Ryder Cup News
Last week I was fortunate enough to attend all 3 tournament days of the Ryder Cup at Le Golf National. Having not been to a Ryder Cup since 2002, it was a real pleasure to once again witness the world’s greatest golfers battling out the series of matches. As I am sure the TV pictures showed, it was full of emotion and drama creating another incredible atmosphere and amazing sporting spectacle.
As has been the case for the majority of Ryder Cups, the USA named a team that was stronger than the Europeans on paper - averaging an 11.2 world ranking. Despite this, the Europeans were triumphant (by a 7 point margin!) with every team member contributing at least one point. Much has been documented to highlight the differences between the teams; home advantage, the captain’s wild card picks, poor preparation, tight fairways etc. However, based on what I saw from the player’s performances first hand, the USA team was not lacking in skill or a desire to win.
In my opinion, the biggest reason for the European teams success was there appeared to be a stronger collective bond between the players. Despite the Europeans going down 3 ½ - 1 ½ in the morning on Friday, there was actually better body language between the European pairings and it was no surprise when they whitewashed the American team in afternoon foursome matches.
Pairs matchplay is very different to the golf these superstars play week in week out and history tells us that the Europeans are better than the Americans at this format of the game. They were certainly playing for one another and this chemistry that was formed ultimately led to the European team playing better golf and lifting the Ryder Cup.
I’m already looking forward to the 2020 matches at Whistling Straits on Lake Michigan.
