On the shores of Lake Michigan, rumours abound of a fabulous guest appearance come the weekend. His management group continue to deny his imminent arrival, but there remains speculation a stricken Tiger Woods may fly in to give one last fillip to the American team. At the very least, he will make a morale-boosting Zoom call.
It seems a rather stereotypical play from the hosts. Team America turning again to the greatest individual golfer of this generation for inspiration.
Not the greatest Ryder Cup golfer, mind. Woods’ record in the Ryder Cup player reads won 13, lost 21, halved 3. In many ways, it encapsulates where America goes wrong. Woods as a lone competitor is 4-2-2 but the Ryder Cup is about more than outstanding individuals.
Tiger Woods’ somewhat poor record in the Ryder Cup player reads won 13, lost 21, halved 3
This is the strongest American Ryder Cup team since world rankings began back in 1986
If it was merely won by the best golfers, America’s run against Europe would be similar to their record against Great Britain and Ireland when expansion became necessary. It is no different here in Wisconsin.
Statistically, this is the strongest American team since world rankings began in 1986, with an average player position of 8.9. Against that, Europe have a single player, Jon Rahm, inside the world’s top 10. Ian Poulter is 50, Bernd Wiesberger 63.
So America win? Yes, thinking logically. Yet in 2002, for instance, Phillip Price — ranked 119 in the world at the time — beat world No 2 Phil Mickelson 3&2 on the final day. The competition is full of mysteries like that.
Thorbjorn Olesen annihilating Jordan Spieth in 2018, Stephen Gallacher overwhelming Mickelson again in 2014. So when Brooks Koepka defiantly made the case for America, he did so with reasoning that has proved unreliable on so many occasions in the past. America win, because they are better at golf.
‘A lot of guys are playing well,’ said Koepka. ‘Patrick Cantlay has been playing really well, Daniel Berger, Jordan Spieth’s playing great. Someone has to win and someone has to lose and I guess it’s just who plays better.
‘It comes down to the eight guys you send out every day. Will they play to the best of their ability? If they do, that side is going to win.’
And if that sounds simple, it’s because it is. Yet if favourites never lost there would be no bookmakers. It is Europe’s ability to be more than the sum of their parts that makes the Ryder Cup so intriguing. As a team, America seem to be striving for a compatibility and ease that Europe delivers comfortably.
How did America not tap into Europe's foam cheese-hats crowd-pleasing gimmick?
Take this week’s cheese-hats. How did America not tap into such an obviously crowd-pleasing gimmick? Fans of the local NFL team Green Bay Packers wear hats shaped like triangles of cheese — Wisconsin is the Cheese State, famed for its dairy produce — and Europe walked on to the practice tee wearing them on Wednesday, then threw them to the cheering crowd.
This was, incredibly, the brainchild of captain Padraig Harrington and not some marketing guru. And nobody at the US PGA thought of manufacturing stars and stripes cheese-hats, for PR or merchandise purposes?
Now, no team wins the Ryder Cup through the astute use of novelty head gear. Koepka is right, hitting fairways and greens is of far greater use. Yet Europe gets match play and team golf in a way America does not.
Koepka called this competition ‘different’ in a fascinating interview with Golf Digest and while he now says his comments were interpreted negatively, what came across was a degree of irritation with team meetings and other impingements on the
