AMERICANS OUT-THINKING THEMSELVES AT RYDER CUP?
Solution to ending run of European dominance is simple: play better golf
As the characters assemble for the 2016 edition of golf’s Clash of Clans, one wonders if Team USA’s massive staff of deep thinkers might finally move on from splitting the atom and solving the meaning of life to something simpler: holing putts in the Ryder Cup.
Honestly, next to the freak show that is the American presidential campaign, the home team’s machinations in trying to reverse a pattern of losing to Europe in the biennial matches — six of the last seven, eight of the last 10 — are providing some of the best comedy material going.
European No. 1 Rory McIlroy was hard-pressed not to crack a smile Tuesday when asked about the contortions Davis Love III’s U.S. squad — the product of a much-ballyhooed task force created after the defeat two years ago in Scotland — had gone through to eliminate every possible pitfall.
“Look, we both want it so badly,” said McIlroy, fresh off pocketing $11.5 million for his Tour Championship and FedEx Cup wins on Sunday.
“I mean, I think if Europe were in the same position in terms of what America have gone through over the past few Ryder Cups, we would be probably doing the same thing and searching for answers a little bit and trying to change it up. But I think there comes a point where you maybe try a little too hard. As much as we talk about our blueprint in Europe, it’s not rocket science.”
It really isn’t. The answer to Team USA’s losing habit is this: play better. Beyond that is the suspicion the Europeans have been looser, more naturally cohesive, while the Americans tighten up and try to force their friendship, one week every two years.
There are holes in the argument, because many of the Europeans play on the PGA Tour — and the Americans have no problem uniting every other year to trounce the International Team in the Presidents Cup.
But if winning is 90 per cent physical, the other half (as Yogi Berra would say) must be mental.
Given that, how smart was it for Love, who captained an epic Sunday collapse at Medinah in 2012, the last time the Ryder Cup was played in the U.S., to call this American entry “the best golf team maybe ever assembled?”
Not only is it a fantasy of Trumpian proportions — the 1981 team, to name just one, had Nicklaus, Watson, Trevino, Crenshaw, Floyd, Miller, Kite, Irwin, Nelson, et al — but it is tailor-made to end up as bulletin board material, as if the Euros require more fuel.
Love said Tuesday his comment was in response to a radio show caller from Canada, who said the American team needed more swagger.
“And I told a story that Tom Kite always told me: just out-drive them and walk faster than them and dominate,” Love said. “He was trying to give me an attitude of, ‘You’re better than them, let’s outplay them.’ So the question wasn’t, how do you rank this team in history? It was, what are you going to tell your team to fire them up?
“I think we try to be ... especially our top five or six guys ... we try to be better than we are or do something extraordinary, and I think we get in our own way. If we just go out and play our game, results will take care of themselves.”
The corollary to Love’s “best team” comment, though, was NBC analyst Johnny Miller’s contention that Europe might have one of its worst teams.
“We have the Masters champion (Danny Willett), the Open champion (Henrik Stenson), the Olympic champion (Justin Rose) and the FedEx Cup champion (McIlroy),” captain Darren Clarke said. “I don’t really need to respond to that.”
McIlroy said the back-and-forth before a Ryder Cup is normal.
“Yeah, obviously I’ve followed everything and I’ve had a bit of fun with it, with the task force and you know, greatest team ever assembled and whatever else they are talking about,” he said.
“But it’s going to be tough this week. You know, every Ryder Cup is. We shouldn’t have won in 2012, like, we shouldn’t have. It was a sort of steal and grab and go away. It was unbelievable how that worked out. And even in Celtic Manor in 2010, we only won one session, but it was that session where all 12 players were on the golf course and we won that session 5½ to a½.
“I don’t think we’ve got any sort of psychological edge. We anticipate how hard this is going to be. But at the same time, you know, I’ve never been on a losing Ryder Cup team. I hope that that stays the same way on Sunday.”