Enough blather already, let’s start the Ryder Cup
Say this much about the Ryder Cup: It’s a striking, refreshing contrast to the weekly parade of PGA Tour events. Team format. Match play. Bubbling emotions. National pride.
And no other event includes so much ridiculous blather before the first ball sails into the air.
U.S. captain Davis Love III did his part in advance of this year’s Ryder Cup, which begins Friday outside Minneapolis. Love insisted he was merely trying to explain why his team should play with more swagger, but that’s not exactly how it came out during an interview last week with SiriusXM Radio.
“This is a great team,” Love said. “This is the best golf team maybe ever assembled.”
That sounded a lot like unwarranted bravado. Remember, the U.S. has lost three consecutive Ryder Cups and eight of the past 10. Maybe the Americans should win before making any bold proclamations.
Not surprisingly, the Europeans noticed. Rory McIlroy joked about Love’s comment, telling reporters Tuesday in Minnesota, “Whenever we are going up against one of the greatest teams ever assembled, that’s motivation enough.”
Masters champion Danny Willett’s brother, P.J., chimed in on another front Wednesday, mocking and ripping American golf fans in an online column. And Phil Mickelson, in trying to explain how to best prepare for the Ryder Cup, trashed 2004 captain Hal Sutton for his illfated pairing of Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Sutton quickly fired back, telling golfchannel.com, “If he needs me to shoulder the blame for his poor play, I can do that.”
This is entertaining, but it’s also kind of silly. Leave the macho chatter to NFL and majorleague-baseball players.
Another misplaced staple of Ryder Cup buildup is the role of the captain. By many accounts, Love and European counterpart Darren Clarke practically will decide the outcome with their various strategic decisions. Please.
Love deserves some credit for taking an inclusive approach, seeking more input than usual from his vice captains (including Woods) and players (most notably, Mickelson). But that will have only a modest impact, if any, on this weekend’s matches.
Paul Azinger received way too much credit when the U.S. won in 2008, just as Tom Watson absorbed too much blame when the Americans lost in 2014. Even so, Mickelson — who memorably clashed with Watson two years ago — followed the same predictable script at Wednesday’s news conference
“It all starts with the captain,” Mickelson said. “That’s the guy who has to bring together 12 strong individuals and bring out their best. … You’re saying — I understand and I hear — well, guys just need to play better or putt better. Absolutely. But you play how you prepare.”
Thankfully, the preparation ends Friday and the play begins. Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson will lead the U.S. against McIlroy, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and the rest of Europe’s team.
That part — the actual competition — will be compelling. Curry tees off in Napa: Woods and Stephen Curry playing golf together? It could happen. Curry and Warriors teammate Andre Iguodala will play in the Safeway Open pro-am Oct. 12 in Napa. This will be the second consecutive year Curry and Iguodala have played in the pro-am preceding the PGA Tour event at Silverado Resort.
This year, of course, Woods is the headliner in the tournament, as he begins his comeback from multiple back surgeries. Woods has not played in a tour event since August 2015, more than 13 months ago.
Pro partners for Curry and Iguodala will be announced the week of the event.
Curry and Iguodala are avid golfers. They played Augusta National in February, in a round arranged by head coach Steve Kerr, and they also played in the American Century Championship, the celebrity tournament near South Lake Tahoe in July.
Curry and Iguodala were paired with tour pro Justin Thomas in last year’s pro-am at Silverado. They squeezed in 18 holes between an exhibition game the night before and a Warriors practice later that day.
This year’s basketball schedule worked out nicely for Curry and Iguodala — the Warriors don’t play an exhibition game between Oct. 6 against the Kings in San Jose and Oct. 14 against the Nuggets in Denver. Briefly: Matt Kuchar (No. 17 in this week’s world ranking) and Paul Casey (No. 13) are expected to join the field for next month’s tournament in Napa. … Mickelson on the death of Arnold Palmer: “The passing of Arnold is a hole in the game that is not going to be replaced. He brought the game to this level, this prominence. He brought people to television and drew them in with his charisma.” Ron Kroichick is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rkroichick@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ronkroichick