Why America May Have Trouble Reclaiming Ryder Cup

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

For almost 40 years, the British — and, for a short time, the Europeans — arrived at the Ryder Cup knowing the only thing they could possibly get out of it was a free jacket, a few shirts, and a couple of fancy dinners. Only the truly devoted golf fan on either side of the Atlantic retained any interest in the event because, well, it was just plain dull. After all, what good is a competition if the final outcome is virtually guaranteed long before the first ball is struck, punch thrown, or starter pistol fired?

Even with yesterday’s second consecutive 18 1/2 – 9 1/2 victory, the team’s fifth win out of the last six contests, the Europeans are still a long way from enjoying the sort of dominance the Americans owned between the end of World War II and the mid-1980s, a period in which they won 18 of 20 Ryder Cups outright and tied for another. But if the Europeans keep up this sort of performance and continue producing exquisitely talented youngsters like Paul Casey, Luke Donald, and Sergio Garcia, this might just start becoming routine.

How can that be? In the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, America was able to field a series of multiple major champions, players regarded as some of the best in history. No one wasted any valuable time theorizing over why the Stars and Stripes won so often — its golfers were simply in a different class than the best that Britain and Ireland could muster. Since Europe started growing its own world-class players (the Continent first played in the Ryder Cup starting in 1979), however, the teams have been more or less comparable — so well matched, in fact, that results such as those we saw at Oakland Hills two years ago and at the K Club yesterday are all the more inexplicable.

Most of the time, those scratching around for an answer to America’s woes fall back on the issue of teamwork, or America’s lack of it. It’s an argument that no longer washes, as Captain Tom Lehman saw to it that members of this American lineup were very well acquainted with each other thanks to various team outings and a visit to the host venue following the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in August. It may be that America had to work harder at being close-knit than the Europeans who, despite wanting to take each other’s heads off on the soccer field, are always united and play as one on the golf course, but there’s little doubt this group of players bonded better than any American side has before.

Some will argue that the European players have more fun and play with a certain joie de vivre that is lacking in their opponents. Well, duh! If you were holing putts from the four corners and taking your opponents to the cleaners you’d probably start having some fun yourself. On the Sunday at Brookline seven years ago, not many Europeans showed much joie de anything as the Americans made the greatest comeback in the cup’s history.

Others note that the course was better suited to the Euros thanks to its place on their Tour’s schedule every year and its slower greens. There may be something in that, but to suggest that players of the caliber of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, and David Toms are unable to adapt to greens that aren’t quite as quick as those over here is laughable, and anyway the best Europeans split their seasons between America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, Japan, and Mars, so it’s not as if they putt on surfaces of the same speed every week.

In 2004, the American team possessed eight players in the world’s top 20 and five major champions. The Euros, meanwhile, had three in the top 20 and not a single major winner. This time, the U.S. boasted the three top players in the world and four times as many with a major victory. America certainly still has the firepower to win the Ryder Cup, but what it lacks is a childhood spent playing matchplay golf — for many the most significant factor in determining the result. And while matchplay is unfamiliar, foursomes is as alien to American golfers as golf carts are to the British.

These are just a few of the reasons — or should that be excuses — put forward to explain recent results at the Ryder Cup. Some of them are even plausible. But even if America started playing matchplay foursomes regularly, the players were all the best of friends, and the tournament was played on fast greens every time, there is one obstacle the American team will forever have to overcome; no matter how much buddy-buddy, cozy-wozy back-slapping goes on, those Europeans, you see, absolutely love sticking it to the Yanks.


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