2023 Ryder Cup

[Don Wassall]

The 2023 Ryder Cup will be played starting Friday at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club an hour northeast of Rome. The U.S. hasn't won across the pond since 1993, thirty long years ago. The Americans must learn how to win "on the road" again if they are ever to return to dominance in this great event. After the U.S. won handily at home two years ago, this should prove to be an interesting and compelling test for both teams. Can the Euros regain their dominance or can the Americans break through? Should make for must-watch viewing for golf fans.

U.S. Team (world rankings in parenthesis)
Zach Johnson, Captain
Davis Love, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Fred Couples, Stewart Cink, Assistant Captains
Scottie Scheffler (1)
Patrick Cantlay (5)
Xander Schauffele (6)
Max Homa (7)
Brian Haman (9)
Windham Clark (10)
Jordan Spieth (12)
Brooks Koepka (17)
Collin Morikawa (19)
Sam Burns (20)
Justin Thomas (24)
Rickie Fowler (25)

Spieth, Koepka, Morikawa, Burns, Thomas and Fowler were Captain's picks

European Team
Luke Donald, Captain
Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari, Thomas Bjorn, Nicolas Colsaerts, Jose Maria Olazabal, Assistant Captains
Rory McIlroy (2)
Jon Rahm (3)
Viktor Hovland (4)
Matt Fitzpatrick (8)
Tyrell Hatton (11)
Robert MacIntyre (55)
Tommy Fleetwood (13)
Sepp Straka (22)
Shane Lowry (34)
Justin Rose (37)
Ludvig Aberg (80)
Nicolai Hojgaard (82)

Fleetwood, Straka, Lowry, Rose, Aberg and Hojgaard were Captain's picks

 

[NikoDuke]

I expect the US will prevail.

While their record abroad isn't that great and the Euro team has some very good players, the depth of the American team is just greater.

Should be great to watch

 

[NikoDuke]

Well so far my prediction of USA winning seems to be quite incorrect as Europe is off to quite a good start and has built a sizeable lead.

Hearing unsettling things coming out of the USA side.

Manager making excuses that the US players have the flu.

Team not united with 3 distinct groups amongst the players and they don't socialize together.

A few of the players complaining about not getting paid to participate.

My assumption is that these are being overblown by the press and the fact is that the US is simply getting outplayed and the need to turn it around on Sunday.

 

[Don Wassall]

The U.S. won the Saturday afternoon four-balls 3 to 1, but still trail badly going into the Sunday singles matches, 10 1/2 to 5 1/2. The Americans have to get at least 8 1/2 of the 12 points tomorrow to retain the Cup. Highly unlikely but at least they have a bit of momentum and dignity after it looked like it was going to be an all-time blowout for a while.

I didn't watch any of the matches today but did see some of Friday's action and the Europeans were outstanding right from the beginning. Rahm, Hovland, Fitzpatrick and McIlroy were all great, while the Americans staggered out of the starting blocks like they were trying to get rid of hangovers. Supposedly some of them were/are sick but at most it was mild colds and comes across as excuse making. Would be nice to see things tighten up tomorrow no matter which side prevails as closely contested Ryder Cups coming down the stretch are as pressure-packed as anything in sports.

 

[Sean89]

U.S. at least made it interesting, but still a huge task.

Golf has been pretty good and the bit of needle in the atmosphere should make for a good morning.

I'm guessing any of you gents watching, it's been a couple of early mornings.

 

[Booth]

Rory Mcllroy got into with caddie Bones MacKay Sat. I didn't see it, so I can't say exactly what it was about. Where Is D.J. and Bryson?

 

[NikoDuke]

Rory Mcllroy got into with caddie Bones MacKay Sat. I didn't see it, so I can't say exactly what it was about. Where Is D.J. and Bryson?

The argument was actually between Rory and Cantlay's caddie. Bones was playing peacekeeper.
Cantlays caddie was an idiot and was in the wrong.
The matches today have been very entertaining and the Americans are making a go of it but, the deficit may just be too big to overcome.

 

[Don Wassall]

Joe Lacava, Cantlay's caddie, was definitely in the wrong. Cantlay himself almost single-handedly kept the Americans in it yesterday, albeit with faint hopes for today.

Max Homa just defeated Fitzpatrick in a very tight match. The Europeans have 14 points and only need another half point, but it may come down to the final two matches as the U.S. is up in several of the remaining matches but the Europeans lead the final two.

 

[Don Wassall]

The Europeans win the Ryder Cup. Rickie Fowler, who was a complete dud at this year's event, to the point he was the only player on either team not to play yesterday, conceded Tommy Fleetwood's putt for the victory when he shouldn't have. It was a short putt but not a gimme, and you don't concede the Ryder Cup winning putt.

It took the Americans too long to get into full-on compete mode. The Europeans came out very strong from the beginning and were deserving winners.

 

[NikoDuke]

The Ryder cup is the premier sporting weekend for me thus, regardless of a USA win or loss, I enjoy the event and this one was no different.

Agreed, in retrospect Fowler shouldn't have conceded the clinching putt but, in bigger picture it was meaningless as the Americans didn't do enough today. 50% win rate doesn't cut it when the Americans lost 7-1 in the foursomes.

The taking heads analysis of why they lost has already began.
Should they have played and practiced more more so? Especially foursomes?
Was the team split due to Koepka, Cantlay and Xander?
Did Cantlay' s caddies actions galvanize the Euros?

Maybe some of those have merit but, the fact is momentum in golf swings easily and it just seemed it was with Europe from the first tee off.
Looking forward to the next one.

 

[Don Wassall]

Most of the Americans hadn't played since the FedEx Cup playoffs ended a month ago, so I believe the rustiness argument has merit. The rest is extraneous and shouldn't have been a factor.

One big advantage the Europeans have that I never hear mentioned is that they have a built-in "home field" advantage in that they play the courses in the U.S. that host the Ryder Cup while the Americans were totally unfamiliar with this week's venue, just as was the case in Paris in '18. The Italian Open is played every year on the Marco Simone course and the top Europeans play it and in fact some have won it while others were top finishers. I don't know what can be done about that though as most of the top Europeans play the PGA Tour along with their own while Americans only play the British Open and the Scottish Open which is held the week before. Americans aren't going to play the European Tour as the money isn't as good and so they have no motivation to do the traveling involved.