2021 Ryder Cup

[Don Wassall]

There's nothing else in golf that compares to the excitement of the Ryder Cup, which will be played Friday through Sunday at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a treeless links type course which has hosted the PGA Championship on three different occasions ('04, '10 and '15).

This will be the first U.S. squad without either Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods since 1993, and that's a good thing as both were regular disappointments in this event. The Europeans have dominated the Ryder Cup for a good while now and maybe this is an opportunity for a fresh start for the Americans.

The Americans have a young squad while the Euros have a veteran-dominated team. Nine of the top eleven golfers in the world rankings are on the American team, but that has mattered little of late as the Euros have a tight bunch that play as a team that puts the Ryder Cup above anything else, while the Americans have tended to be individualists who haven't bonded well, not good for a match play event rather than the usual stroke play tournament. This year for instance the U.S. team has both Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, who famously don't like each other, so we'll see how it plays out.

U.S. Team
Steve Stricker, Captain
Fred Couples, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson, Davis Love, Phil Mickelson, Vice Captains
Colin Morikawa
Dustin Johnson
Bryson DeChambeau
Brooks Koepka
Justin Thomas
Patrick Cantlay
Tony Finau
Xander Schauffele
Jordan Spieth
Harris English
Daniel Berger
Scottie Scheffler

Finau, Schauffele, Spieth, English, Berger and Scheffler were all Captain's picks

European Team
Padraig Harrington, Captain
Luke Donald, Robert Karlsson, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Henrick Stenson, Vice Captains
Rory McIlroy
Jon Rahm
Paul Casey
Matt Fitzpatrick
Tyrrell Hatton
Tommy Fleetwood
Viktor Hovland
Lee Westwood
Bernd Wiesberger
Sergio Garcia
Ian Poulter
Shane Lowry

Garcia, Poulter and Lowry were Captain's picks.

 

[icsept]

The American team looks way better on paper. Jon Rahm is the only Euro in the top 13 of the World Golf Rankings. The U.S. team features 10 players in the top 13. But, you never know, and hopefully it will come down to the wire.

 

[icsept]

Patrick Reed was notably left off the team, with his #20 world ranking and surly personality.

 

[Don Wassall]

Reed's the closest thing the Americans have to a proven clutch Ryder Cup player ala Poulter, Garcia and some other Euros. Spieth and Justin Thomas are both pretty good too but Reed should have been one of the Captain's picks.

 

[Carolina Speed]

The Americans have a young squad while the Euros have a veteran-dominated team. Nine of the top eleven golfers in the world rankings are on the American team, but that has mattered little of late as the Euros have a tight bunch that play as a team that puts the Ryder Cup above anything else, while the Americans have tended to be individualists who haven't bonded well, not good for a match play event rather than the usual stroke play tournament. This year for instance the U.S. team has both Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, who famously don't like each other, so we'll see how it plays out.

Right. Koepka has already made some controversial remarks regarding The Ryder Cup. Calling the entire experience "a bit odd." He's indicated that he does not always enjoy himself at The Ryder Cup among other seemingly selfish comments. If he doesn't like it or doesn't enjoy it, he should just decline to play. It would probably end there, but now we are going to have to hear the endless controversy, but I hope not. He's apparently not going to give up his spot, so hopefully we'll just move on.
Looking forward to watching this weekend.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

Right. Koepka has already made some controversial remarks regarding The Ryder Cup. Calling the entire experience "a bit odd." He's indicated that he does not always enjoy himself at The Ryder Cup among other seemingly selfish comments. If he doesn't like it or doesn't enjoy it, he should just decline to play. It would probably end there, but now we are going to have to hear the endless controversy, but I hope not. He's apparently not going to give up his spot, so hopefully we'll just move on.
Looking forward to watching this weekend.

That's interesting about Koepka. I wonder if his "issue" is with the Ryder Cup being Country vs Country rather than the normal "every man for himself" tournament or if he has issues with some individual or group of individuals heading up the Tournament or committee? It's weird and it could be a distraction for the American team, who is definitely not needing one considering our mostly steady drought when it comes to Ryder the last decade and a half.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

For those that are interested the Ryder Cup has started this morning. Should be interesting this year with no Tiger distraction in the mix. A much needed relief.
I don't have cable or coverage so I will be checking here for updates and opinions on what you guys see, think, etc. An enjoyable sport still without jukin' and jivin' and with manners. What a concept...

 

[Don Wassall]

The U.S. won three of the four morning four-ball matches. The four afternoon four-ball matches are just getting started now.

 

[Don Wassall]

6-2 in favor of the U.S. after day one, as good a start as they could have hoped for. Best ball foursomes are tomorrow, followed by singles matches on Sunday. Tens of thousands of fans are cheering away, great atmosphere for this great event.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

Great to hear, Don! I'm hoping they can stay the course. Another note, I like the fact that it seems most Golf fans I see are mask-free. It's great optics for sure. Thanks for contributing the updates.

 

[Don Wassall]

Wow, the U.S. again goes 3-1 in the morning best ball matches and now has a commanding 9 points to 3 points lead over Europe. Four more best ball matches will start shortly. Counting those there are still 16 matches left (four more this afternoon then 12 singles matches tomorrow), so it's not over but it will take a historic comeback effort by the Euros now to retain the Cup.

BTW, half the 12 European players are from England, and Justin Rose isn't one of them, quite impressive.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

I've been watching network coverage today on NBC. The American team is doing ok but struggling a bit today. The play seems tight and a bit nervous on both sides and it shows.

And if anyone else is watching on NBC it's no surprise that the commercials have zero to do with the interests of any White golf fan. It's like the commercials are for BET or Google World invasion or something. You'd think they'd want to cater to the interests of the viewers but it's clear that agenda trumps market sales. Most of them don't even have Whites in them.

 

[Don Wassall]

Winning three out of four matches in the morning is better than OK in my book. But it's very windy for the afternoon matches, which affects all the golfers but probably the Euros less as the English and Irish golfers play in that type of condition more often than Americans.

And yes, the commercials are as unbearable as they are everywhere else all the time. The golf bigwigs are just as embarrassed at their sport being mostly White as are hockey executives and everyone else. The takeover of everything by the "woke" is total.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

I didn't clarify but I was specifically referring to how the Americans were doing in these afternoon sessions, not earlier. I'm glad for the big lead as we may need it!

And you're right about the bigwigs and with the embarrassment factor in their own minds. Crazy as it is.

 

[Don Wassall]

Yep, I sure don't feel comfortable at all about the current American lead, especially given the Euros' dominance in recent decades. Hopefully it won't be so windy tomorrow. But it's exciting and great theater no matter how it turns out.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

Alright! We go into tomorrow up 11 to 5! Would have been 12 but dang, Rahm for the Euros was good beyond words on his putting game.

 

[Don Wassall]

Rahm has single-handedly prevented this event from being a slaughter in favor of the U.S. He's been a beast.

Really nice comeback by DeChambeau and Scheffler to win the very important second point of the afternoon for the Americans. DeChambeau played great and I'm glad to see it as he takes a lot of unnecessary flak from the DWFs and the anti-White fake news sports media.

Europe has to win 9 of the 12 singles matches tomorrow to retain the Ryder Cup. Highly, highly unlikely to do it on the road but not impossible.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

Yes, Rahm just kept making me sigh and moan with killer putts against us.

The Wisconsin crowd will be pretty rowdy tomorrow. We better pull it off. I also need to mention that Mirikawa was very impressive in just consistently making key putts. Very important and timely ones. Just quietly going about his business today helped us out in key moments. Looking forward to tomorrow!

 

[BeyondFedUp]

EAGLE START for DeChambeau on Hole #1 !!

 

[Don Wassall]

It's looking really good now. . . a huge celebration is only about three hours off

 

[Sean89]

Yanks have outclassed the Euro team. In all honesty this was over after day 1.

Thought the Euros could win the first three single games but Cantlay was solid and Rahm was surprisingly poor.

 

[Don Wassall]

It's a thorough whipping, but it's cathartic after the way the Americans have been schooled in this event for a long time by the Europeans.

As I mentioned earlier I was glad Woods and Mickelson weren't on the U.S. team, they both had poor Ryder Cup records. This was a very young -- and talented -- U.S. team while the Euros were a bit too long in the tooth. I'm sure they'll learn from this and I can't wait until the next one to see if the Americans can win in Italy in '23, as winning on the opponent's home turf is always very tough.

 

[Sean89]

It's a thorough whipping, but it's cathartic after the way the Americans have been schooled in this event for a long time by the Europeans.

As I mentioned earlier I was glad Woods and Mickelson weren't on the U.S. team, they both had poor Ryder Cup records. This was a very young -- and talented -- U.S. team while the Euros were a bit too long in the tooth. I'm sure they'll learn from this and I can't wait until the next one to see if the Americans can win in Italy in '23, as winning on the opponent's home turf is always very tough.

It was a great run for the Europeans, but as you eluded to a new generation of US players are simply on a different level at this moment in time.

Garcia, Westwood and Poulter are likely playing for the last time.

My worry for the Europeans is their young talent doest stack up to the USA. Hovland is one of the few that has a chance to break into elite, major winning territory.