Ryder Cup

[condon84]

Ryder Cup is starting. Any golfers here?

Europe has dominated this event the last 2 dozen years winning 9 out of the last 12. Americans typcially have higher ranked individual players but Europe always seem to play better at these events.

The US though has a new generation of players littered in the top 10 rankings. Gone are Tiger and Phil. A lot of first time participants and younger players like Spieth and Thomas who have played in a lot of these team events. Europe has younger players as well but they still lean on a lot of their veterans who have been the stalwarts of Europe's domination.

This should be a great tournament and may be a sign of how future Ryder Cup events are going to unfold for the Americans.

 

[1960Pats]

Ryder Cup is starting. Any golfers here?

Europe has dominated this event the last 2 dozen years winning 9 out of the last 12. Americans typcially have higher ranked individual players but Europe always seem to play better at these events.

The US though has a new generation of players littered in the top 10 rankings. Gone are Tiger and Phil. A lot of first time participants and younger players like Spieth and Thomas who have played in a lot of these team events. Europe has younger players as well but they still lean on a lot of their veterans who have been the stalwarts of Europe's domination.

This should be a great tournament and may be a sign of how future Ryder Cup events are going to unfold for the Americans.

I regret that I didn't come across this thread before the matches.

I used to complain about the way the team was selected because many players used to accrue points a year or more before the matches were played. Apparently Stricker fixed that by only taking the top 6 and adding 6 captain's picks. It sure worked.

I was also wondering how Brooks Koepka was selected. Did he qualify on points or was he a captain's pick? I didn't think he was a good choice because he hasn't been playing well due to injuries. The only other question I had was why Cantlay was left out on Saturday afternoon. That kid's been on fire.

It's funny how a Ryder Cup can reveal the true personalities of the players. For some reason I didn't care much for Scottie Scheffler, but when I saw the way he carried himself in his matches I was extremely impressed. He was one of the guys who respected his opponents and kept the crowd from being a distraction to them. That was classy.

The only negative that I saw was the complaining about not being given putts. As one of the better golfers and gentleman that I know said while we were playing with a couple of younger guys who were arguing over a gimme, "if it's a gimme you might as well just knock it in." It's a line I use all the time in those situations.

Thanks belatedly for this thread.

 

[condon84]

I regret that I didn't come across this thread before the matches.

I used to complain about the way the team was selected because many players used to accrue points a year or more before the matches were played. Apparently Stricker fixed that by only taking the top 6 and adding 6 captain's picks. It sure worked.

I was also wondering how Brooks Koepka was selected. Did he qualify on points or was he a captain's pick? I didn't think he was a good choice because he hasn't been playing well due to injuries. The only other question I had was why Cantlay was left out on Saturday afternoon. That kid's been on fire.

It's funny how a Ryder Cup can reveal the true personalities of the players. For some reason I didn't care much for Scottie Scheffler, but when I saw the way he carried himself in his matches I was extremely impressed. He was one of the guys who respected his opponents and kept the crowd from being a distraction to them. That was classy.

The only negative that I saw was the complaining about not being given putts. As one of the better golfers and gentleman that I know said while we were playing with a couple of younger guys who were arguing over a gimme, "if it's a gimme you might as well just knock it in." It's a line I use all the time in those situations.

Thanks belatedly for this thread.

They still have the same point system they've always used to select players but instead of taking the top 8 and then have 4 captain's picks, they changed it to the top 6 and then have 6 captain's picks. Brooks automatically qualified, he had accumulated enough points already. I was also skeptical of Morikawa since he injured his back during the Olympics and played awful thereafter including the tour championship events but he was brilliant all weekend.

This is obviously hindsight but it was a brilliant move to select Scheffler. There were other players higher in qualification points but Stricker knew he got along with Bryson and would be a good partner for him. It was a good move to avoid a toxic guy like Patrick Reed who ranked higher than Scheffler.

Stricker pushed all the right buttons. He picked players who were playing well and who he thought would add to team chemistry and got out of their way.

I agree with the gimme putts. If someone gives it then cool, but acting like it's disrespectful when it's not given is whiny. It's all part of matchplay gamesmanship imo.

This generation of players should flip the trend of Europe dominating. Most of them are under 30 or right around 30 with one exception in DJ. I think I heard the average world ranking on the team was 8th. If you look at it by world rankings, this was the greatest team ever assembled (although world rankings didn't start till 1986). The players may be young, but they are all accomplished players in their own right winning majors and big tournaments and they all seem to want to compete in these team events.

Europe plays well in their home turf and I expect that will be the case in 2023. Their home fans get even rowdier than the US fans. It should be interesting to see how these younger American players play in that type of atmosphere.

 

[Boston Boxer]

just seeing this thread now myself...

USA golf is in great hands as they have such young players at the top of the game. Stricker selected a very strong team and they performed. I always love the Ryder Cup as it adds a different twist with unruly fans and player emotion on display. BIG win for the USA

 

[1960Pats]

I really enjoy playing match play but I've had very few chances to over the years.

 

[condon84]

I really enjoy playing match play but I've had very few chances to over the years.

I befriended a group of golfers and got invited to play some rounds with them. Over the course of a year, they invited me to be part of a 2v2 best ball format. It got heated because people got competitive. It finally boiled over after one really close match and heated texts were exchanged between two of the players, the players wives got invloved, families were no longer invited for gatherings. Needless to say, they don't play as a group anymore. I still play rounds with them individually but never as a group. It was hilarious to see it all unfold between grown men lol.

 

[1960Pats]

I befriended a group of golfers and got invited to play some rounds with them. Over the course of a year, they invited me to be part of a 2v2 best ball format. It got heated because people got competitive. It finally boiled over after one really close match and heated texts were exchanged between two of the players, the players wives got invloved, families were no longer invited for gatherings. Needless to say, they don't play as a group anymore. I still play rounds with them individually but never as a group. It was hilarious to see it all unfold between grown men lol.

The only negatives I can think of while playing golf all these years are when players hit into the group in front of them. In one of those cases we were playing a dogleg and when the group in front of us went around the corner we thought they were heading to the green and it was safe to hit our drives. When we came around the corner they were waiting for us and two of the knuckleheads (one in each group) wanted to get into it but cooler heads prevailed.

The craziest thing of all for me is that after playing football, baseball, basketball and tennis for many years without injuries, I had three of them while playing golf. The worst is a knee injury that resulted from my playing golf on frozen ground while wearing metal spikes. As I walked off the tee after a drive I started to slide down the side of the tee like I was skiing. That resulted in a hyperextension of my left knee and a torn meniscus, which was repaired but now has me looking at a possible knee replacement.