Golf Community Roundtable: A Ryder Cup Preview

With the Ryder Cup quickly approaching, the main questions on the minds of many golf fans is whether the American team can regain the Cup for the first time in nearly a decade.

America last won the Ryder Cup in 1999 at Brookline by mounting what has been called the ‘Comeback of the Century,’ overcoming a 10-6 deficit after the Saturday afternoon fourball matches. 

Prior to that, the American team had lost the previous two Ryder Cups.

The Ryder Cup first opened up to the whole of Europe in 1979, prior to which the US won 18 of 19 Ryder Cups between 1935 and 1977, when the American team was playing against only Great Britain (and Ireland as of 1973)

Since the Ryder Cup matches have been opened up to all of Europe, the European teams have won eight out of the last 14 matches. 

Europe has all but dominated the last two Ryder Cups, but, this year’s American team contains an interesting mix of seasoned Ryder Cup veterans and some of the game's brightest young stars.

But, will it be enough? 

The Bleacher Report Golf Community has come together to explore whether the American team has enough firepower to regain the cup or if the European team will continue a decade of dominance.

Four of the Bleacher Report’s top six golf analysts have predicted that the European team will once again triumph over their America counterparts.

Regular contributor Alex Dimond has predicted another European victory. 

“I still expect Europe to triumph—although not quite as comfortably as they did two years ago. I reckon a scoreline of 16.5-11.5 in Europe's favour is probable—with victory in the majority of Sunday's singles being the crucial factor.

"The US just will not be able to overcome the lack of experience and questionable ability that affects the majority of their team.” says Dimond.  

Countering Dimond’s position, Josh Millar predicts that the American team’s hunger to regain the cup will play a factor next week at Valhalla Golf Club. 

Miller states “the Americans are hungry, they’re at home and they may just have a secret weapon, native Kentuckian Kenny Perry.  He’s motivated and the players can fed off that.”

Along with Perry, JB Holmes is also from Kentucky and will surely have a massive following of his own hometown fans next week.

Like many golf analysts, Bleacher Report’s Michael Devivero has some concerns when it comes to Paul Azinger’s captain’s picks.

“The U.S. cannot depend on players like J.B. Holmes, Chad Campbell, and Hunter Mahan. All of them have at least seven missed cuts this year. You won't find those kind of stats on the European side,” says Devivero. 

Many believe that a Ryder Cup captain’s legacy is very much dependent on the success of his captain’s picks.  This will hold particularly true of Paul Azinger after he single-handedly modified the US Ryder Cup team’s selection format.

Azinger gave himself four captain's picks rather than the two picks awarded to team captains in previous years. He will likely have a lot to answer for if his picks perform poorly next week.

Andrew McNair takes a similar stance to Devivero by stating “I'm going with the European side. I feel the American side is just too inexperienced.”

Thomas Leemon, a Bleacher Report Golf contributor, also has a similar view to Devivero and McNair.  Leemon believes that the outcome does not look good for the American team. 

“They’re bringing in a lot of inexperienced rookies to face a European team full of veterans who have won this already. Things do not bode well, my fellow Americans,” says Leemon.

The US Team is indeed at a disadvantage when it comes to Ryder Cup experience and past Ryder Cup performance. 

But, the American team is also playing on their home turf in a year where many Americans actually seem to be taking a real interest in the event.

Maybe it is due to the press and commercials bringing to light how the US Team is on the brink of a decade of Ryder Cup defeat to the Europeans, or maybe it has been spurred by the trouncing in Gold Medals the United States received at the hands of China in the Olympics.

Whatever the reason may be, there seems to be a stronger than usual desire amongst American golf fans in regaining the cup and the country’s pride.  This will undoubtedly be displayed at Valhalla next week, providing a difficult playing situation for the European team.

Regular golf community contributor Peter Hughes believes “The US have possibly the better balanced team, and I certainly would prefer to be in Paul Azinger's shoes than those of Nick Faldo. Yes, there are "rookies" in both sides BUT the Americans' big advantage is playing at home.”

Despite the absence of Ryder Cup hero Colin Montgomerie and the larger-than-life personality of Darren Clarke, Europe has once again assembled a solid team from top to bottom. 

The Americans have put together a team similar to those of the past two Ryder Cups; an almost-equal mixture of experienced and inexperienced players.

That is not to say the American team will once again be trounced by the Europeans, but the American team and their many Ryder Cup rookies are currently sitting on a tightrope and could fall either way.

Young players such as Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan and JB Holmes could come flying out of the gate and dominate their matches, or, their inexperience could come to the forefront and prove to be problematic for the American team. 

The past few Ryder Cups have seen a European team that is solid from top to bottom.  The top European players may not have been as talented as the likes of Woods, Mickelson and Furyk, but they were good enough to beat them on any given day if they played extremely well.

Where the Europeans have really dominated in past years has been from the middle to the end of the depth chart.  The bottom half of the American team has contained many mediocre players over the past decade, whereas the bottom half of the European team has remained somewhat consistent.   

There is also something that can be said for the European’s team camaraderie. 

The European teams of recent years appear to have genuinely enjoyed playing in the Ryder Cup, whereas the American players appear to view the event as a burden on their normal routine or their time off from tournament play.

Tom Lehman tried various tactics two years ago, such as making a team trip to the K Club a few weeks prior to the Ryder Cup in the hopes of building team unity. 

Needless to say, Lehman’s efforts fell disastrously short of regaining the cup for America. 

Even more important than Azinger’s captain's picks will be his ability to promote team unity and motivate his team full of multi-millionaires to go out and play their hearts out to regain the cup.

In this day of huge purses, $10 million dollar FedEx Cup playoffs and massively lucrative sponsorship deals, motivating a team to go out and play their best in an unpaid tournament to win a little cup is a lot more difficult of a task than it was for captains 20 to 30 years ago.

Expect this year’s European team to be nothing short of the solid, consistent teams we have become accustomed to seeing over the past decade. 

The American team's ability to compete will largely depend on the performance of the team’s rookies and captain Paul Azinger’s ability to motivate and promote team unity, the success of which will not be seen until the first drives begin flying off the tee next week at Valhalla.

One thing is for certain though; the Ryder Cup will provide fans with some much-needed excitement after a mind numbingly boring FedEx Cup and golf’s first dark week of the season.