Name Your Team USA Ryder Cup Squad

[ChrisP]

Except Tiger won't be on the team.

Tiger and Dufner are both very humble guys. I think sometime within the next 2 weeks, both men tell Tom Watson they're not healthy enough to play in the Ryder Cup. Just my prediction.

[FarawayFairways]

Tom's a decent man too, wouldn't he approach them and say "look guys, much as though I want to, I simply can't select you, you both must know that deep down. Neither of you derserve the tag of being dropped, so it might help save face if you withdraw on your terms if you want to?"

Then he announces in a shock move to the world that since Dustin Johnson isn't technically suspended, he's had a change of heart and takes up his place!!!!

[late347]

Tom Watson would be foolish to leave Rickie Fowler out of team USA...

He's on a hot golfing streak at the moment, doing well since having received instruction from Butch Harmon.

[FarawayFairways]

Rickie Fowler's under threat now is he? I thought he'd qualified by rights, but at this rate I reckon it would be worth any American golf fan turning up at the airport with the bags and see what happens

[FarawayFairways]

Thought I'd give you a flavour of the British print media's reaction to yesterday by typing out the print version of the Daily Telegraph. The first column is about McIlroy, the rest concentrates on the implications of the day for the Ryder Cup. Even though its the end of next month, the Ryder Cup means more to us than the prospect of a Brit winning the USPGA in the next 48 hours

"I didn't hit as well as I did yesterday" McIlroy said, "But I'm still in control of my game and my emotions. And I will need to be this weekend". Watson (Bubba) could have done with listening to that. As the rain hammered down, the Masters Champion lost it, despite being three under after two hole.

"Water on the club face bro ..... water on the clubface. I've got no chance" Watson whined to his long suffering caddie, Ted Scott.

"I can't play golf man. I get nothing. Nothing" Watson hollered after missing the green on the 16th (his seventh)

"It doesn't matter what I do man. It doesn't matter. It's ****in horse shit" Watson yelled after his drive on the 18th found water

It's not be a good week for Watson , who on Tuesday refused to enter the harmless long-drive competition, and who on Thursday told Scott not to inform TV analysts which clubs he was using. That his is prerogative, but these hissy fits must affect his game. His 72 took him back to level par. And he is supposed to be Tom Watson's best player going into the Ryder Cup. What are the chances of rain affecting Bubba in Perthshire in September?

Chalk this up as yet another problem for the US captain. What an experience this has been for Watson. On Thursday he saw two of the players in the automatic top nine qualifying places - Matt Kuchar and Jason Dufner - pull out with a back and neck injury respectively and, when this is put with the "idenfinite leave of absence" for the troubled Dustin Johnson ;last week, it all adds up to a crisis

Even Watsons' good decision threaten to bite. On Wednesday he was rightly praised for appointing Steve Stricker as his third and final assistant captain, so enlisting a man who can act as conduit to the players. But as Watson watched Stricker compile a 68 to move five under yesterday, the thought of Stricker on his team was inevitable.

Should he finish in the top two here, the 46 year old would almost certainly qualify for Gleneagles - and then Watson will need to look elsehwere for his bridge with the modern players. He sounded utterly perplexed after shootting a 73 to finish on three over "You're not supposed to be injured like that. They're young guys. I'm the one whose supposed to be be injured" he said

At least Stricker sounded more positive than on Thursday night after signing for his opening 69

"Guys are dropping like flies on our team and it's a little bit scary" Stricker had said.

"Kuch I see withdrew this morning and Dustin Johnson as we know is out and Tiger is not feeling very good; Dufner and his neck, it doesn't bode well for us so far"

Personally I like the Watson quote - is the Dick Cheney moment a bit nearer. The one that says "what the hell, if you want something doing......"

[AmazingWhacker]

Well....Kevin Costner got back to me and he's out. Turns out he always hated the role of tin cup and thinks it type cast him He said a bunch of other stuff but I had stopped listening by that point. My wife says happy Gilmore isn't a real person. Hmm. That leaves us with the Aflac duck with bagger Vance as caddy. What about the Fat Boys as a collective second pick? (Edit ...I'm told that it was Big Boi not the Fat Boys who starred in Whose Your Caddie). I still say we approach the fat boys. They're hilarious) #wearescrewed

[FarawayFairways]

My wife says happy Gilmore isn't a real person. Hmm.

Actually, that might be a weakness in my advocacy for Groundskeeper Willie. I realise we'd gotten bogged down on the issue of nationality, but perhaps there was a more obvious problem which I'd failed to spot all along

On the positive side, I understand that Jeff has fled south in a daring breakout and claimed asylum in Minnesota. Transpires the Canadians had been subjecting him to repetive hard labour in direct contravention of the International Inhumane treatment of Inhuman Objects Treaty and he's likely to be fast tracked a passport. Rather worryingly though, he says he doesn't care what people write or think about him. Captain Watson smiled on hearing this though, and said "we've got a moron who might make a perfect fourballs partner for him"

[ChrisP]

I think Snedeker is continuing to thrust himself into the conversation as a Captain's pick. While no one else on the "Captain's pick" discussion list is really playing well (assuning Phil and Zach make it on points), Sneds is playing well two weeks in a row and you want guys on your team who are hot.....God knows outside of Furyk, Phil and Fowler, no one else is.

[FarawayFairways]

The cupboards increasingly bare that's for sure.

Tom needs to get a hold of Bubba and Phil now and give both them as severe a talking to as possible. They're both central to the team now.

Just to clarify - PGA concludes the qualifying doesn't it? When does Tom name his merry men?

[ScouseJohnny]

Re: Bubba. Highly temperamental players with a tendency to throw their toys out of the pram can sometimes do quite well in the Ryder Cup. Ask Monty.

Re: Phil. I don't see him as "cowardly." He's a bit over the hill and has been in a bit of a slump. No point going along as ballast. I'm not sure if he is a natural leader to the younger players, so if he doesn't have much to contribute, why bother taking him along (unless he gains an automatic place)? I think some US supporters question his fortitude after being stared down by Rose in 2012.

Re: Tom Watson's decisions...may as well be bold. Even if the US team gets trounced, surely it makes more sense to blood some new players in the process, rather than watch longstanding, but out of form and injured players, get spanked by in-form Europeans.

For what it's worth, I think this will be closer than predicted. However, it's probably time for Tom to get creative. Mahan may be out for form, but he's shown a bit of an upturn just lately (including this week). He's also one hell of a matchplay golfer. Fowler should be obvious. Snedeker must also seem an attractive prospect.

[FarawayFairways]

I tended to think of Monty as being a man on a mission. He did have a 58.8% record in the States, but his strength was on home turf 79.4%

From what we've seen of Buuba, he's much more of a homer. In fact he's a bloody philistine, and probably struggles with anything non American.

Also if he were subjected to the abuse and barracking that the American's served up for Montgomerie I doubt he'd last more than a couple of holes before he walked off the course and refused to play on. He's not so much bad tempered but weak mentally unless everything is laid out on a plate for him. That fragility can be worked on very easily. You don't sense he has Colins cussedness

Undoubtedly this team has the capacity to land safely, and go into the game with more goodwill running towards them than any team since 1981. Even the 9/11 match held over, and played in 2002, had some residual ill feeling for the poor behaviour of the Americna galleries and players from 1999. Tom is more aware than most about the need to try and dilute the impact of a hostile crowd. To no small extent the crowd issue is purely down to Tom Watson and the tremendous resevoir of goodwill that he's built up personally over the decades. Bubba Watson and Patrick Reed would have the capacity to wipe that out in the course of a morning press conference. Bubba in particular. He just conforms with that stereotype, and it makes him an easy target (and you know the stereotype I'm referring to Johnny!). Tom is going to need to muzzle him. I detect that the media are already preparing the ground to put him in the cross hairs and target him. He's demonstrated a few times that he's the weak link outside of his comfort zone (geographic ones) and if a hostile crowd turn on him, I doubt he'll cope.If he starts on his "thanks to the Lord" routine he'll wind them up good and proper. Crikey we even passed a law yesterday that withdraws state subsidy from any nursery found guilty of teaching creationism as fact. It puts it in the same bracket a religious extremism. No one batted an eye lid. Tom needs to tell his team not to incite the crowd unless they really want a war. But out numbered and out shouted as they will be, it would be one of the most stupid tactics they could deploy.

That's why I don't believe Bubba is Monty. Colin had a much greater international perspective and a determination under the bad temper. Bubba you sense is just a mardy arse and his forays overseas to date would offer you little encouragement that he's going to stand up if subjected to this kind of examination. Hell, he can't even cope with rain in Kentucky and the disapproval of his own countrymen in places. Multiply this by 10 and you could get closer to what he could draw down not just on himself, but the others as well. I honestly wouldn't let him do a press conference if I were Tom, and I'd have Phil with him as much as possible

Talking of Peter Perfect, he's another one who I'm not sure stands up to the hostility of Ryder Cup. I did go back and check his home and away record out, as the stats I posted the other day looked too bad to be true. I can't remember where I sourced them from, but I tried running them through Wiki myself this time, noting them down as I went along. I've now got a different set!!!

Now you would be right to say he isn't "cowardly" as you simply can't achieve what Phil has in the game otherwise, but there is a question mark to my mind still. How many majors has Phil lost? I don't know - which is why I ask. I'm not asking how many has he not won. That's a different question. How many should he have won? How many could he have won?

His Ryder Cup Cup record in Europe is:

4 wins - 10 loses - 4 halves = 30% (so far as I can establish)

In the US this rises to

10 wins - 8 loses - 2 halves = 55%

I've no idea if a 25% differential is normal? (I wouldn't be shocked to discover it is) His last 2 away Ryder Cups have been 1 win 7 losses and 1 half though = 16%. In the last decade he's managed just a solitary clean point, a singles win against Peter Hanson. You have to go back to 2002 and a foursomes match against Pierre Fulke and Phillip Price to find his last win at the Belfry

That's not good enough

I think the wheels have come off team America now though, and Phil has to be picked (in truth he's going to qualify by right) and I'd be relieved if I were Tom. As I said somewhere else, he's exactly the sort of golfer you want, especially in a fourball, despite his record in that format, but I question his true level of fighting spirit and determination. Just about all his success has come on home territory with a remarkably adoring crowd making him feel loved. My heart says don't pick him, my head says pick him, and that's where I am with my view of Phil (not that its worth anything). He strikes me as being that guy who squares up to you, and then says to his friends "don't hold me back, don't hold me back guys" and they turn round and say "we're not"

This could be his stage though, but then the last time he had a Tigerless landscape to impose himself on as the alpha player (Valhalla) he failed, 1-2-2, but he could be the key to the American team

And I've found you a transatlantic flight for about $700 by the way Johnny going into Ringway from New York area (admittedly its not direct, but hey)

[late347]

I'd like to see Bubba play because he does play good golf, when the going is good...

ON the other hand... America must build a team capable of winning.

You have the criteria of using previous Ryder cup points (points which are earned by succeeding at ryder cup matches?)

But you don't wanna pick players who are honestly, playing badly, at the moment. No matter the earlier accomplishments.

Kick Jordan Spieth out of the team, and bring someone like Ryan Palmer into the team

just my 2cents

[RJH999]

I'd like to see Bubba play because he does play good golf, when the going is good... ON the other hand... America must build a team capable of winning. You have the criteria of using previous Ryder cup points (points which are earned by succeeding at ryder cup matches?) But you don't wanna pick players who are honestly, playing badly, at the moment. No matter the earlier accomplishments. Kick Jordan Spieth out of the team, and bring someone like Ryan Palmer into the team just my 2cents

You can't. He qualifies automatically.

[ChrisP]

I'd like to see Bubba play because he does play good golf, when the going is good...

ON the other hand... America must build a team capable of winning.

You have the criteria of using previous Ryder cup points (points which are earned by succeeding at ryder cup matches?)

But you don't wanna pick players who are honestly, playing badly, at the moment. No matter the earlier accomplishments.

Kick Jordan Spieth out of the team, and bring someone like Ryan Palmer into the team

just my 2cents

Please no Ryan Palmer. Great week and all, but he's not done anything all year.

Phil and Zach look to be in on points if things hold.

If Sneds has one more solid round tomorrow, I think he and Keegan become almost locks as 2 of the Captain's picks. The third one could go to anyone. Maybe even Mahan.

[RJH999]

Please no Ryan Palmer. Great week and all, but he's not done anything all year. Phil and Zach look to be in on points if things hold. If Sneds has one more solid round tomorrow, I think he and Keegan become almost locks as 2 of the Captain's picks. The third one could go to anyone. Maybe even Mahan.

What if he wins the PGA? :-D

[ChrisP]

What if he wins the PGA?

He has about as good a chance to win the PGA as that Jost guy.

[RJH999]

He has about as good a chance to win the PGA as that Jost guy.

Do me a favor and read the first 10 google articles on Joost Luiten. :-) He's only a few shots back!

[FarawayFairways]

This could be good for the U.S. team. They'll be underdogs.

Meant to ask about this comment

They've been underdogs since the books opened? or are you really telling me that American layers are pricing Europe odds against? (no wonder your government won't let you have access to our exchange markets)

USA are top priced 7/4 last time I looked