Warren Little
Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele will face off in Sunday singles in the Ryder Cup.

By Tod Leonard
HAVEN, Wis. — The outcome of the 43rd Ryder Cup is all but decided. The U.S. has matched its largest lead (11-5) since the exhibition went to 28 total points in 1979, and the Americans will need only 3½ points out of a possible 12 in Sunday singles to win for only the third time in 10 meetings.

So, who will be the lucky American to be remembered as the one to clinch it?

The possibilities were already being considered on Saturday night when the singles matchups were released. It’s likely that American captain Steve Stricker didn’t take the clinch scenario into consideration, but rather whom his European counterpart, Padraig Harrington, would put out early in a bid to delay the Yanks’ celebration. And the European chief came through on that, going with Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, World No. 1 Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia in his first four spots.

Stricker had counted heavily on his six first-timers, and he countered with three Ryder Cup rookies in his first four. Xander Schauffele (unbeaten this week at 3-0) will take on McIlroy (who is 0-3), followed by unbeaten Patrick Cantlay(2-0-1) against Lowry (1-1-0), and Scottie Scheffler (1-0-1) versus Rahm, who has notched Europe’s most points with 3½.

In what is arguably the marquee matchup in the No. 4 spot, Bryson DeChambeau, who has only played in two four-ball matches, going 1-0-1, faces Sergio Garcia, the Ryder Cup’s all-time leading scorer who is unbeaten here at 3-0.

So, in the best-case scenario (Europe’s worst-case), the U.S. sweeps the first four matches and DeChambeau is “The Man.” Beyond that, at No. 5 is first-timer Collin Morikawa (vs. Viktor Hovland), followed by unbeaten Dustin Johnson (Paul Casey) and Brooks Koepka (Bernd Wiesberger).

The final five for the U.S.: Tony Finau (Ian Poulter), Justin Thomas (Tyrell Hattton), Harris English (Lee Westood), Jordan Spieth (Tommy Fleetwood) and Daniel Berger (Matthew Fitzpatrick).

The lineup:

• Match 1 (12:04 p.m. ET)—Xander Schauffele vs. Rory McIlroy
• Match 2 (12:15)—Patrick Cantlay vs. Shane Lowry
• Match 3 (12:26)—Scottie Scheffler vs. Jon Rahm
• Match 4 (12:37)—Bryson DeChambeau vs. Sergio Garcia
• Match 5 (12:48)—Collin Morikawa vs. Viktor Hovland
• Match 6 (12:59)—Dustin Johnson vs. Paul Casey
• Match 7 (1:10)—Brooks Koepka vs. Bernd Wiesberger
• Match 8 (1:21)—Tony Finau vs. Ian Poulter
• Match 9 (1:32)—Justin Thomas vs. Tyrrell Hatton
• Match 10 (1:43)—Harris English vs. Lee Westwood
• Match 11 (1:54)—Jordan Spieth vs. Tommy Fleetwood
• Match 12 (2:05)—Daniel Berger vs. Matthew Fitzpatrick