The 2023 Ryder Cup tees off Friday morning from Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy. After suffering its worst Ryder Cup defeat in history in 2021, Team Europe will look to rebound back on its home soil. The Europeans haven't lost a Ryder Cup at home since 1993. There's plenty of familiar faces on the European team, but with many of its longtime stalwarts moving to LIV Golf, it opened the door for some newcomers to join the European team this year. Like the Americans, the Europeans have eight players with Ryder Cup experience and four that will be making their Ryder Cup debut. 

 

European Team Roster

Ludvig Åberg (1st Appearance)

Matt Fitzpatrick (3rd Appearance)

Tommy Fleetwood (3rd Appearance)

Tyrrell Hatton (3rd Appearance)

Nicolai Højgaard (1st Appearance)

Viktor Hovland (2nd Appearance)

Shane Lowry (2nd Appearance)

Robert Macintyre (1st Appearance)

Rory Mcilroy (7th Appearance)

Jon Rahm (3rd Appearance)

Justin Rose (6th Appearance)

Sepp Straka (1st Appearance)

Europe's roster is full of plenty of familiar names and a few you'll certainly get to know not only this weekend, but for years to come.  For this week's "What's in the Bag", we take a look what's in each player's bag as well as some interesting themes among the gear they'll be playing with. 

Compared to the American Team, where Titleist was the dominant driver of choice, the European Team is a little more balanced when it comes to the manufacturer. TaylorMade leads all manufacturers, with four European players choosing a TaylorMade driver, narrowly edging out Titleist by one. Eight of the twelves players are playing a current year model, while three players are teeing it up with a 2021 model. The only player competing with something else is Justin Rose, who's sporting a TaylorMade M3 440. 

While there wasn't a clear cut manufacturer of choice for drivers on the European side, there certainly was for fairway woods, as two-thirds of the roster have a TaylorMade wood in their bag. Among those TaylorMade woods, the Stealth 2 was the most popular model with three players putting it in their bag. The American side featured only 3 and 5 woods being used, but the European side has a pair of 7 woods being deployed this weekend with Tyrell Hatton and Sepp Straka each playing with one.

Perhaps the most unique club in any player's bag on the European side, is Tommy Fleetwood's TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver. While technically a driver, Fleetwood already sports a Stealth 2 Plus Driver in his bag, so the Mini Driver serves multiple purposes within his bag. 

When it comes to irons, the Europeans are all very different in their makeup. No single player plays the same stock irons across the team. The closest it gets is between Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka. Straka plays the Srixon ZX7's, while Lowry rolls with a Srixon combo set made of ZX5 and ZX7's. Among the manufacturers, PING and TaylorMade were the two most popular brands, with three players each sporting their clubs. Among those playing Ping irons is Matt Fitzpatrick, who plays some PING S55 irons, which were launched all the way back in 2013!

Like drivers, there was no consensus among the choice of wedges of the European team, with the SM9 leading all models with three players using them. 

Unlike the American side, which had three players using the exact same Odyssey Versa Jailbird putter, none of the Europeans use the same putter as their teammates. Odyssey was the most popular brand of putters, with half the roster using one, and that includes another Versa Jailbird, being used by Nicolai Højgaard, making it by far the most popular putter model being used in this year's Ryder Cup with four total across both teams.

For a more specific look into what's in each player's bag, see below. Note that these bag makeups are subject to change based on each player's preferences before play begins.

Ludvig Åberg
Driver: Titleist TSR2 (9 degrees; Fujikura Ventus Black 6X)

3-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees; Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8X)

Irons: Titleist 718 T-MB (2-iron) Titleist T100 (4-PW) KBS Tour 130X (4-PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (50-08F, 54-10S) Titleist Vokey Design 2022 Proto (60-09) KBS Tour 130X

Putter: Odyssey Works Versa #1

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Matt Fitzpatrick
Driver: Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees; Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Orange 65 TX)

3-Wood: Cobra Aerojet (15 degrees @14; Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Orange 70 TX)

Hybrid: Titleist TSR1 (20 degrees), Titleist TSR2 (21 degrees) Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 HY TX, Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange 90 HY TX

Irons: PING i210 (4), PING S55 (5-PW) PING CFS

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (52-12F, 56-08M), Vokey Design Wedge Works (60-T) True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 X100, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue (56, 60)

Putter: Bettinardi BB1 Fitz

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Tommy Fleetwood
Driver: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (9 degrees @9.75) Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 X

Mini driver: TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver (13.5 degrees @12) Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 X

5-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees) Mitsubishi Kuro Kage 80 XTS X

Irons: TaylorMade P7TW (3-PW) Project X 125 6.5

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (52-M, 60-T) True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Odyssey White Hot Pro 3

Ball: TaylorMade TP5x Pix

Tyrrell Hatton
Driver: PING G430 LST (10.5 degrees @9.5; Mitsubishi Diamana TB 80 TX)

3-Wood: PING G430 Max (15 degrees @14; Mitsubishi Diamana DF 80 TX)

7-Wood: PING G430 Max (21 degrees @19.5; Mitsubishi Diamana DF 80 TX)

Irons: PING i230 Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X

Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 (50-12S, 54-12S), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60-T) Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X (50), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (54), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (60)

Putter: PING PLD Prototype

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Nicolai Højgaard
Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees; Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei White AV 70X)

5-Wood: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (18 degrees; Fujikura Ventus Red)

7-Wood: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (20 degrees; Fujikura Ventus Red)

Utility: Callaway x21 (20 degrees; Project X LZ 7.0)

Irons: Callaway Apex MB (4-10) Project X LZ 7.0)

Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (50) Callaway Jaws Full Toe (56 & 60) Project X LZ 6.5

Putter: Odyssey Versa Jailbird

Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X

Viktor Hovland
Driver: PING G425 LST (9 degrees @8.4; Fujikura Speeder 661 TR X)

3-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (15 degrees @ 16.5: Fujikura Ventus Blue 7 X)

Irons: Titleist U505 (3), Ping i210 (4-PW) Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid 85 X (3), KBS Tour-V 120 X (4-PW)

Wedges: PING Glide 4.0 (50-SS, 56-SS), Ping Glide 2.0 (60-TS) KBS Tour-V 120 X (50-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Putter: PING PLD DS 72 prototype

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Shane Lowry
Driver: Srixon ZX5 MKII (9.5 degrees; Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana D+ White 70 TX)

3-Wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Titanium (15 degrees; Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue 80 TX)

5-wood: TaylorMade M5 (19 degrees; Graphite Design Tour AD DI-8X)

Utility: Srixon ZX Utility (20 degrees; Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 120)

Irons: Srixon ZX5 (4-5) Srixon ZX7 (6-PW) KBS Tour 130 X

Wedges: Cleveland ZipCore RTX 6 Tour Rack (50-MID-10, 58-Custom-08) KBS Tour Wedge X Custom Series Black

Putter: Odyssey Stroke Lab Exo 2-Ball

Ball: Srixon Z-Star Tour Series

Robert Macintyre
Driver: Titleist TSi3 (8 degrees; Graphite Design Tour AD DI 7 X)

3-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (15 degrees; Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX)

Hybrid: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Rescue (19 degrees; Graphite Design Tour AD DI 105 X)

Irons: TaylorMade P7MC (4-PW) True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (50-08F, 56-10S), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-T) True Temper Dynamic Gold Onyx X100 (50), Dynamic Gold Onyx S400 (56-60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron T5.5 Proto

Ball: TaylorMade TP5x

Rory Mcilroy
Driver: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (9 degrees @7.5; Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 X)

3-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (15 degrees @13; Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X)

5-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (19 degrees @17.5; Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X)

Irons: TaylorMade P760 (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9) Project X 7.0 (4-9)

Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB, TaylorMade MG3 (60-07RM) Project X 6.5, Project X 6.5 Wedge (60)

Putter: TaylorMade Spider

Ball: TaylorMade TP5x

Jon Rahm
Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees; Aldila Tour Green ATX 75 2.8 TX)

3-Wood: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond T (High Launch, 16 degrees @15.1; Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 X)

5-Wood: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond T (18 degrees; Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 X)

Irons: Callaway Apex UT (21 degrees), Callaway Apex TCB (4-PW) KBS Tour Hybrid Prototype 105 X (21), Project X 6.5 (4-PW)

Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (52-10, 56-12 @55.25, 60-10) Project X 125 6.5

Putter: Odyssey White Hot Rossie S

Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X

Justin Rose
Driver: TaylorMade M3 440 (9 degrees @7.5; Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange 70 TX)

3-Wood: TaylorMade M6 (15 degrees; Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 80 TX)

5-wood: TaylorMade M6 (18 degrees; Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 80 TX)

Irons: Cobra King CB (4-6); Cobra King MB (7-PW) Project X 125 6.5

Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (52-09SB, 56-08LB, 60-09SBC)

Putter: Axis1 Rose

Ball: Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot

Sepp Straka
Driver: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (9 degrees Mitsubishi Kai’Li White 60 TX)

3-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees; Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Orange 80 TX)

7-Wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (21 degrees; Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Orange 80 TX)

Irons: Srixon ZX7 (4-9) True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Cleveland ZipCore RTX 6 Tour Rack (52-MID 10, 56-FULL 12, 60-FULL 12) True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (52, 56, 60)

Putter: Odyssey Tuttle Stroke Lab

Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond