Ryder Cup. For the first time in my memory, Europe starts the 3rd biggest sporting event in the world, as favourites. The poor form of much of the USA team and the fact that they have lost 4 of the last 5 Ryder Cups leaves them as 13/10 outsiders. A team that has the worlds top 3 players on their side are now the outsiders, surely there must be some hope that the outsiders will win, just as has happened in 4 of the last 5 renewals? Possibly. In their favour, the Americas have a good Captain, perhaps a great one. Highly motivated yet relaxed, intelligent, with the qualities to lead his team and bind them into a unit rather than a disparate group of individuals. Tom Lehman comes across the kind of guy that will get the most from his boys, make them feel that they are great golfers, rather than the ‘lets kick some ass’ style of the hopeless Hal Sutton. Lehman has already managed to get the whole team together on a 2 day trip to Ireland to play the course and generally ‘bond’, going down the pub, getting on the outside of a few pints of the dark stuff and generally ingratiating themselves to the locals. A doubly smart move. The Europeans on the other hand are led by Ian Woosnam who does not strike me as a great leader of men. He admits he is not enjoying his role, has been on sleeping tablets for at least a week and is dreading all the speeches and the harsh media spotlight. Woosnam is not a happy bunny and I would rather have Lehman leading my side, than someone who seems to be out of his depth. In my opinion, much of the recent success of the European teams in the Ryder Cup has come from inspirational leadership. Tony Jacklin is not everyone’s cup of tea but he changed the way the players saw themselves, he made them feel special, important. Hiring out Concord to take the team and their wives, all suited and booted in the finest garb had nothing to do with golf, but was a masterstroke of man management. Seve Ballesteros was slightly mad but hugely inspirational, making even his most modest of players feel that they could walk on water. Sam Torrance was another whose passion lifted his team and while Langer was a cold fish in comparison, he had that calm assuredness that his players fed off. Woosnam? It is hard to get the same feeling about him. So on the important leadership front, the USA look to have a distinct advantage, but what about the guys who are actually going to be hitting the balls? That is a different story. Of course Team USA has Tiger Woods, the worlds greatest golfer, but notorious for ‘not being a team player’. Notorious for not giving a stuff about the Ryder Cup, he simply craves Majors and has never been bothered about this end of term side show. But, perhaps, there are signs that this time he might actually be up for it. For Tiger to find time in his very busy schedule to join his team for 2 days in Ireland is unusual and then there was the recent dinner he hosted with the rookies on the team. That was done off his own bat, and will have been very useful for the likes of Brett Wetterich, who had never even spoken to Woods before that evening. Tiger did not fly in with his team mates yesterday, he was already at the K Club practicing. It really does looks like Woods is taking things more seriously this time, fulfilling his role of lead player and preparing to defend America’s honour. Hal Sutton at least did Lehman one big favour back in 2004. He paired Woods and Mickelson, not once, but twice. It was a huge failure as the two players clearly did not enjoy each others company, to say the least. They lost both matches and now Lehman knows that keeping these two apart is the only option. Woods and Furyk gelled well together in the last Presidents Cup and it could be that Woods has finally found a team mate that he can work with. The one American player who has always given 100% for his team is Chris DiMarco. He was the only US player who looked like he really wanted it badly at Oakland Hills and has said that he can still hear the sound of the Europeans celebrating their win, and that he wants revenge. It is likely that he will play with Mickelson as they played well together in the Presidents Cup. DiMarco has been playing some good golf recently, 2nd in the Open and 12th in the USPGA, showing that he gets up for the big occasions and this certainly is just that. 2 points e/w Chris DiMarco to be top USA points scorer @ 9/1 William Hills. lost 4 points In Woods, Mickelson, Furyk, DiMarco and Toms, the USA have 5 very strong players, but it is the rest of the team that starts to look very lightweight. Chad Campbell was poor in the last Ryder Cup and has not been playing well for sometime, certainly not a player that is going put fear into any European. Vaughn Taylor is perhaps the best of the 4 rookies with plenty of top 20 finishes on the US tour this season and solid all round game, but he has very little experience of playing outside the US. JJ Henry? They would be better off with JJ Burnel, at least he would frighten the opposition into submission. Henry getting into the team just highlights that the US teams selection method is poor, but to his credit he has played well in his last two events. Zach Johnson has failed to develop into anything more than a reasonable tour player and has not shown any great form for months. Brett Wetterich did make me a lot of money when winning the Bryon Nelson but his game has gone backwards and he has shown very little in his last 10 events. The two wild card picks are a couple of ‘steady Eddies’ Verplank and Cink, chosen by Lehman to pair up with the rookies (Wetterich and Henry?) to settle them down and perhaps feed off their big drives. Cink is a good call, despite a poor Ryder Cup, record as he is playing well and has plenty of experience, but Verplank’s recent form has been very poor and he is suspect under pressure. All in all the US team looks very top heavy and if Woods and Mickelson fail to dominate, they look very weak. Lehman really needs his star players to lead from the front and if they do, he must hope that the rookies pull out the form of their lives. The USA cannot be written off, but it is possibly the worst team they have ever fielded and 13/10 is not big enough to risk a bet. The European team has a lot more going for it. Home advantage, Irish fans have always supported the Europeans with great passion, but on home ground with 3 Irish players in the team, it will be electric. Better Ryder Cup record, the Europeans have won over twice as many matches than their US counterparts. Better recent form, only Paul McGinley is out of form, all the others are performing well, even the competition rusty Clarke. Course form, with the K-Club hosting the European Open for many years, all the players know it well and most have enjoyed decent performances on the course (with the exceptions of Howell, a dire record, Donald has never played a European Open, Garcia only once, Stenson has missed the cut on all 3 visits). The only obvious weakness is the Captain and the novel pressure of being expected to win. If the USA get off to a good start, the pressure on the Europeans will suddenly get very intense, but otherwise, Europe look strong favourites. 5 points Europe to win the Ryder Cup @ 9/10 with William Hill. won 4.5 points The weather forecast for the weekend is not great. The really strong winds and rain (the remnants of Hurricane Gordon) should have passed by Friday but it will be showery and breezy for the first two days so players who have played well in poor conditions should be favoured, and not surprisingly the Irish players are all good in these conditions. I will be looking to oppose McGinley as he is out of form and has struggled at the K Club since it was revamped in 2000. That leaves Harrington and Clarke. Both have great course form on the ‘new’ Palmer course, Clarke 7/1/20/5/4, and a slightly less impressive record for Harrington 39/2/2/61/mc. Of course Clarke has recently lost his wife to cancer and has played in just one event since the Open, finishing a creditable 31st in Madrid last week. However he has been practicing while nursing his wife and is confident that he will be fully competitive. It will be hugely emotional for him this week, the crowd will be willing him on like nothing he will have ever experienced. That should work to his advantage and more than make up for his lack of competitive golf. Clarke’s Ryder Cup record is decent (won 7 and drew 3 from 17) and is likely to be paired with his buddy and Ryder cup veteran, Lee Westwood. A strong pairing and while there is the risk that they may face the formidable Woods/Furyk pairing, Clarke’s course record and turbo boost from the partisan home crowd can propel him to the top of the European points scorers. 2 points e/w Darren Clarke to be Top European points scorer @ 12/1 with Corals. lost 0.5 points If he manages this, and sinks the winning putt, he would be a stick on for sports personality of the year. |
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