There are a lot of thoughts and musings regarding the American team’s trouncing in Italy at last week’s Ryder Cup. Lots of pontificators sharing their feelings. Bad choices as captain’s picks. Bad pairings. Players wanting to get paid. Hatgate. Caddygate. Illness. All of these only serve as distractions to the real reason for the beat down the American’s received. I’m about to add my two cents on those things, but there is one glaring difference between the American team and the European team at this year’s event that should be obvious to everyone.
Before I get to the major factor which led to the demise of the Americans, let’s start with the captain’s picks. The most controversial pick for the team was Justin Thomas. Thomas went 1-2-1 for 1 1/2 points. Not stellar. But he was tied with Brooks Koepka for most points from a captain’s pick. Not bad for a guy most people said shouldn’t have been on the team. We can argue incessantly about Keegan Bradley being a better choice, but, based on how all the members of the team played, Thomas justified his selection to the team.
Hatgate. Stupid story. Pure clickbait. Cantlay may certainly seems to want to get paid for playing in the Ryder Cup, but it had nothing to do with the hat. Cantlay has gone hatless before. His argument for the hat not fitting correctly is plausible. I know the players get fitted for their hats. I also know sometimes the hats don’t fit. Rory went hatless for the same reason in previous Ryder Cups. Nonstory. Move on.
Except the European fans made it a thing.
Which brings us to Caddygate. Joe Lacava is one of the most respected caddies on tour. He’s worked for Couples, Woods and now Cantlay. He knows his role. He’s been on the bag for wins in majors. He knows the pressure situations. He’s been in them. But the Ryder Cup is a different beast altogether. It’s raucous. It’s emotional. The crowds can be brutal. LaCava got caught up in the emotion of the moment just like the players sometimes do. He forgot his place. Rory and the Europeans used it as fuel. LaCava later admitted he got caught up in the moment and was wrong. Time to move on. End of story.
Illness. Zach Johnson caused an issue when he claimed the American’s were dealing with some sort of illness. There may have been. I don’t know, and I don’t care. It sounded like an excuse. I don’t make excuses for my bad play, sick or not. I’ve played when I’ve been sick as a dog and played well. I’ve also played badly when I was in good health. Simply put, the American’s got throat punched for the first day and a half. Take the heat. Man up and admit it.
The captain. First off, Zach Johnson is a world class gentleman. He was a good choice for the captaincy. But he messed up day one with the first pairing. Scheffler and Burns. Best friends. I know everyone playing in the Ryder Cup is an experienced professional. If this Ryder Cup had been in the US, I’d say the same thing. It takes players a while to get comfortable playing in regular tournaments. Next are the majors. The Ryder Cup is so much more. You’re playing for your teammates. You’re playing for your country. Fans are cheering and jeering, taunting and yelling. It’s a whole new level of pressure golfers are not used to experiencing. Add in the fact they were playing foursomes (alternate shot) which has always been a struggle for the Americans. It called for a pairing of experienced Ryder Cuppers. Scheffler has played in a Ryder Cup, but his partner, Sam Burns, was a Ryder Cup rookie. It set the tone early. Bad decision by Johnson.
Pay for play. This was tied erroneously to Hatgate. Americans wanting to be paid for playing in the Ryder Cup has been and is an issue. Xander Schaufele’s father added fuel to the fire following the event stating Xander had almost been kicked off the team due to circumstances surrounding this issue. It’s a problem.
Here’s my take. This is an event the players fight to participate in. Players who aren’t selected voice their disappointment at being left off the team. Players know they aren’t going to be paid, at least not by the PGA of America or Ryder Cup Europe. Each American player received $200,000 to donate to the charity of their choice. Spouses and significant others were lavished with swag. All expenses paid. First class all the way. There is also incentive with sponsors to make the team. Money is made just by saying you were a Ryder Cup team member. Sure, the PGA of America makes a lot of money from the event.
For the sake of clarification (it seems a lot of people still don’t understand this), the PGA of America is not the PGA Tour. The Tour receives 20% of proceeds. The rest stays with the PGA of America to support the various programs their members, the club professionals, donate their time to run. If you don’t understand what that means, club professionals work with kids, veterans, special needs people to name a few in programs sponsored by the PGA of America for free. They are not paid for their time. They do it for the love of the game. To promote and expand the game, The privilege of playing on a Ryder Cup team should be payment enough.
But none of those things are the reason the American’s lost.
Preparation. The real reason the American’s lost is simple. The Europeans were better prepared. For them, the Ryder Cup is the pinnacle of golf. It is the Olympics. They want to win majors like any other professional golfer, but they live for the Ryder Cup. They crave the Ryder Cup. The American’s have put a model together that resembles the European model. Put a team together that likes one another. Select players with captain’s picks that make natural playing partners for other players on the team. All that is great. I applaud it. It makes perfect sense.
Except for one big difference.
The Europeans spend time preparing together in the weeks leading up to the Ryder Cup. Every member of their team played in the DP World Tour event two weeks before the Ryder Cup. All of them played well that week. They were prepared and sharp and ready to go.
What were the American’s doing? Good question.
Two weeks before the Ryder Cup there was a tour event in Napa. Only two members of the American team entered the event, Max Homa and Justin Thomas. That’s it. Two. Brooks Koepka played an LIV event the week before that. For the rest of the players, by the time they teed it up in Rome, five weeks had gone by since they played a competitive round of golf. Max Homa was far and away the best American. Justin Thomas earned a point and a half which, other than Brooks Koepka who also earned a point and a half, is more than the other captain’s picks can claim. The rest of the team hadn’t played since August 26th at the Tour Championship. None of them would take that much time off before a major. None. By the time they shook the rust off, it was too late. The Ryder Cup was lost.
If the American’s want to win again on a consistent basis, they need to prepare and be ready to compete right out of the gate. The Europeans do. They prepared and played to win. The American’s tried to play to win, but they were not prepared to play.
As always, be thankful every time you stick a tee in the ground. Be grateful every time you line up a putt. Enjoy the beauty of the game. Be humble and gracious with each shot struck. Now, go golf!
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