The Ryder Cup news cycle is already in full swing.

Team Europe spent Monday and Tuesday practicing at Bethpage Black, familiarizing themselves with the property before taking a few days to rest up for next week. Meanwhile, the U.S. Team is taking a brief respite after spending last week playing and contending in wine country. It was a pair of Americans – Scottie Scheffler and Ben Griffin – that battled down the stretch and flashed the form the U.S. will need to regain the Ryder Cup in New York.

Though it only comes around every two years, the Ryder Cup is the most dissected event in the sport, and with just a week before play begins, anticipation has reached a fever pitch. Ahead of one of the most anticipated Ryder Cups in modern history, let’s talk through five lingering questions still up in the air ahead of next week.

What form will Xander Schauffele be in?

Schauffele will play the Ryder Cup as the Americans’ second-highest-ranked player in the world behind Scheffler, yet the two-time major winner is one of captain Keegan Bradley’s biggest question marks.

Schauffele has not played since the BMW Championship in August, where he missed out on the TOUR Championship for the first time in his career. Schauffele stated bluntly that this was the worst season of his career. That’s true statistically, but also anecdotally, as Schauffele began the year in the conversation with Scheffler as the best player on the planet and ends it far from those discussions.

So, what version of Schauffele will the U.S. Team get? The American has been a stellar component of numerous winning teams over the last decade. He’s 14-8-0 across his Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup matches, including 3-1-0 in the last Ryder Cup on home soil. But his form is a major question mark.

Schauffele was understandably absent from the Procore Championship – staying back in Florida to be with his wife, who just gave birth to their firstborn son, Victor – so there is no recent form to fall back on.

It would be no surprise to see Schauffele shake off the rust and play a pivotal role in a U.S. victory at Bethpage Black. The inverse wouldn’t be surprising, though. That’s a precarious spot for the world No. 3.

Are there any surprises on the European side?

The European Team has remained out of the spotlight in the lead-up to this Ryder Cup. That’s partly because much of the golf world kept a trained eye on the U.S. Team and myriad possibilities surrounding Keegan Bradley and his possible playing captaincy, but it’s also because there are few unknowns to discuss with Team Europe.

Luke Donald is back for a second time as captain, while 11 of the 12 members of the victorious 2023 Ryder Cup team are back. Even the one newbie, Rasmus Højgaard, was part of the team room in 2023, as the European leadership had an inkling he would play the Ryder Cup soon and got him involved. This is as experienced and familiar as you can get for a Ryder Cup that hardly ever evokes those feelings with its two-year cycle. Yet that’s where Team Europe stands.

So, will there be any surprises? Or will Donald just roll with what worked in the Euros’ dominant 16.5-11.5 victory? It will be particularly interesting to watch in Foursomes. Donald used the same four pairings for both Foursomes sessions in 2023 and won those matches 7-1. The pairings were:

• Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Åberg
• Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood
• Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton
• Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka

Lowry and Straka would be the first pairing ripe for change, as both players slumped over the second half of the TOUR season.

Surely Donald has considered sending the same eight players out again, but just because it worked two years ago, it doesn’t mean it will work on a new golf course against new opponents.

How will the U.S. deploy its rookies?

With the Europeans’ lack of rookies, the U.S. Team’s newcomers will face a bit more scrutiny and pressure to perform – particularly on home soil, where more is expected of them.

Russell Henley, J.J. Spaun, Griffin and Cameron Young are all making their Ryder Cup debuts, though Henley and Young have each played one Presidents Cup.

It’s a unique position for the U.S. to be in because, at least statistically, the four rookies are playing better right now than anyone on the team not named Scheffler. Per Data Golf, the top-five Americans in Strokes Gained: Total over the last three months are Scheffler and then the four rookies.

So by the numbers, the rookies should be a heavy part of the game plan. But how much will Captain Bradley weigh that form over the experience of other veterans who aren’t playing as well, but know how to handle the caldron of the Ryder Cup?

The U.S. Team hasn’t followed a consistent plan with rookies over the years. In 2023, Max Homa played all five matches in his debut, a sign that leadership is comfortable riding the hot hand. Every rookie played at least three sessions at Marco Simone.

How will Bethpage Black play?

The home team controls the setup for each Ryder Cup venue, so how will the U.S. choose to set up Bethpage Black?

In previous home Ryder Cups, the Americans leaned on their distance advantage, stretching out the courses and cutting down the rough to further prioritize hitting it far. They also placed pins in easier positions on the greens to nullify the European Team’s putting prowess. But the margins between the two teams are shrinking every year, with more and more homogenous skillsets on each side. Sure, the U.S. could lengthen the courses to suit their long hitters like Bryson DeChambeau and Young, but that would hurt players like Henley, Collin Morikawa and Spaun. It would also help the Euros’ bigger hitters like McIlroy, Åberg and Højgaard.

There is no clear-cut advantage that the Americans possess over the Europeans, so that likely means any setup tweaks will be made in the margins with specific tee placements on certain days or specific pin positions that highlight razor-thin advantages on the greens.

Is this the best chance at an upset in recent history?

The dirty secret of recent Ryder Cup history is that the event isn’t all that competitive. The home team has won the last five Ryder Cups, and they’ve done it decisively, each with a final margin of five points or more. In 2021, the U.S. handed the Europeans their worst loss in the Ryder Cup’s modern era, winning 19-9 in a rout. And that came off the heels of a debilitating U.S. loss in France in 2018 when the Europeans dominated from start to finish in a 17.5-11.5 dismantling.

Yet optimism abounds about Team Europe’s chances at Bethpage Black. Are they warranted? Europe has a compelling case, built on its continuity and experience. As mentioned before, they return 11 of the same 12 players who dominated the U.S. in Rome, as well as the captain who orchestrated it all. If a team is going to survive – and thrive – in a hostile environment, this team’s makeup would check a lot of boxes. By name brand alone, the European Team looks more impressive.

Yet some basic facts still favor the Americans. They have the best golfer in the world, Scheffler, who is showing no signs of slowing down as we reach Bethpage Black. In fact, the U.S. has seven of the top-10 golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking. By recent form, they have an advantage, particularly in the back-end of the roster. Per Data Golf, seven of the eight worst-performing players over the last six months are Europeans.

And, of course, the U.S. has the home advantage. That’s been enough for the last decade.