Comments on: 2006 Ryder Cup Picks

By: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Volume One | The Sand Trap

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Volume One | The Sand Trap — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:37:17 +0000

Good, bad and ugly. It can be found in the pro's game and our game as well. In the last few weeks, there's been plenty of each kind of golf.

By: Ryder Cup Keys to Victory | The Sand Trap

Ryder Cup Keys to Victory | The Sand Trap — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 13:54:17 +0000

The U.S. has struggled mightily in recent Ryder Cups, but there might be light at the end of the tunnel after all.

By: Eric M

Eric M — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:53:21 +0000

In thinking about the stats that Dave mentioned in this post it strikes me that, win or lose, Lehman is taking a very serious, players perspective, approach to filling out his team. He knows what he has with the top ten and is adding the players that have the greatest chance of complimenting to holes he has to deal with created by the players towards the end of the list.

I like that he is willing to look at those stats more than just total Ryder Cup points and rule out anyone lower than 15th on the list.

Good post, Dave.

By: Andy Greenwald

Andy Greenwald — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 19:11:09 +0000

The picks seem reasonable to me from an experience factor and now seem more reasonable from a numbers factor. Thanks for the research.

I can also see someone justifying Davis from his breadth of experience and length over Cink and Verplank, but Lehman mentioned his health as an issue. I'm not sure Lehman had a lot to really choose from that would be any better or worse than Cink and Verplank.

Only time will tell, but I hope the team jells better this year with the new mix of players and simply plays better golf. The last cup was just dreadful from the US standpoint.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:42:23 +0000

jaypee -

If we're talking about top 10's:

Oberholser - 3 out of 18 (16.7%)
Glover - 6 out of 24 (25%)
Cink - 6 out of 21 (28.6%)

Also, Cink has played better down the stretch than both Glover and Oberholser. Cink has 4 top 10's in his last ten events and Glover has none, Oberholser has one. Glover missed 5 cuts in that timeframe.

Cink has been much stronger down the stretch than Glover or Oberholser. I'd much rather have Cink than the other two...

Dave

By: jaypee

jaypee — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:24:33 +0000

I agree with you on Verplank. However, I would have voted Glover and Oberholser way before Cinq. He has not shown the required strong game except for a short stretch this year. The statistics you quote are not very sparkling (6 / 21 top tens will give him 1 or 2 good matches in 5.