8 AGAINST ALL ODDS, IS THERE ANY WAY OUR BOYS CAN BRING BACK THE RYDER CUP?
Statistically speaking, the travelling team rarely wins overseas. It’s only happened twice in the last 24 years, though on both occasions it was the Europeans who defied expectations and came out on top, so reasons to be cheerful.
However, the consensus is that it’s going to take another “miracle” to see a repeat this year, not least because the US team is likely to be full of Major-winning talent at the top end of the rankings, while the Europeans feel like a team in transition.
A look at the current World Ranking shows seven Americans in the top 10 spots, and you only need to drift down to No. 19 to field a full 12-man squad. By contrast, only five Europeans (Jon Rahm, Rory, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood) – are in the top 20, and you have to scroll down to Bernd Wiesberger at No. 41 before you get to Europe’s 12th. The last time there was such a vast talent gap – at least on paper – it was 2016 and Europe were routed 17-11 at Hazeltine.
A lack of crowds may negate any home advantage this time around, but Captain Stricker will still have the benefit of dictating the course set-up to favour his players, just as Thomas
Bjorn did to great effect in
2018. But as was the case then, perhaps the biggest roadblock facing Team
USA might just be themselves and whether they can gel as a team.
It’s no secret that Bryson Dechambeau and Brooks Koepka don’t get along, but what about Koepka and DJ? There’s been plenty of
Statistically, Tiger was one of the worst putters on Tour last season, losing 0.634 strokes on the field per round.
needle since they came to blows at the after-party at Le Golf National, not least when Koepka took a dig at DJ’S Major-winning credentials during the PGA Championship. Throw in the giant ego of Patrick Reed and even with a well-respected captain like Stricker, that may not be enough to stop the US team from imploding. Again.
9 SO, IS THAT IT FOR TIGER WOODS?
By his own incredibly high standards, 2020 was one to forget for Tiger Woods – and not just because he failed to qualify for the Tour Championship for the second year in a row.
It all started so well when he tied for ninth at the Farmers Insurance Open, but then he skipped the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Honda Classic because of injury and failed to better a tied 37th at the US PGA Championship in seven starts post lockdown. He missed the cut at the US Open for the third time in four years and undid a strong start at the Masters by making a sextuplebogey 10 on the par-3 12th in the final round, the highest single-score of his entire career.
It’s true that, with a young family, Tiger has other priorities right now, but there’s still the small matter of setting the outright record for the most wins on the PGA Tour (he’s tied on 82 with Sam Snead), adding to his 15 Majors and making the Ryder Cup team. We wouldn’t be so foolish as to write off his Major chances completely, not least because the US Open is returning to Torrey Pines, a place where he has won a record eight time before. But there’s enough evidence to suggest that it would be mistake for Captain Stricker to back a 45-year-old whose body is so fragile that, according to close friend Fred Couples, he is no longer able to practice for a prolonged period of time. The stats back that up and while Tiger’s driving is probably as accurate, if not as long, as it’s ever been, it’s his putting which can no longer be relied upon to bail him out of trouble. It might just be that he is now like every other golfer. Human.