Top U.S. players must boost play to win Ryder Cup
At the risk of sounding unpatriotic, the prediction/wild guess here is Europe will win this week’s Ryder Cup — when Rory McIlroy takes his singles match against Tiger Woods by holing out from the fairway on No. 18 in the most thrilling, dramatic, spectacular finish in golf history.
Just imagine the look on Tiger’s face. Priceless.
Nobody really knows who will win, of course. But it’s always amazing and telling to hear the chatter leading into this event, which sometimes makes it seem as if U.S. golfers are inherently superior. Not anymore. The U.S. won 12 times and tied once from 1959 through ’83. Europe is 8-4-1 since then, including victories in four of the past five Ryder Cups. This year’s European team features four of the top five players in the world ranking (McIlroy, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Justin Rose).
Granted, the American team includes 11 of the top 17 players in this week’s ranking. The wider point: The U.S. didn’t invent golf, it’s hardly the only country to play at a high level and, based on recent history, it really shouldn’t be favored in the matches at Medinah, outside Chicago (starting Friday)
In trying to identify reasons for the U.S. struggles, it’s logical to start with Woods. He has played on only one triumphant Ryder Cup team in his career, in 1999 — he was recovering from knee surgery when the Americans won in 2008 — and his overall record is a pedestrian 13-14-2.
Here’s the astonishing part: Woods himself took some blame for his team’s troubles the past 15 years. Tiger taking blame? That’s almost as stunning as the replacement referee raising his arms to signal “Touchdown!” in Monday night’s Seahawks-Packers game.
Asked about Europe’s success and his role, Woods told reporters Tuesday, “I certainly am responsible for that, because I didn’t earn the points I was put out there for. … I needed to get my points for my team, and I didn’t do that.”
Woods has played better in his past two Ryder Cup appearances, going 3-2 in Ireland in 2006 and 3-1 in Wales in 2010. The U.S. lost both times, so it’s unfair to let him take too much blame. He’s finally warming to the team format, even if it runs counter to his whole persona.
The most compelling reason to pick Europe this week: Some of Woods’ teammates bring even worse track records. Most notably, Phil Mickelson (11-17-6) and Jim Furyk (8-15-4) need to reverse their Ryder Cup history if captain Davis Love III wants to walk away a winner.
Love made a salient point in his news conference Wednesday, suggesting Europe’s surge the past 30 years really saved this event. It barely registered in the consciousness of U.S. sports fans in the ’60s and ’70s, in part because their team always won.
Then, thanks mostly to the abundant skill and abiding passion of Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer, the Europeans started winning — and creating good theater every two years.
“All of a sudden here comes Seve and Langer, and then it becomes really popular,” Love said. “TV made this something America really cares about.”
The galleries at Medinah will be raucous, because Chicago is a great golf city and, well, Chicagoans are instinctively raucous. They will become even more raucous than usual if Woods and McIlroy meet in Sunday’s singles matches, though Love and European captain Jose Maria Olazabal downplayed the possibility.
This is not the viewerfriendly Presidents Cup, where the captains conspire to create appetizing duels (think Woods- Y.E. Yang at Harding Park in 2009). It’s too bad, because Woods-McIlroy would give the Ryder Cup a fighting chance going up against the NFL on Sunday.
“It would be fun to watch, that’s for sure,” Love said. Mighty Bears: The Cal men’s team climbed to No. 1 in the nation in Wednesday’s Golfstat poll, after earning a cotitle with Georgia Tech at the Ping/Golfweek Preview tournament Tuesday in Alpharetta, Ga. Michael Weaver and Max Homa tied for second in the individual competition. Briefly: Casie Cathrea of Livermore won all three of her matches in helping the United States win the Junior Ryder Cup this week in Olympia Fields, Ill. … British Open champion Ernie Els headlines next month’s Frys.com Open near San Jose. Other major winners scheduled to play include Love (1997 PGA), Angel Cabrera (2007 U.S. Open and ’09 Masters) and two-time U.S. Open champ Lee Janzen (1993 and ’98).