If you've picked up anything about me on this format, you probably know I like golf. And this weekend my favorite sporting event of all time gets under way again when a team of US Golfers will take on a team of European Golfers for the rights to claim The Ryder Cup. The origins of the cup and the competition go back to 1927, and there's a lot of very inside golfy information that goes into it that I'll spare you, but the basic premise is that every two years these two teams play matches over three days to decide who gets to claim the cup. Now, why would someone like myself love this competition so much? It's the only event I know of where millionaire athletes willingly give their time and effort to play for something that is essentially a volunteer event. There's no real money on the line, but there is prestige, and pride and honor for country. That alone is pretty cool. The format is two days of team golf divided into 2 different kinds of matches. One is called fourball: a team of two US players take on two Europeans and each team records the player who had the lowest score on the hole. The other format is called foursomes or "alternate shot". In this format each team of two alternates shots until the ball is in the hole. The final day of play on Sunday is singles, where one American goes out against one European, mano y mano until one team has enough points to claim the cup. If you're the defending cup holder your team needs 14 points to retain the cup, but to RECLAIM the cup the challenging team needs 14.5 points. Oh by the way.. lately The United States has absolutely sucked at The Ryder Cup, like Washington Generals bad.
In the early days of The Ryder Cup (those very inside golfy times I promised not to bore you with) Americans beat the Euros like the drummer of a bad hair band from the 80s: it was loud, relentless and unforgiving. It got so bad that in 1979 the competition changed from being The United States vs Great Britain to The United States vs all of Europe. While this turned out to be a very good thing for the overall health of the competition it was a disastrous decision for The United States ability to win the damn thing. Pre 1979 if The United States didn't own The Ryder Cup they were certainly leasing it with the option to buy. But in recent times The U.S. record has been worse than someone with a credit score in the 500's trying to secure a $500,000 loan from a bank: it just ain't happening.
This year's Ryder Cup will be held at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, an absolutely stunning Pete Dye designed course on the shores of Lake Michigan. If you've ever been there you'd swear you weren't in Wisconsin but somewhere in Ireland or Scotland. I find a course that makes many of the Europeans feel comfortable like their at home an odd choice to try and beat them.. but that's another COMPLETELY different discussion. This year's US team looks incredibly strong on paper: 8 of the top 10 players in the world according to the official world golf rankings are on the American team. But as my good friend Kenny Mayne says.." games aren't played on paper, they're played inside your television". And that, is the problem for team America, we never play up to our potential in these matches. Ian Poulter is a European team member who's never won a major and has only 3 wins on the PGA Tour, but every two years he turns into the best damn player on the planet and kicks ass at The Ryder Cup. I mean.. he goes nuts, see the picture below.
He is absolute killer. Remember when I mentioned how bad the U.S. team has been lately? I wasn't kidding. In the last 12 matches The U.S. has won exactly 3 times, despite almost every tournament having a far superior team statistically. I asked Paul Azinger about this, who played on 4 Ryder Cup teams and was Captain of a victorious U.S. squad back in 2008. He said simply that The Europeans are bonded by blood, it absolutely means more to them than it does to The US players. I think that's it. The Americans would like to win, but the Europeans fell like they HAVE to win. Golf at it's essence is game of will, and every two years The Euros bring it in buckets. i'd like to believe this time it will be different that this time the U.S team will have that absolute determination that nothing will stop them from ending their losing ways, but those boys from across the pond are tough. Let's put it this way.. Sergio Garcia, a captains pick for the Europeans.. has as many career points for the Euros as the entire US team put together. That's the kind of resolve the US will have find beginning Friday to turn this around. As the zen philosopher says, we'll see.
