16 and 1/2 to 11 and 1/2 How the Cup ended My take

General Discussion
#1

So I watched or recorded and watched the coverage. Here’s my take. I agree with Chamblee and many critics. What was Sam, Jordan, Collin, Rickie doing on this team? Brooks IMO earned his way with his performance in majors, JT to me was the Justin Rose… You needed the veteran. I don’t think any of Zach’s people evaluated what was truly required on that course layout. Keegan, Lucas, Tony and Cam all should have named, especially Keegan and Lucas they don’t hit it off line! Mistake #1

I feel, too many players left their putting stroke in Florida somewhere… 5 weeks off, no tournament practice… we all know it’s not a game you really just don’t get yourself Tournament Ready. Most player usually play 2-3 Tournaments before a Major then 1 week off. Right? Mistake #2

Now as far as the sessions went, the US team as bad as they played were not that far off and should have retained the cup as poorly as they played…

In Session 1 If they came out 3-1 loss instead of a whitewash,

In Session 2 if they took just 2 of 3 they had leads instead of half points full points.

In Session 3 leave it stand just that half point from Schaueffle and Cantlay instead of choking their lead away 2-1/2 to 1-1/2

In Session 4 stays the same

Session 5 Scottie should have made Birdie on 18 for a full point.

If and Ands… but just not choking away everything 14-14 retained Cup…

It really wasn’t as bad as it seemed. You don’t expect pros to physically choke like they did…

That’s my take How about you?

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#2

Yeah I watched a lot of it and don’t really disagree. I actually wasn’t too keen on picking JT, but he certainly outplayed most of his teammates. Brooks earned his way on, but he doesn’t strike me as a guy that is a true team player. There are a lot of good players and I suppose you could make cases for and against a lot of them.

It doesn’t sound like there was as much preparation as there could have been. The current schedule means the top guys don’t need to play for a month or so and they can afford not to. I would hope there would be a lot of practice and some money matches to keep the competitive juices flowing. At least some could have played that course like the Euros did, but none did that I’m aware of. I have times when I travel a lot for work though and when you don’t have to go anywhere for a few weeks you don’t so I get it.

Yes a # of matches were close to going our way. I didn’t see Session #1, but #2 could have been 2 or 3 points for the US. I love seeing great shots, but when Rahm’s chips/putts banged the flagstick and went in for the 3rd or 4th time I was thinking “I know he’s a pro, but what are the odds to do that so many times in 1 round?”.

From my view the Euros really get psyched for this and truly come together for it. They start fired up and get some momentum (in Europe the crowd multiplies it) and then the ball just starts going in the cup for them from everywhere. I mean seriously has anyone ever run their Ryder Cup putting stats because they seem like they would be well outside the norm. The US puts up a valiant effort to chisel away at the lead, but it’s usually too late to fully halt the Euro’s momentum.

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#3

Yeah, having that many chips go in for the Europeans was lucky (yes, they were good shots, but it still takes some luck for them to drop). But the US team couldn’t hit a fairway in the 1st 2 days to save their lives, and the Euros putting was stunningly good. I’d love to see some “strokes gained putting” statistics for the Ryder Cup week.

I didn’t have a big problem with the players that were picked (even though I’m a big JT fan I probably wouldn’t have taken him and that would have been a mistake as it turns out). Keegan Bradley and Lucas Glover don’t really seem like difference makers to me, EXCEPT they fit the course a little better than (say) Jordan Speith.

And I do like going with the golfers who are peaking. You are definitely taking Scottie Scheffler, but he hasn’t been able to putt worth a darn for 3 months. It seems a lot of the guys on team USA did most of their damage in the spring - not really at peak for the Ryder Cup.

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#4

The “home field” advantage in the Ryder Cup is about as decisive as anything in sports. So, that said, from the get go, you’re p–sing against the wind.
I thought it was a bad look on the night of the opening ceremony to sequester the team from the press and other interviews. It reeks of the messaging that “we are weak” , “we are fragile”, “we can be intimidated” (what? by the Press???) Not well played.
The time gap of the competitive play for the US v European team was glaring. The fact that the 12 Europeans performed so well in the BMW PGA Event was ominous.

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#5

I agree with that assessment 100%

#6

That. Bethpage should be fun! I can already hear the whining about NY Guy…

DataGolf’s SG figures and other analysis, for the 24: https://datagolf.com/letzigs-latest/38/postmortem

JT was pretty bad overall. I agree with taking him though. But letting him play that much wasn’t great. Spieth was pretty bad. I wonder how it would’ve turned out if the US team hadn’t gotten sick? Fowler was abysmal, and I think that was due to illness. I get why Burns was included, but it should’ve stopped after one failed experiment.

Me, I bring Bradley, Glover, JT, Morikawa, Young, and Spieth. But Spieth’s on a tight leash. I’d bring Bryson too instead of one of them, if I thought it wouldn’t lead to everyone else getting in a snit. Definitely insist they play some golf during the hiatus. The Italian Open, but I think it conflicted with FedEx stuff.

Ultimately, hard to beat Hovland, Rahm with those chip-ins, Fitzpatrick draining everything in sight, etc…