Young U.S. team ready for Ryder Cup

Three relentless days of matches Sept. 24-26will be held at Whistling Straits, the cliffside course with over 1,000bunkers that has hosted the PGA Championship three times in 17years.

The Americans would seem to have a lot in their favor at the Ryder Cup.

They are on home soil at Whistling Straits along the Wisconsin shores of Lake Michigan. A full house is expected, along with louder than usual cheering for the Stars & Stripes because of COVID-19 travel restrictions for Europeanbased fans.

As for the players? Younger than ever, to be sure, but no less stacked. The Americans have eight of the top 10 in the world ranking — Europe only has Jon Rahm at No. 1 — on a team that has won twice as many majors.

This is nothing new, of course. With one exception, the Americans always bring a better collection of players to the Ryder Cup.

They just rarely leave with the precious gold trophy.

“We have the best players this year,” said Paul Azinger, the lead analyst for NBC Sports who still uses pronouns as if it were 2008 when he was the U.S. captain. “And obviously, they (Europe) roll in with the most confidence and maybe the best team.”

The trick is getting the American players to realize that. At the last Ryder Cup in France three years ago, the U.S. was just as loaded with nine major champions on the 12-man squad who had combined to win 10 of the last 16 majors.

They got smoked again. “I feel like on paper, from head to toe, the world ranking, I would say we’re a stronger team,” U.S. captain Steve Stricker said. “But I don’t think our guys feel we’re better. They know deep down how hard it is to beat them.”

All that matters on paper are the results. Europe has won nine of the last 12 times in the Ryder Cup. And while the U.S. still holds a 26-14-2 advantage dating to the start in 1927, that’s not the real measure. Continental Europeans did not join the fray until 1979, and since then they are 118-1.

Europe, with Padraig Harrington now at the helm of the juggernaut, tries to extend its dominance at the 43rd Ryder Cup, which was postponed one year because of the pandemic.

Three relentless days of matches Sept. 24-26 will be held at Whistling Straits, the cliffside course with 1,000 or so bunkers that has hosted the PGA Championship three times in the last 17 years. American players, it should be noted, have been runnerup in all three.

Why do the Europeans keep winning the Ryder Cup?

They relish the role as underdogs. They seem to play with a chip on their shoulders, perhaps because the Americans don’t — and probably should — have one on theirs.

“That’s our advantage, I guess, in a way, right?” Ian Poulter said in a SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio interview. “That we have delivered when perhaps we shouldn’t have delivered. And this is the magical question that gets asked all the time. That’s what has the American press scratching their head. That’s what has the American team scratching their heads at times. On paper — on paper — the U.S. team should have delivered.

“It’s for us to enjoy and for the American team to figure out,” he said. “There is a level of magic sauce which we’ve been able to create over the years.”

Europe is bringing winning experience to Wisconsin.

Lee Westwood ties a European record by playing in his 11th Ryder Cup at age 48. He joins Sergio Garcia, already with the highest points total in history, on a short list of those who have played in Ryder Cups over parts of four decades. Garcia has contributed 25 ½ points, the same amount as this entire U.S. team combined.