Will the U.S. win the 36th Ryder
Cup?
By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota
Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 9/21/2006
Here
we go again, another emotional roller coaster. This
one’s called the Ryder Cup.
It seems that every two
years, Americans get all worked up over the stars and
stripes and the pride of being the best. As we just
recently saw in basketball with the U.S. team losing at
the World Championships and bringing home the bronze,
we’ve been getting whupped-up on the world stage in
recent years. Who can forget this summer’s World Cup,
when again the U.S. got beat down?
Four of the last five Ryder
Cups have gone to the Europeans. In this biennial event
that puts golf on the world stage, it has now become an
upset if the United States prevails. Despite holding a
24-9-2 lead, the Americans were soundly whipped in 2004
18 and a half to nine and a half, the largest margin of
victory in the history of the Ryder Cup.
Think about how times have
changed. The Europeans have dominated the United States
— that hurts to say, but it’s the truth. Especially
when we all know that Tiger Woods is far and away the
greatest golfer in the world.
However, golf is not basketball,
soccer, baseball or football. It’s all about hitting a
little white ball on a course that measures over 7,335
yards in length and beating par. This week, it’s about
beating Team Europe.
In what sport is the lowest
score the best? Golf. During the Ryder Cup, there are 28
matches in a true team game competition where you really
depend on your ability as a team — not as an
individual — to prevail. For example, the United
States has the three best players in the world by a wide
margin: number-one Woods, number-two Jim Furyk, and
number-three Phil Mickelson. However, the Europeans are
again heavy favorites on their home soil at the K Club
in Ireland, led by Colin Montegomerie, Sergio Garcia,
Jose Marie Olazabal, and World Match Play Champion Paul
Casey.
Golf is an individual game —
it’s you against the golf course — but during the
Ryder Cup it’s the best team that wins. Captain Tom
Lehman, the former University of Minnesota great, leads
the 12-man United States team this week in the battle
for the historic Ryder Cup.
In four previous Ryder Cup
appearances, Woods, the world’s top player by the
greatest margin in history, is just 7-11-2. He will get
to compete in alternate shot, best ball, and match play
in only five of the 28 matches.
Lehman’s U.S. team has
talent at the top, but he also has four Ryder Cup
rookies: Zach Johnson, J.J. Henry, Brett Wetterich and
Vaughn Taylor. As I said, golf is all about hitting
fairways and greens and giving yourself the best
opportunities to score eagles, birdies and pars. This
game demands mental toughness combined with the ability
to overcome yourself.
So, many are putting enormous
pressure on Woods to impose his will to win on his
teammates and for him to want to win this event as badly
as he likes winning Major championships. Sometimes the
body can’t do what the mind wants it to do. It’s
called human nature.
However, the way Tiger is
playing, having won five straight tournaments including
back-to-back Majors, his mind and body appear to be in
synch. He wants to win and make a statement that he does
have pride in playing for his country, and the Ryder Cup
is important to win.
But as I said, this is not a
stroke play tournament. It’s the United States vs.
Europe, and the team that plays the best in the 28
matches over three days wins. I believe in Woods, and I
believe he will prevail this weekend. Now, whether that
is enough to help his U.S. team get enough points to
bring home the Ryder Cup we will soon see.
The European team is tough,
hungry, and stronger and deeper than the United States
team, and they have more previous Ryder Cup experience.
The combined record of the 12 European players is
74-42-21 compared to the United States team that is just
a combined 31-39-2.
Pull out your Americans flags
— let’s go U.S.A.! Bring home the Ryder Cup!
