It's Ryder Cup Time....

GolfCat

GolfCat

Active member
Probably my most favorite golf weekend. I can't say year, because it is normally every two years. I'm thinking this could go down to the last 2 or 3 matches. I think both teams have an absolute tremendous amount of talent across the board from the experienced guys to the 4 rookies on each team. 28 total points are up for grabs. I am a huge fan of match play. Marco Simone Golf & Country Club was specifically rebuilt with the Ryder Cup in mind and is damn near a perfect course for match play. I have to go with the good ol USA in a 14.5-13.5 or a 15-13 type final. Europe chose to start with Foursome matches first. I could type a ton about my thoughts on the matches. I am a fan of many players on both sides. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show. No, I'm not going to stay up all night. But, will stay up to watch all the matches get started on this fine Friday morning.

Go U.S.A!!!!
 
GolfCat

GolfCat

Active member
Really need Homa and Clark to scratch out a win and be down 6-2 after the first day. I have been a fan of Viktor Hovland ever since before he made it on tour, except for this week. ;) The guy is just a fantastic player. Especially, since he has drastically improved his short game. Always said that if he improved just a little bit he would be a world beater. Well, he has done that and in my opinion has been the best player in the world over the last 4-5 months. I just love the way he "covers" the ball at impact. Yeah, his swing in not exactly textbook but he knows what he can do and the ball goes where he is looking. Very efficient and consistent in what he does. When he hits a ball it just has a "smashing" sound.
 
geezer

geezer

Active member
Same here, Golfcat. I've followed Victor since his days at OK State. He and the Texas Tech player are the hottest players in golf right now. I don't see any of the USA players at the top of their games.
Good to see JT finish up scoring well today. Hope he is over the hump and back on his game.
Scottie and Jordan need to find that old magic again. Clark is the only one that played like they are capable.

Gonna be hard to come back from this deficit.
 
T

tywebb

Member
geezer said:
Same here, Golfcat. I've followed Victor since his days at OK State. He and the Texas Tech player are the hottest players in golf right now. I don't see any of the USA players at the top of their games.
Good to see JT finish up scoring well today. Hope he is over the hump and back on his game.
Scottie and Jordan need to find that old magic again. Clark is the only one that played like they are capable.

Gonna be hard to come back from this deficit.
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JT is the only reason why it's not 6-2 - Spieth was completely absent on the back 9. I think JT is a better golfer than Poulter and he seems to care deeply about and get up for the Ryder Cup.

Based on the matchups for tomorrow morning, coming out no worse than 7.5-4.5 is a necessity. If we win the Hovland/Aberg vs Koepka/Scheffler match I think we have a good chance to go on a run. Rory/Fleetwood should beat JT/Spieth (maybe Spieth plays better hitting a ball from the fairway after JT's drives though). I think Homa/Harman beat Lowry/Straka and the Rahm/Hatton vs Cantlay/Schauffele match is a toss up unless we get Friday afternoon back 9 Rahm.
 
GolfCat

GolfCat

Active member
Wow!! The results from today are not at all what I expected. That was just an old fashioned beat down. I have to say that the Scheffler/Burns experiment was a major fail. Also, I think that Captain Donald made a wise choice in mixing rookies in with veterans rather than keeping rookies by themselves. One thing I don't understand is leaving JT out of the morning foursomes matches. I know him being picked was maybe not a favorable pic. But, the guy lives and breathes Ryder Cup. Plus, he has been touted as the heart and soul of Team USA. The Americans dug themselves in a huge hole this morning that will be extremely difficult to climb out of. They need to go 3-1 in the morning and no worse than a split in the afternoon to have a chance going into Sunday's singles matches.
 
GolfCat

GolfCat

Active member
Singles Matches for Sunday. Europe only needs 4 total points to take back the cup. The US showed some life in the afternoon matches with Homa/Harman, Burns/Morikawa, and Cantlay/Clark providing some much needed spark. Thomas is playing pretty good as well. However, he is not getting any help from Spieth. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the deep hole the red, white and blue dug themselves into in the first three sessions is going to be extremely difficult to recover from. Captain Donald obviously wants to put it away early and is not taking any chance in putting his top players (Rahm, Hovland, Rose, McIlroy and Fitzpatrick out early. Not sure what Captain Johnson is thinking putting Scheffler out first. Yeah, he is the #1 player in the world but he hasn't been in top form his week. I think Homa or Cantlay would have been better choices and have shown some fire in their bellies. Regardless, I will be up early to watch and hope for a major comeback.

Match 1 | Jon Rahm vs Scottie Scheffler
Match 2 | Viktor Hovland vs Collin Morikawa
Match 3 | Justin Rose vs Patrick Cantlay
Match 4 | Rory McIlroy vs Sam Burns
Match 5 | Matt Fitzpatrick vs Max Homa
Match 6 | Tyrrell Hatton vs Brian Harman
Match 7 | Ludvig Åberg vs Brooks Koepka
Match 8 | Sepp Straka vs Justin Thomas
Match 9 | Nicolai Højgaard vs Xander Schauffele
Match 10 | Shane Lowry vs Jordan Spieth
Match 11 | Tommy Fleetwood vs Rickie Fowler
Match 12 | Robert MacIntyre vs Wyndham Clark
 
geezer

geezer

Active member
I think I would have conceded Rahm's match and sent my weakest player out against him (in this case Speith, might inspire him to find his game). Then sent Scottie out as the closer. Then hope it matters!
 
GolfCat

GolfCat

Active member
Europe takes back the cup 16.5-11.5. At one point today there was a slight glimmer of hope for the USA. They showed some grit late yesterday and today. However, the 7.5 point deficit they dug themselves into after 3 sessions was just way too much to overcome. Not sure why Rickie didn't make Fleetwood go ahead and putt on 16 to secure the Cup. In the end it didn't really matter. But, I think you just have to at least make him putt it. In the end the Euro's were just much better prepared in my opinion. On to Bethpage Black in 2025.
 
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