text: U.S. Ryder Cup team has struggled in the foursomes format
  HAVEN – Experience, chemistry, nerves, pressure – all nouns of much renown in nearly every run-up to a Ryder Cup. Who has it, or doesn't? Who feels it, who is immune? And, invariably, does it matter?
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  Generally, if the pair playing together don't already use the same ball, the two will pick the ball of the player who is likely hitting the approach into the green. The emphasis on ball selection is comfort with the distance control.
  "I was brought up playing foursomes. Played it a lot in amateur golf, many in my team have. It's not really alien to us," European captain Pádraig Harrington said. "It's certainly somewhere that I don't think — because it's not so alien to us, we don't read that much into it. I think sometimes when people haven't played it, they can over-complicate it. But as I said, I was brought up playing it. It's made at our golf clubs at home, not just in championships. It's a very common game, and really don't read into it anymore than there should be. I think sometimes you guys, again, might look at it, and try; it's just two guys playing a golf ball around the place. It's not that difficult when you're brought up playing it."
  Yes, it is just two guys playing a golf ball around the course, but for whatever reason it's a style of play that has more often than not helped the Europeans stack points heading into Sunday's singles matches.
  "I think we always tend to try to look for guys with similar game styles or game styles that would complement the other player," U.S. captain Steve Stricker said. "Good putting always is a big key I think in alternate-shot or in foursomes. You look for the guys who embrace that. That's the important part is some guys are a little bit — they don't care for that style of play. Other guys want to play it. It depends on the player and it's up to us or our job to try to figure out those guys and try to pair the games together that make the most sense."
  "A lot of it goes down to if you play well, then you're a good team, and that's all you can really do," Fleetwood said. "I think, again, Europe is so lucky with the personalities that we have and how well we gel together and everything. We've always come out of it really, really good."
  "I've played foursomes," U.S. rookie Scottie Scheffler said. "I played it in junior golf on Wyndham Cup teams. I played in four or five of those. I always loved alternate-shot. Played it in the Walker Cup, and then we played a bit of it last week, and I'm sure I'm going to play a little bit more of it this week. That's another thing that they're using heavy statistics on is who pairs well and what format, and so I like the format."
  "Foursomes I think it's pretty important to put two personalities together, two friends together, two guys that get along, maybe their games complement each other," Justin Thomas said. "For me at least what I've noticed is I've been fortunate to play — my record is obviously good in team events, but you look at my partners in Jordan (Spieth), Rickie (Fowler) and Tiger (Woods), I've been very fortunate to have some really good partners, and that's like the No. 1 rule that caddies will tell you of having a good caddie career is have a good player. It's just one of those things.
  "We have such a deep, good team that it's not like anybody is a weak link on our team, and it's just about getting the energy similar I would say, and two guys that want to play together, two guys that want to go to battle out there for each other, that would take a bullet for each other, and I think we have a team room that's full of that. I think that's what makes it exciting for these pairings because there's so many options."