Why the Americans won the Ryder Cup
… because they scored more points than Europe.
Cheekiness aside, let’s examine the method to captain Paul Azinger’s madness. In the end, he assembled a squad of 12 guys who, top to bottom, relished being a part of this Ryder Cup.
Europe’s concept of mateship and turning golf into a team sport every other year is often spoken of. The United States this year fielded a stable of horses who ran hard from the far pole just to qualify for this team. This is not to say that they don’t for every Cup competition, but when you realize the Americans compete for a cup every year (Ryder, then the Presidents Cup other years) and the core of those teams has been the same for about 10 years (Tiger, Mickelson, Furyk, et al), maybe the motivation isn’t as high on a Cup-to-Cup basis as is for the European team, which spends two years building up a froth to compete.
(A quick aside to address this: treat the three groups that compete in the Cups — the U.S., Europe and Internationals — as three entities that compete two out of every three years, giving the Americans a break every third year to allow Europe and the International teams a chance to square off.)
I’m not saying that Tiger Woods doesn’t want to be there and isn’t motivated to win the Cups, but the day that he tees off on No. 1 and does the Boo Weekley “ride that horsey” gallop down the fairway is the day I eat my sand wedge. Weekley, Kenny Perry, Hunter Mahan, Steve Stricker, Ben Curtis, J.B. Holmes and Anthony Kim all looked completely stoked to put on the American colors, which obviously rubbed off on folks like Furyk, Mickelson and Stewart Cink. The result was an unbreakable covalent bond only previously seen in the strongest European teams.
Start the talk about team Most Valuable Players and the European conversation begins and ends with Ian Poulter. On the U.S. side it’s not so clear. Was it Perry? Kim? Holmes? Weekley? Furyk? They all rose to the occasion, and when everyone carries a share of the load, you’ll move a ton of bricks. Or, in Azinger’s case Sunday, a two-foot tall trophy.
In postscript, two negatives from the 37th Ryder Cup at Valhalla should be addressed. The Cup was clinched by Sunday’s eighth match, leaving four games on the course that were told they had to play their way in instead of allowing the trailing player to concede, a la Payne Stewart in 1999 when he shook Colin Montgomerie’s hand on Brookline’s 18th tee. Chad Campbell was in the final match and had to play six more holes before being able to join the celebration. He played Padraig Harrington, who admitted to losing this adrenaline and motivation to play once the U.S. clinched the Cup.
Second, on American TV, The Golf Channel aired the postgame press conferences, which showed members of the European and British press in a repugnant display trying to expose a European scapegoat. One reporter openly questioned captain Nick Faldo’s roster and match order, while another asked him how he felt about being the first captain in nine years, “To send Europe home a loser.” Faldo laughed off the question, and assistant captain Jose-Maria Olazabal glared and said, “That question doesn’t deserve an answer.” Good for you, Olly.
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Good post. When it became clear Tiger would not be in the Ryder Cup, I told some friends that it was actually a good thing for the USA. This will be heresy to many, but he is not the ultimate team player and his Ryder Cup record is average. The media attention he gets and his demeanor in general I think distracted from the “team” in the past.
Zinger did a great job and he took his job seriously. Not that past Captains did not, but Zinger was willing to shake things up and not go with the status quo. Kudos to the stodgy PGA for listening to him.
Tiger’s absence was noticeable but I don’t think that the enthusiasm of Kim, Mahan and Weekley would have been any different. They were pumped and maybe the Ryder Cup will return to prominence.
Good points, folks. I do think guys like Kim, Weekley, Mahan, Stricker, et al, probably racheted it up a bit more with Woods absent, but yes they would have been “themselves” regardless. Tiger’s absence meant the others couldn’t wait around for him to “make a play” (win a match) and they had to go out and do it themselves. Besides, I’m sure a bit of ol’ Yankee pride kicked in with folks like Furyk, Mickelson and Leonard — with the exception of 1999 they’ve been getting their butts kicked for 13 years. Boo, J.B., Anthony and Kenny Perry didn’t come with that kind of baggage and were a breath of fresh air.
Europe’s Ryder Cup fell apart on the last day. Faldo’s casual approach to Sunday’s order of play was a big mistake. It was reported that he asked the players their preferred positon in the line-up and went along with their choices. This lead to Poulter, Westwood and Harrington going out in the last three matches. I’m sure they were very tired and all wanted to hole the winning putt, but with the team 2 points behind surely the strongest players should have played first to claw back the deficit. Garcia was arguably the correct choice to lead off but he was “out-Sergioed” by Kim and the first point was lost. With stronger captaincy Europe could have won, but the whole three days gave us great entertainment, and all concerned must be congratulated.