Why Did America Lose The Ryder Cup?
Nothing in golf gets second-guessed like the Ryder Cup. From the captain’s picks to the pairings to how often guys traveled to Paris to play the golf course, every little decision gets scrutinized for the next two years. As someone who was here, who saw the golf course, the players, the crowds, the captains, and the other golf media up close for four straight days, here are my thoughts on why we lost our 9th Ryder Cup in our last 12 tries (we haven’t won on European soil since 1993).
The golf course. First and foremost, Le Golf National killed us. The narrow fairways, brutally thick rough and water hazards punished our poor driving accuracy. We simply missed way more fairways than they missed, and on that golf course you cannot play from outside the fairway. The rough’s too brutal. We needed guys who hit it straighter, and we didn’t have them.
Captain’s Picks.
A lot of people are saying “they just played better golf than we did,” or “there’s no way one or two guys would’ve made a difference in the outcome.” Look, the Ryder Cup is about having different options and optimal pairings to give your team the best chance to win golf matches, build momentum, and build a lead you can protect when things get tight. From the stats above, you can see that hitting just 10 or 15% more fairways can make a huge difference, and some of the guys we left back home are very straight drivers of the golf ball.
I don’t know exactly what we could’ve done better, but when their picks were 9-4-1 and yours were 2-10, the picks made a difference.
The crowds. Make no mistake, there is a home-field advantage at the Ryder Cup. Historically that advantage is 2.7 points. Some of that can be attributed to course setup, but the fans also deserve legitimate credit. Hearing raucous cheers when your opponents’ do something good vs hearing groans or silence when you do, over three intense days, adds up. The roars reverberate through the course. The home squad gains adrenaline and positivity hearing it when their teammates do something big. And only one side gets roars.
Tiger was gassed. Tiger went 0-4-0. It’s stunning. We watched the dude walk up 18 at East Lake a week ago like he was golf’s lord and savior Jesus Christ, then 5 days later he couldn’t muster up literally anything. Lost every match, never even made it to the 18th hole, showed virtually no emotion, and appeared as a forgotten corpse at the U.S. press conference. It’s shocking.
I’m getting a million tweets and texts suggesting he’s hurt. I stood right next to him as he warmed up on Friday and Sunday, and followed him for several holes; he ain’t hurt, he’s tired. He just looked like the tiredest fucking guy I’d ever seen. Regardless, he can’t go 0-4-0. Inexcusable and he knows it.
He’s not the only guy that played the playoffs then came straight to Paris, but it does seem pretty asinine they play the Tour Championship on Sunday evening, fly to Europe, and the most emotional and intense event of every 2 years starts on Friday. There needs to be a week off.
Our top dogs stunk. DJ, Brooks, Bryson, and Rickie are all ranked inside the top-9 in the official world golf rankings. Dj is 1, Brooks is 3, Bryson is 7 and Rickie is 9. They went a combined 3-12-1. Can’t have that.
Phil Mickelson. Phil was awful. Terrible. The only team match he played he was 7 down through 9 holes. He showed a little fight in Sunday singles, but ultimately delivered the clinching point to Europe by hitting his tee shot in the water on 16. I can’t remember a player who was a more automatic loss in Ryder Cup history than Phil was this week. For a guy who was a captain’s pick, and with his history both performance-wise and task-force-creation-wise, he HAS to play better.
Tommy Fleetwood. That guy’s a problem. I know he only went 4-1 while Molinari went 5-0 but Fleetwood is a serious problem. He’s a star. Not only is he going to take our Ryder Cup points but I’m worried he’s going to take our women and children too. They can’t resist him. Everything that is Tommy Fleetwood is a major reason we lost this week and I’m really not sure what we can do about it going forward.
Patrick Reed. Patrick Reed’s one redeeming quality was that he’s Captain America. He’s the least likable, most punchable-faced guy in the game for 103 weeks, but Ryder Cup week every 2 years he’s our favorite player on the planet. He delivers for the red, white and blue.
Well not this year. He went 1-2 with a meaningless singles win, and there’s just no chance this guy is a good team guy. Zero chance. Need confirmation of that? Here’s his wife on twitter throughout the week.
Not JT and Spieth. Big kudos to Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, they stepped up and brought it this week. For about an hour on Sunday things got interesting, and that never would’ve been possible if these two didn’t keep us remotely in it throughout the week. They delivered point after point in the team sessions, in enemy territory, when basically nobody else was. That’s clutch. That’s ballsy. We’ve had our problems with JT, and we’ll continue to, but he was money this week, and taking down Rory to lead off Sunday singles was badass.
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There’s a bunch more, and we’ll continue to break this down in the weeks and months to come, but I’ve got to catch a flight out of Paris. It sucks balls that we won’t get another chance to win on European soil for 4 years, and that at that point it will have been 29 years since we last did so. Whistling Straits in 2020 will be intense, and it’s a must-win.
The silver lining? I looked absolutely phenomenal this week. Big thanks to Peter Millar who can make even me look smoking hot. Reminder, go to PeterMillar.com/fore, buy the best apparel on the planet and we’ll get you comp’ed shipping and a free hat as well. You’re welcome. No joke, the eB66 five-pocket performance pants are MY pants. I have them in every color and wear them every day. Stylish, classy, and the most comfortable pants I own. Try them, you won’t regret it (http://petermillar.com/fore).
Thank you Peter Millar.