Running 2021 Golf Thread

U.S. Ryder Cup team finalized -- no Captain America.

Stricker fills out US team with 4 more Ryder Cup rookies (msn.com)

I still think the Europeans have the better players. And wondering who draws the short straw and has to play with Bam Bam.

 

I dunno about better players. Open champ, Olympic gold medalist, FedEx champ. US has a lot of on form players. Aside from Rahm (admittedly a big aside from), not many Euros have had exceptional years, especially the last few months. As for playing with DeChambeau, Hondo's right that Spieth could, and it seems like English is pretty even keeled. My only question about US team is Scheffler. Yeah, he's really good, but I'd prefer a player who'd won something on Tour this year. Or any year, come to think of it.

 

I know it's not Tour golf, but it's golf, and we had a truly incredible thing happen at work last week, so wanted to share here:

 

We've arrived at the week of the Ryder Cup, delayed a year by Covid but still three of my least favorite days on the golf calendar. The mostly civil world of golf gets pushed aside for a frat party atmosphere. On paper, the U.S. should win, but we all know American teams have largely been a bunch of underachievers for the last three decades; Europe at +210 is a far more attractive wager than the U.S. at -180.

 

Just keep Bryson out of foursomes. His game simply doesn't play well with others in alternate shot. I think there's enough new blood underneath the Bam Bam/DJ/Brooks trio that the U.S. wins, but those eight alternate shot points worry me.

 

The homefield advantage may be that Whistling Straits is really just a straightforward PGA Tour course. Not a lot of creativity involved in playing it. And the US will set it up for the strengths of the US players, i.e., bombers/gaugers. Not saying some of the Euros can't play that game -- i.e. Rahm and Rory. But the US guys are really good at that game.

 

I'd reaaly be stunned if the US wins this thing. The Uk has not only more Ryder Cup experience, they have more players who have done big things in majors. The US team seems like a bunch of guys who have melted down in big moments, if they've ever really gotten there. Granted, not a lot of US players I could think of who you'd rather have on the team, except the obvious one. Tiger would have sucked up a lot of the attention whether he played wll or not - allowing the others to focus on golf.

 

Haven't done much in majors? Five of the eight guys Stricker sends out there this morning have 12 major titles between them, and a former US Open champ is on the bench.