Going into the 2012 Ryder Cup, there isn’t a noticeable chasm between the two teams. The Euros have the hottest player in the world over the last two months in Rory McIlroy, but the American team has Tiger Woods and 2012 FedExCup champ Brandt Snedeker. The U.S. team has one more player in the OWGR top 10, as well as the highest average ranking, but the European team has three of the top four players. The American team has slightly more overall experience, but the Euros have a better overall record. And so on it goes.
The Americans are looking to bring the Cup back Stateside, while the Europeans hope to keep it. Let’s break it down.
Titleist, as it has done every other year for the last few years now, is updating their driver offering with the release of the 913 series of drivers. Like the 910 series, there will be two different models – the larger, more forgiving D2 and the smaller, more workable D3. Also coming back is the SureFit system which allows the golfer alter the loft and face angle of the club. While there are a lot of similarities between the 913s and the 910s, there are a lot of new features as well.
The 2012 seasons last major the PGA Championship heads to Kiawah Island with lots of intriguing story lines. Last years winner Keegan Bradley wins last week at the Bridgestone, and of course who can forget Tiger who is always a favorite in any major. The weather at Kiawah Island will likely be a big factor, and it will be interesting to see how the players handle it. Let’s see what the staff expects for this years event.
Many people aren’t aware of the fact that Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup mere months after it opened. Check out Google Earth and go back to aerial photos from 1989 and you won’t even see the beginnings of a golf course. Yet less than two years later the site hosted the “War by the Shore” that really set the modern-day Ryder Cup as the most hotly contested, emotional, nationalistic event in golf.