016 SEC Championship title.
COLLEGE GOLF
TIGER WOODS: Records, history, achievements from college | Watch highlights
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WHERE THEY PLAYED IN COLLEGE: Masters champions | PGA championship winners | Ryder Cup players
HISTORY: National champs | Watch Stanford win 2019 champ
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