Riding the Ryder wave
September 24th 2008 04:27
What an amazing Ryder Cup. It will be forever memorable as the Ryder Cup where the Americans rediscovered their passion for the contest and the Europeans went septic over the crowd.
The Americans were inspired by their young guns – Anthony Kim, Boo Weekley, JB Holmes and Hunter Mahan in particular. In contrast the Europeans were let down by their experienced campaigners. The fact Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia couldn’t win a match between them over the three days says it all.
To my mind it’s not hard to work out where the Yanks won it: passion. Over the past three editions the Europeans were a together team who kind of circled the wagon and were able to focus on a common enemy. In contrast the Americans in those three successive losses were dishevelled and unfocused.
What captain Paul Azinger was able to do was focus them by using patriotism, and encouraging the crowd to get in to it. All those chants of “USA, USA, USA” worked a treat.
The Europeans in contrast were upset by what Weekley called “hootin’ and hollerin’” and allowed themselves to lose focus. This is where Nick Faldo let them down as a captain. My one fear about Faldo was that he would be too divisive but in the end he was simply too aloof.
But what of the crowd. Is it right for fans to be shouting and cheering especially when the Europeans missed a putt or fluffed a shot? I think it was more a case the American fans were celebrating the fact their team had won the hole – they didn’t go out to disparage the Europeans, it’s just when the Europeans made a mistake it meant the Yanks won the hole, hence the cheering.
Occasionally there was too much cheering while the hole was still alive but what the heck this kind of thing happens only once every two years and the fans should be allowed to enjoy it and express themselves. I think golf can be a bit too staid sometimes and as long as fans don’t yell during a player’s backswing, anything goes within reason.
Anyway, normal service resumes this week with The Tour Championship in the US and the British Masters at the Belfry.
At the Tour championship I’m going outside the favourites. I really like the form of Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker over the past few weeks. Hopefully they can come down from the hype of the Ryder Cup and play the steady golf that has marked the latter part of the season for both of them. My other pick is a roughie in the form of DJ Trahan. He’s been consistent all year and while he snuck in as one of the lower-ranked players in the top-30 for this field the fact is he can play and he can play well on tough courses.
At the Belfry, Michael Campbell stands out. The Kiwi had top-10 finishes in this event in 2006 and 2007 when he wasn’t playing all that well. Right now he’s playing superbly with a great run of form and I can see him hitting top gear and recording a well deserved win.
The others I like are Italian Francesco Molinari, who has been hot recently and David Howell, whose return from injury continues to gather momentum.
The Americans were inspired by their young guns – Anthony Kim, Boo Weekley, JB Holmes and Hunter Mahan in particular. In contrast the Europeans were let down by their experienced campaigners. The fact Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia couldn’t win a match between them over the three days says it all.
To my mind it’s not hard to work out where the Yanks won it: passion. Over the past three editions the Europeans were a together team who kind of circled the wagon and were able to focus on a common enemy. In contrast the Americans in those three successive losses were dishevelled and unfocused.
What captain Paul Azinger was able to do was focus them by using patriotism, and encouraging the crowd to get in to it. All those chants of “USA, USA, USA” worked a treat.
The Europeans in contrast were upset by what Weekley called “hootin’ and hollerin’” and allowed themselves to lose focus. This is where Nick Faldo let them down as a captain. My one fear about Faldo was that he would be too divisive but in the end he was simply too aloof.
But what of the crowd. Is it right for fans to be shouting and cheering especially when the Europeans missed a putt or fluffed a shot? I think it was more a case the American fans were celebrating the fact their team had won the hole – they didn’t go out to disparage the Europeans, it’s just when the Europeans made a mistake it meant the Yanks won the hole, hence the cheering.
Occasionally there was too much cheering while the hole was still alive but what the heck this kind of thing happens only once every two years and the fans should be allowed to enjoy it and express themselves. I think golf can be a bit too staid sometimes and as long as fans don’t yell during a player’s backswing, anything goes within reason.
Anyway, normal service resumes this week with The Tour Championship in the US and the British Masters at the Belfry.
At the Tour championship I’m going outside the favourites. I really like the form of Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker over the past few weeks. Hopefully they can come down from the hype of the Ryder Cup and play the steady golf that has marked the latter part of the season for both of them. My other pick is a roughie in the form of DJ Trahan. He’s been consistent all year and while he snuck in as one of the lower-ranked players in the top-30 for this field the fact is he can play and he can play well on tough courses.
At the Belfry, Michael Campbell stands out. The Kiwi had top-10 finishes in this event in 2006 and 2007 when he wasn’t playing all that well. Right now he’s playing superbly with a great run of form and I can see him hitting top gear and recording a well deserved win.
The others I like are Italian Francesco Molinari, who has been hot recently and David Howell, whose return from injury continues to gather momentum.
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