U.S. Ryder Cup Team Represents With Passion

They did it.  The unlikely misfits stole the show at the 2008 Ryder Cup. 

Not since 1999 at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., had the American team won the Ryder Cup, but on Sunday they finally succeeded. 

Honestly, I am not much of a fan of the Ryder Cup.  Golf is an individual sport and so the measure of greatness is produced with individual results. 

However, the Ryder Cup, in its essence of being a team event, represents something different.  The players on this team are not playing for themselves; they play for America. 

Not the America of oil dependency and a shattered Wall Street, but America the majestic, an America that produces a young stud like Anthony Kim. 

Kim said he wouldn’t trade his Ryder Cup experience for $10 million.  Kenny Perry claims he set up his playing schedule just so he could get on the 2008 team.  Boo Weekley said he wrestled an orangutan.  Lefty doesn’t talk, he just thinks he is really good.

No matter which way you put it, this team got the job done.  They played for something greater than money.  They played for pride.  They played to resuscitate the bruised ego of past failures.             

Much can be said of Paul Azinger, who pushed for four captain’s picks instead of the usual two.  He had confidence in his young guns, J.B. Holmes, Anthony Kim, and Hunter Mahan.  He did not push, prod, or force a positive outcome; he just let his players be themselves. 

Boo Weekley found his inner Happy Gilmore as he galloped out of the first tee box, and Anthony Kim fist-pumped his way to victory over Sergio. 

Golf has not been the same without Tiger Woods; at least it isn’t the same for me.  Tiger Woods is golf and golf is Tiger Woods.  The Ryder Cup however is different.

Certainly, the team would have benefited from having Tiger.  He is the best in the world, but the Ryder Cup is not his arena to shine.

I would much prefer to watch Tiger in the hunt for a major on Sunday than the U.S. Ryder Cup team, but if I don’t have a choice then I guess I don’t mind finding a few new players to root for. 

Plus, it is always nice to see America do something well. With the bag, the uniform, the flag, those players play for one team, for one goal, for one country. 

Don’t worry, I have not been caught up in all the hoopla, but I can recognize something special, and the Ryder Cup is that something.