Ryder Cup Controversy

With the President’s Cup just two weeks away, the Ryder Cup is the event that has been getting the golf world’s attention the past couple weeks. 2006 European captain Ian Woosnam is worried his team won’t be as strong as it possibly could be for the 2006 matches at the K Club. As it currently stands, the European participants must play in 11 European Tour sanctioned events to qualify for the team. The 11 events, however, can include all four major championships and the World Golf Championship events.

When I started watching the Ryder Cup in 1997, the team was determined by the European Tour Order of Merit. This is very similar to how the United States decides on its team. The top ten on the Order of Merit earned automatic spots on the European team, with the final two spots decided by the team captain. For the 2004 Ryder Cup, the rules were changed for the European side. The top five on the Order or Merit still earned a spot on the team, but the next five were determined by the world rankings. This enabled golfers like Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald to make the team.

This doesn’t sound like a problem, but it has definitely turned into one as of late. Many of Europe’s top golfers play the PGA Tour on a full-time basis, including Garcia and Donald. These two guys will still make the European team based on their world rankings. That is, as long as they play in the minimun number of European Tour events to maintain their membership.

This isn’t the case for some of the lower-ranked European golfers, however. Players such as Justin Rose, Jesper Parnevik, Alex Cejka, and Greg Owen probably won’t qualify for the European team because they play most of their golf in the United States and aren’t ranked high enough to earn automatic entries. This was also the case last year for Fredrik Jacobson. He was ranked 26th in the world rankings but failed to play enough European events to qualify.

This brings me to my main question this week. Should the European Ryder Cup team be determined using the current system or soley by the world rankings? Both sides have their strong points and weak points, and I’m going to see if I can break it down with a few reasons supporting the current rules and a few reasons supporting the world rankings method. Then, I’ll lay it all out with my final say. So here goes.

Support for the Current Method
There are a couple different reasons the current method should stay the way it is. And I’m sure many European fans would argue that it should have stayed the way it was in the past, with the top ten being decided by the Order of Merit instead of the top five. The first reason is simply the home pride. If I was European, which I’m not, I would want to see the European players playing more on the home turf instead of in the United States all the time. As an American, it would be much tougher to cheer on Tiger Woods if he played in Europe the entire year.

The European fans take a lot of pride in beating the United States in the Ryder Cup, and I’m sure it is a little bittersweet seeing a lot of their team play almost exclusively in the United States on the PGA Tour. If the system ends up being completely based off world rankings, the European fans may start to lose interest in the Ryder Cup. That would be devastating for the great event.

Another reason the current system should stay in place is the camaraderie issue. One of the key advantages the European team has shown over the past few Ryder Cup events is the team camaraderie with each other. The Europeans seem to be the better “team” each and every time the Europeans take on the Americans. This has to do with guys like Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood playing together a lot on the European Tour.

The Europeans get used to each other’s styles and play together on European-style courses. This camaraderie can be seen on the PGA Tour as well, but not all of the Europeans play in the United States very much. Colin Montgomerie rarely plays in America, with the exception of the major championship and World Golf Championship events. If that is the case, he won’t get to spend nearly as much time with Clarke, Garcia, Donald, and others. This could definitely take away the European side’s best weapon: the teamwork and unity.

Support for the World Rankings Method
There are two key reasons why the world rankings method would be great. The first reason deals with golfers like Rose, Parnevik, Jacobson, etc. These players would no longer have to worry about playing the minimum number of European events in order to make the Ryder Cup team. They could play exclusively on the PGA Tour and move up the world rankings enough to make the team. This would make the selection process much more wide-open because so many that are currently ineligible would be eligible.

The second reason is really very plain to see. If the team was based around the world rankings, the “best” European golfers would be battling it out with the “best” golfers from the United States. Fans wouldn’t have to worry about some being eligible and some being ineligible. They could just take a look at the world rankings and see the top ten based on that. Then the captain could make his two selections and wouldn’t have to worry about the eligibility situation.

Fredrik Jacobson said it best when he said the following. “I don’t see why we should be put out of the Ryder Cup because we want to spend time with our family rather than traveling back and forth across the Atlantic,” he said. “And isn’t the match Europe against America? It’s not the European Tour against America.”

The Final Say
When it comes down to it, I just love the emotion that surrounds the Ryder Cup. It is probably my favorite golf event in the world, including all four major championships. I love to watch team competition, especially when there is so much pride from two different teams. It’s tough for me to decide what method of selection is the right way or the wrong way because there are honestly two strong sides.

I could go the easy route and say it should be based off the world rankings, but I know I would be bitter if that was the way the American side was determined. If Tiger or Phil played in Europe all year and then showed up on the American team at the Ryder Cup, it would be hard to cheer for them. So I have to take the European fan’s emotions into effect when deciding on my final opinions.

I think the original way that was based off the top ten on the Order of Merit was a little too narrow. That would have honestly left out guys like Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald. Those two don’t play exclusively on the European Tour, but they still play there a decent amount. The world rankings method wouldn’t be beneficial either. I think the European fans would honestly start losing interest in the Ryder Cup if all their players were playing in the United States all year. Without the great fans of both teams, the event wouldn’t be half as special.

In the end, the current method provides a little of both methods. And that’s the way it should be. The top five on the Order of Merit should definitely be rewarded for playing in their homeland on a consistent basis. They deserve to play for their continent against the United States. This would also allow for Garcia, Donald, etc. to maintain their spots on the team and make for exciting Ryder Cup matches from now on. Whatever happens, there must be a sense of pride maintained in these matches because that’s half the battle!

That’s all I have to say, and now it’s your turn to voice your opinions. Should European team members be forced to play a certain amount of events on the European Tour? Or should the teams be based solely off the world rankings? Finally, would the European fans slowly start to lose interest if the world rankings idea were put in place? If you have anything to add, feel free to comment below or discuss it in our forum. Thanks for reading Thrash Talk this week and have a great four-day work week!

Photo Credit: © Unknown, PGA.com.