WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

These four stars of the Ryder Cup have seen their careers head in different directions

ANTHONY KIM

There have probably been more sightings of the Loch Ness Monster in the last decade than there have been of the man known as “golf’s Yeti”. The 38-year-old was supposed to be Tiger’s successor, and for a while he had the game, the look and the swagger to deliver on that billing. The tornado of hype amped up when he won twice in 2008 and thrashed Sergio Garcia 5&4 at the Ryder Cup, but then he underwent Achilles surgery in 2012 and never returned.

It is claimed that Kim took out an insurance policy that would pay out between $10 to 20 million in the case of a career-ending injury. There are also rumours that LIV may be able to coax him out of retirement, though that’s probably wishful thinking.

VICTOR DUBUISSON

The enigmatic Frenchman is perhaps better known as the Greta Garbo of golf. A starring role in the 2014 Ryder Cup, when he went undefeated, was the high point in a career which became defined by on-course tantrums, bizarre injuries, and stories of him leaving clubs at airports because he couldn’t be bothered to wait around. He had been set to play in the

LIV Golf Promotions event in December, before pulling out and announcing his shock retirement at the age of 33. “I spent 15 years alone on the tour, curled up (by) myself,” he told L’equipe. “I missed contact with people. So, it’s just simple, human relationships around golf that I want now.”

HUNTER MAHAN

A six-time PGA Tour winner, Mahan was the highest-ranked American in the world for much of 2012 and even beat Rory Mcilroy in the Wgc-match Play that year. He played in his third Ryder Cup in 2014 after earning a captain’s pick and then proceeded to change his swing, with disastrous results. Between 2015 and 2021, the now 41-year-old had only one top-10 finish on the PGA Tour and missed 77 of 117 cuts. He made his last appearance at the 3M Open in July 2021 and is now coaching the boys’ golf team at a private Christian school in Texas.

BRANDT SNEDEKER

Nine PGA Tour wins, two Ryder Cup appearances and $40.6 million in career earnings. As a body of work, that’s up there with some of the best, except Sneds is still only 43 and he hasn’t won since 2018. In fact he’s barely played in the last 18 months and is only the second person on record to undergo an “experimental” procedure to fix a sternum problem. He withdrew from his last tournament in November with a rib injury and is now using a career earnings exemption to keep his PGA Tour status.