2014 Ryder Cup Discussion Thread

[skydog]

Tom is struggling in this press conference...seems like he needs a nap.

I was a big supporter of him as Captain but I'm starting to have doubts as to whether a 65 year old can physcially and mentally handle this week.

[RandallT]

Yep he looks stuck in the mud. He's taking a beating on social media. It won't hurt the team to knock him down a bit, unless he decides to continue to be stubborn tomorrow. He looked gobsmacked towards the end.

He's talking now in the press room, and they're trying to get more out of him on his decision. He's doing his best, but he's in a hole and just needs to stop digging. It's not a performance a la Ben Crenshaw ("I gotta good feeling about this...").

I do like the match ups for the US tomorrow:

[Thrash13]

The only surprise to me was not playing Reed/Spieth instead of Mickelson/Bradley in the afternoon foursomes, but that wasn't the end of the world by any means.  I knew Phil would take a break at some point, and I'd rather see him playing in four ball than foursomes.  Phil won't be playing the four ball tomorrow morning, and that's because he played both matches today.  That's not the best strategy to me, but other than that, I can't gripe about anything else.

I like the four pairings he made for tomorrow's four ball matches, so we shall see how it goes.  Bubba needs to be a spark for us the next couple days for us to win.  He means that much to our team in my opinion.  If he and Kuchar can get a point in the morning, that will be HUGE.  I'm surprised Garcia isn't playing in the morning, but a break may do him some good.

[Dave2512]

He's talking now in the press room, and they're trying to get more out of him on his decision. He's doing his best, but he's in a hole and just needs to stop digging. It's not a performance a la Ben Crenshaw ("I gotta good feeling about this...").

I do like the match ups for the US tomorrow:

Yes but probably means will see the guys struggling in the afternoon. Here's to hoping Webb throws himself on the sword.

[Thrash13]

Yes but probably means will see the guys struggling in the afternoon. Here's to hoping Webb throws himself on the sword.

I'll be pretty surprised if we see Webb playing tomorrow, but maybe something will click on the range to get him out in afternoon foursomes.  That being said, you can't really hide a guy in foursomes if he's not playing well.  That puts A LOT of pressure on the other player.  Depending on what happens in the morning of course, I'm guessing the afternoon will look something like this for the US:  Reed/Spieth, Mahan/Johnson, Mickelson/Bradley, and Fowler/Walker.

[mvmac]

Why are we so consistently bad at alternate shot?

Nobilo pointed out that Furyk/Kuchar shot one or two under, they just got beat by guys that were four under. Around -1/E is a good score in foursomes.

McDowell/Dubuisson would have lost to any of the other U.S. teams, they were just fortunate to go up against guys that played like crap.

Match play is a tricky thing, just because you lose a match doesn't mean you played "bad".

Having said that, Europe is historically better at foursomes, maybe their pairings match up better for it, maybe they play the format when growing up, I don't know.

Depending on what happens in the morning of course, I'm guessing the afternoon will look something like this for the US:  Reed/Spieth, Mahan/Johnson, Mickelson/Bradley, and Fowler/Walker.

That seems about right. I don't like Mickelson/Bradley for foursomes though, better four-ball team but Watson probably feels like they need a break.

[Thrash13]

That seems about right. I don't like Mickelson/Bradley for foursomes though, better four-ball team but Watson probably feels like they need a break.

That's why I'm surprised they didn't sit out the afternoon match to be ready for tomorrow morning.  I don't like them as a foursomes duo either, but he almost crippled himself by playing them both matches on day one.  You know he won't sit Mickelson/Bradley both matches tomorrow, although that may not be an awful decision.  We'll see, but there are a number of decisions to make for tomorrow's afternoon pairings.  It should be interesting, and hopefully the Americans play well enough in the morning to stay close.

[ChrisP]

Justin Rose is this year's Ian Poulter. He's killing us.

[Dave2512]

Yeah it's kind of tricky what to do with PM/KB now. They got lucky in fourball and just chased balls in foursomes. They probably are a better fit for the morning but if they went out and choked it could be a real downer. What's the chance he splits them up? Neither one looked any different than they did a few weeks ago in the playoffs, both were flat. If they are mopey on Sun things could get ugly. They need to find a spark.

[mvmac]

I don't like them as a foursomes duo either, but he almost crippled himself by playing them both matches on day one.

Yes maybe, after the morning session their record was 4-0-0, so it would have been tough to sit a team like that. Especially after beating Rory/Sergio.

If Watson had put out another pairing and they lost, we'd be commenting on what a dumb decision it was to sit an undefeated team

[FarawayFairways]

Tom is struggling in this press conference...seems like he needs a nap.

I was a big supporter of him as Captain but I'm starting to have doubts as to whether a 65 year old can physcially and mentally handle this week.

I'd been trying to alert people of this months. It isn't something that's only just started. If anything, he's picked up since he came to Scotland!

He's been vague, vacant, contradictory, and exhibited questionable judgement for some time now goign back to about the US Open or just after. I did get a transcript of the post USPGA conference to check it wasn't my imagination and it makes for a poor read "But he's Tiger Woods" is Tom's stock answer.

No one wanted it to be true (neither did I) but the evidence was becoming overwhelming.

Rather than take aim at his age though, I do wonder if its a systemic structural issue.

Who are his vice captains and what should their role be? Tom's already completed one of the most important things any visiting captain can do for their team and thats to dilute the crowd. This is one of the best behaved galleries in recent times (since the competition started to develop its modern intensity). The captain has all sorts of engagements. Should entrust selection to a vice captain. Tom gave the impression to day that he'd made a plan and was going to stick to it because he either didn't have the time, or savvy to make in situ alterations. A VC charged with making selections only, wouldn't have benched Reed and Spieth

[Dave2512]

I don't think he is faltering mentally just that what he expected to happen didn't. It could have gone either way but IMO going back to his picks he put too much into who needs to play with who to be a good pair rather than current state of their golf. Some of the US team has struggled lately, we all saw it going back to the playoffs, some haven't been right all year. I wonder how PM/KB looked on the range? I heard several times Phil was hitting it all over the place in practice, one of the talking heads used pinball to describe it. You would think at some point you have to be honest about it and say maybe this won't work instead of relying on history.

That said besides Rose it's not like the Euro's killed it today. They were a couple of bomb putts away from losing a few matches. It won't happen every time.

[Rulesman]

From what I hear, the course is set up easy. Very soft greens. I fear McIlroy may be the hot guy this week with those kinds of conditions. I was hoping for faster conditions....I feel that would have benefited the US guys more. Soft greens tend to help Rory and Sergio more, guys who are good at aiming at pins.

Garcia & McIlroy

USA win 1UP

Bradley & Mickelson

McIlroy & Garcia

A/S

Walker & Fowler

[Dave2512]

I'm not going to count on Rory and Sergio having a very bad day driving the ball again.

[colin007]

Never liked Watson. He's a sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, arrogant, adulterous prick. Whatever. I don't root for America anyways.

[Dave2512]

I can take or leave him. My only problem is some of the stuff I've heard him say about alcoholism.

[RandallT]

		Euro		USA
		-22		-16
Fri AM	Rose/Stenson(5&4)	-4	Watson/Simpson	+1
	Bjorn/Kaymer	-5	Fowler/Walker	-5
	Gallacher/Poulter	0	Spieth/Reed (5&4)	-6
	McIlroy/Garcia	-3	Mickelson/Bradley(1UP)	-4
Fri PM	Donaldson/Westwood(2UP)	-4	Furyk/Kuchar	-2
	Rose/Stenson (2&1)	-4	Mahan/Johnson	-2
	McIlroy/Garcia	-1	Fowler/Walker	-1
	Dubuisson/McDowell (3&2)	-1	Mickelson/Bradley	+3

From the raw scores (I know they don't matter), it shows:

1. How bad Bubba/Webb played in 4-ball relative to the field. Gallacher/Poulter pretty bad too. The rest were -3 through -6, so fairly even (but Spieth/Reed only played 14 holes!).

2. How good Donaldson/Westwood and Rose/Stenson were at 4-some. -4 is hard to beat in that format, isn't it? Phil/Keegan stunk it up in the afternoon, despite their previous 4-0-0 record together. Furyk/Kuchar and Mahan/Johnson played the only opponents who would've beaten them (IF everyone's scores were the same, of course). But it's safe to say their game is not in bad form, because that's a decent score.

3. Nobody has mentioned much how good Bjorn/Kaymer were. That was a GREAT match with Fowler/Walker.

[mvmac]

I wonder how PM/KB looked on the range? I heard several times Phil was hitting it all over the place in practice, one of the talking heads used pinball to describe it. You would think at some point you have to be honest about it and say maybe this won't work instead of relying on history.

I've know one player that was tied with Phil after 3 rounds at an event. He said that Phil hit the ball horrible on the range on Sunday and then went out and shot 67.

I get what you're saying but when it comes to a player like Phil, who knows what you're going to get, he's a HOF player so you expect him to play well and earn points.

That said besides Rose it's not like the Euro's killed it today. They were a couple of bomb putts away from losing a few matches. It won't happen every time.

Yeah like I said earlier, match play is a tricky format. Rory doesn't make that bomb, U.S. wins that match and all a sudden Rickie/Walker had a great round instead of "choking".

I can take or leave him. My only problem is some of the stuff I've heard him say about alcoholism.

Eh, I think that's pretty old news.