dothepose

September 30th, 2012 at 4:56 PM ^

Well USA isn't doing themselves any favor, but it doesn't look like they are going to lose it. Do you know how the Ryder Cup works?



Phil did what Phil does best though and choke away his match.

JT4104

September 30th, 2012 at 5:01 PM ^

Well....If Stricker can find a way not to lose that puts us in good shape...but he has been putting like poop all weekend long so I'm not so sure.

Eat Your Wheatlies

September 30th, 2012 at 5:56 PM ^

The U.S. simply did not execute when it came to crunch time. Europe has just seemed to have had a certain confidence about themselves the last few Ryder Cups that pisses me off, while our guys back down from adversity.

BlueinLansing

September 30th, 2012 at 6:53 PM ^

give credit to Rose, he sunk 3 big putts on the last 3 holes to turnaround his match.  Without that, the US wins.

 

I will say Furyk and Stricker were painful to watch on the greens, they out thought themselves all day.  No rythym or trust in their instincts, every putt read looked like an excercise in calculus.

TWSWBC

September 30th, 2012 at 7:14 PM ^

Nothing like a good ol fashioned come from ahead loss. I think this event matters to the European players a little bit more. Maybe they are used to playing those games more? Who knows.. Good event tho

Ponypie

September 30th, 2012 at 7:42 PM ^

Based on the intensity of the Americans, the hype of the crowd, and the fact that the US has withered in quite a few of the recent Cups, I would say that each side sees this as a "war" that needs to be won in order to establish some golfing legitimacy - even the way the course was prepared showed serious thought toward ending the European dominance of the past twenty years.

It isn't easy to explain what happens to the Americans in these events - a hyper-individualism, self-focussed culture, whatever, but they certainly had a difficult time handling the pressure after the mini-meltdown of yesterday afternoon.

Who knows?

bacon1431

September 30th, 2012 at 9:00 PM ^

Me too. I root for the US more because they have won been dominated since the turn of the century rather than being a US citizen myself. There are golfers I love on both sides, as well as ones I'm not fond of. If the US reels off 3-4 in a row, I'll probably root for the Europeans.

BlueinLansing

September 30th, 2012 at 10:41 PM ^

in returning to Medinah.  However PGA Championship venues are booked through 2018.    The USGA has its Open booked through 2019.  The Open at Medinah in 1990 was outstanding.

 

PGA Championship

Oakhill, Valhalla, Whistling Straits, Baltusrol, Quail Hollow, Bellerive

 

US OPEN

Merion, Pinehurst, Chambers Bay, Oakmont, Erin Hills, Shinnecock Hills, Pebble Beach

Medic

September 30th, 2012 at 11:46 PM ^

In Ryder cup history by the US team. They literally had this in the bag going into the final day. Mickelson was a disgrace, act like you want to win.

 

WolvinOhio

October 1st, 2012 at 2:02 PM ^

Wether Mickelson was being "sporting" when he applauded the spectacular put on 17(?) made by his opponent, and some of his other shots, or if he just didn't give darn and was there just to have fun.  (EU guys clearly were there to win.)  Color-guy Miller noted that almost the entire US team melted down on 16-18 that afternoon and lost those holes.  I think some of that is due to, frankly, age of the US players, as in the case of Furyk, and maybe Mickelson (who we all know from the commercials is battling arthritis), both of whom faded in the stretch.  I watched most of Sunday, and it seemed as if the entire EU team got hot putters, and the US got cold.  Also, it seemed as if the EU players were constantly hitting the green inside of the US players.  Poulter hit several incredible approach shots to stay in the game and compensate for his erratic tee shots.  With maybe a couple exceptions, team USA looked flat on Sunday.

Tater

October 1st, 2012 at 12:51 AM ^

I listened to Monty do the Euro commentary on satellite.  He rooted for the Euros with a passion that is rarely seen in a US golfer.  What happened Sunday is exactly what has been happening to the US tour for the last five years: their working class players beat our country club brats because they wanted it more.  They were desperate and the US wasn't.  

There is no excuse for not being able to get 4-1/2 points in 12 matches, especially when singles is supposed to be the main strength of the US team.  This is the biggest choke job in the history of the Ryder Cup.

 

Blue Blue Blue

October 1st, 2012 at 1:01 AM ^

please.   every player on both sides is doing very well.

 

this year, Europe sent a young. hungry bunch.   we lost because our old line guys (Tiger, Furyk, Stricker) couldnt win squat.

93Grad

October 1st, 2012 at 10:39 AM ^

the veterans: Woods, Stricker and Furyk.  And even Phil (who was carried by Kegan to win 3 points) failed the team on Sunday when it mattered most. 

They all have bad Ryder Cup records and are largely responsible for the US's terrible record over the last 16 years.  Yet for some reason, DL3 thought it would good to use his captains picks on 2 of them.  

This team needs to go with more new blood next time.  Let guys like Bradley, Simpson, Dustin, Fowler, etc lead the team going forward. 

Trebor

October 1st, 2012 at 11:10 AM ^

I think Stricker and Furyk deserve a lot more of the blame than Tiger or Phil. Tiger's been historically very good at singles match play (4-1-1 in the Ryder Cup, 4-2-0 in the President's Cup, 3 US Jr. Amateur wins, 3 US Amateur wins, and 3 WGC Match Play wins), and his match yesterday was rendered meaningless when he was 1-up going into the 18th hole (yes, he ended up halving the match, but holding that half against him is just finding a reason to pile on the guy - whether it's 14-14 or 13.5-14.5, the US loses). Phil played very well with Keegan in the team events, and Rose did more to win that match than Phil did to lose.

Stricker and Furyk, however, did absolutely nothing. They blew it down the stretch by hitting some really bad shots and being worthless on the greens. Stricker did absolutely nothing in the four-ball matches with Tiger (Woods' birdie barrage on the back 9 in both matches made them competitive, Stricker was just awful). Granted, Tiger wasn't very good in the foursome match he played with Stricker (both, frankly, sucked real bad), but that match wasn't the reason the US lost.

People see Tiger out there and expect him to hit nothing but perfect shots and reel off 10+ birdies a round and win all of his matches regardless of the situation, and when he makes a mistake people love to pile on the guy. The US had the advantage throughout the singles matches, but nobody played well outside of Dufner and the Johnsons. Keegan had an opportunity to put a dagger to McIlroy (think of the pressure on Rory if he went down quickly after being so late to the course), but got nothing going in his round. Bubba was too worried about getting the crowd going that he hit a lot of indifferent looking shots from 30 yards in front of Donald (seriously, every time NBC showed a segment from their match, Donald is sitting half as far from the pin as Bubba, and had to use 4 clubs more to get there). Snedeker had a gift matchup against Lawrie and did nothing with it. Webb got up on Poulter early but didn't keep his foot down and let Poulter get momentum.

Frankly, I'm somewhat surprised that Love didn't back-load his lineup to get the hotter guys (Lefty, Bradley, Watson, Simpson) against the weaker Euros since he only needed 4.5 points and had to know that Olazabal was putting his big guns out first. Sacrifice Stricker and Furyk to McIlroy and Poulter in the hopes that Bradley and Simpson can take out Garcia and Kaymer.

Trebor

October 1st, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^

The 2008 Euro team for the Ryder Cup was awful. Hansen, Wilson, and Casey were really weak players. McDowell wasn't the player he is today (the 2008 Ryder Cup was two years before his US Open win, and he had 4 career wins in 6 years at the time). Jimenez was the Stricker of that team, and older guy who was probably in over his head in a match play event where birdies rule the day. Karlsson hadn't won an event anywhere in the world two years prior to that Ryder Cup except for the week immediately before. The US team wasn't great either, but if Tiger isn't injured he takes the place of Campbell or Holmes, and the US still wins that Ryder Cup.

This year's European team had maybe 4 guys who I'd consider weak right now - Lawrie, Hanson, Kaymer, and Molinari - none of them won a team match. Everyone else on the team is either an excellent player (Donald, McIlroy, Westwood, Rose are all in the OWGR Top 5) or has a history of being a great Ryder Cup player (Garcia, Poulter, McDowell). Or was Colsaerts (who was absolutely ridiculous with the flat stick in the afternoon fourball Friday against Woods/Stricker) - I think he's the European Dustin Johnson, a guy who can hit it for miles and has a fairly decent short game that's really overlooked because of his power.

Also, about this year - with Love setting up the course to play to the main US advantage (power), it makes the Stricker and Furyk picks look even more questionable. I don't think Fowler is a great player by any stretch, but he's got way more pop and actually won a tournament this year (unlike Furyk; Stricker did win but in a small-field event at the beginning of the year). Even Hunter Mahan (despite his ridiculous choke at the 2010 Ryder Cup; plus he did win the WGC Match Play event earlier this year over McIlroy) would have been a better pick. Maybe guys like Kyle Stanley or Bill Haas.