Golf World Reacts to Big Names Sitting Out Ryder Cup’s First Session, Including Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth

The historically strong duo of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth will sit for Marco Simone’s opening foursomes session.

Gabrielle Herzig | Sep 28, 2023

Golf World Reacts to Big Names Sitting Out Ryder Cup’s First Session, Including Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth /

The 2023 Ryder Cup's opening foursomes session is set. Although the alternate-shot pairings have plenty of star power, there were a few notable players who will be seated on Friday morning, especially on the U.S. side.

The first session at Marco Simone will feature the following match-ups:

The pairings for the opening session of the 44th Ryder Cup. #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/klEp5ZfqIf
— Ryder Cup (@rydercup) September 28, 2023

Notably absent was the historically strong duo of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. The childhood friends first played together at the 2018 Ryder Cup, where they went 3-0 as a team. In both Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups, Spieth and Thomas have an impressive overall match-play record of 7-1-0 and a foursomes record of 4-1-0. But judging by Johnson’s decision, their past performance wasn't enough to earn a spot in the opening session.

Brooks Koepka, a five-time major champion and reigning PGA Championship winner, will also sit out the opening session.

Upon the announcement of the Friday foursomes pairings, the golf world immediately reacted to the surprises.

First thing that jumps out: no JT/Spieth. https://t.co/XHFgkifY3j
— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) September 28, 2023

Jordan Spieth & Justin Thomas sitting out in tomorrow morning’s foursomes @RyderCupUSA #RyderCup
— Cara Banks (@CaraBanksGC) September 28, 2023

No Spieth and JT in foursomes. Unexpected! pic.twitter.com/3UXtgZ4MiQ
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) September 28, 2023

Officially concerned about Team USA’s strategy https://t.co/5YnzFLPErp
— Joseph LaMagna (@JosephLaMagna) September 28, 2023

JT and Spieth seeing the pairings for the first session pic.twitter.com/2Javk8vOwS
— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) September 28, 2023

JT was a pretty controversial selection and now he's sitting in session one in a format he's crushed w/ partner alongside.

Why is he on the team? Thought it would have been better to find out what you have in Spieth/JT immediately (or don't pick them) rather than sitting them. https://t.co/QdFsM3lBNH
— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) September 28, 2023

The first match between Scottie Scheffler/Sam Burns and Jon Rahm/Tyrrell Hatton kicks off at 1:35 a.m. ET on Golf Channel.

Published Sep 28, 2023

GABRIELLE HERZIG

Gabrielle Herzig is a Breaking and Trending News writer for Sports Illustrated Golf. Previously, she worked as a Golf Digest Contributing Editor, an NBC Sports Digital Editorial Intern, and a Production Runner for FOX Sports at the site of the 2018 U.S. Open. Gabrielle graduated as a Politics Major from Pomona College in Claremont, California, where she was a four-year member and senior-year captain of the Pomona-Pitzer women’s golf team. In her junior year, Gabrielle studied abroad in Scotland for three months, where she explored the Home of Golf by joining the Edinburgh University Golf Club.