Well folks, you met me yesterday, and now I'm going to give you the first real taste of what I'll bring to the table. I am a HUGE golf guy and The Ryder Cup is an event that I get super excited for every two years. Obviously, this was supposed to be in 2020 but there was this whole thing about a virus (Not sure if you heard about it) and it postponed the competition. For those who don't know, The Ryder Cup is a 3-day event that pins 12 American golfers against 12 European golfers in 3 different formats over the course of the weekend. This year's Cup will be played at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, starting Friday, September 24th. In this I'll break down the course, the events, the players, and maybe provide some picks that I like for the weekend. Lets start with:
The Course
Whistling Straits is a gem in Mosel, Wisconsin. There are two courses on the property, the Irish Course and the Straits Course. Both were designed by the legendary course-designing duo Pete and Alice Dye, who designed TPC Sawgrass, The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, and many more. The Ryder Cup will be played at the Straits course, which plays at 7,790 yards and par 72. Probably the most interesting thing about the Straits Course is the fact that it's a links course, which normally are only found in Europe, specifically England and Scotland. The course is long, has narrow fairways, and greens faster than Usain Bolt. There's also tall grass that grows off the sides of the fairways, making any shot in the rough a nightmare for the people hitting out of it. The course is built directly alongside Lake Michigan, making for some beautiful views around the track. The SHORTEST par 5 on the course is 568 yards, with the longest being an astounding 645 yards (Hole 11, Sand Box).
As you can see from the pictures, water comes into play quite a bit on this course. Being a links course, the layout is flat in terms of elevation changes on different holes, but there isn't a spot on the course where you'll find yourself on a flat lie. Every fairway is bumpy, and every green has some insane break across the entire thing. Being right on the lake, the wind will be whipping, making it even harder to put yourself in position. Irons off the tee will be commonplace, and if the wind is as bad as I anticipate, I don't think anyone will go super low on any given day.
As someone who golfs pretty regularly, I feel like I have to provide the people with what I think I would shoot on this course. I'm currently playing as a 14 handicap, but I'm not very long off the tee. I hit enough fairways as to where I think the rough wont play a huge factor, but the heavy bunkering and water hazards combined with the wind will certainly give me some trouble.
Official score prediction for myself: 150. That's how crazy tough this course is.
The Events
The Ryder Cup is a team-based tournament, featuring 3 different formats for the 3 days of play. Friday and Saturday will both feature Four-Ball and Foursomes, being played at different times of the day.
Four-Ball is comprised of a pair of two-man teams that play a version of best ball. Each player plays their own ball, and the team takes the best score out of each team member that plays the hole. So let's say Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa are teamed up in Four-Ball and on the 1st hole Koepka gets a birdie and Morikawa gets a par, the team score will be a birdie, with Morikawa's score not counting for anything. The scoring isn't stroke play rules, as the entire event is scored based on match play. If Team USA gets a birdie as their best score on hole one and Team Europe gets a par, Team USA will receive one point, and Europe will get none. If both teams get the same score on the hole, no points are awarded. At the end of the event, the winning duo will provide one point for their team's overall score, with a tie resulting in a half point being awarded to each team. Got it? No? Well it's complicated and that's the best way I can explain the scoring so let's move on to the next event.
Foursomes is similar, featuring two two-man teams. This time, instead of each player playing their own ball, the two will play the same ball but take turns hitting it. This is also known as alternate shot, which is a much better name. Each team can choose who hits the tee shot prior to each hole, if both teammates agree. Once a player hits the tee shot, his partner will hit the second shot, and they alternate from there until the putt is made. This is scored the same way as Four-Ball, so I'm not going to waste everyone's time trying to explain the scoring system again.
On Sunday, the format is just called singles. This one makes the most sense, as it's just 12 match-play matches being played throughout the day. Like I said before, the amount of strokes taken doesn't necessarily matter, you just have to get the best score on that hole. So if Lee Westwood get's a birdie on the first hole vs. Bryson DeChambeau's bogey, Lee Westwood would still be 1-up in the match instead of 2 strokes ahead of Bryson. Each individual match won provides one point to the team's overall score, with the same half-point rule applied to halved (tied) matches.
The Players
Both teams are made up of 12 players, but the way the team's are made up is different. Team USA takes the 6 leading point-getters from the Ryder Cup points system, with the other 6 being hand-picked by captain Steve Stricker. Alongside Stricker, Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Jim Furyk, and Zach Johnson will be vice-captains. The captains don't play, but they provide moral support and just get to hang out on the course. The 6 automatic qualifiers for the US team were:
Collin Morikawa (#3 World Golf Official Ranking)
Dustin Johnson (#2)
Bryson DeChambeau (#7)
Brooks Koepka (#10)
Justin Thomas (#6)
Patrick Cantlay (#4)
Cantlay was just able to sneak in there thanks to a victory at both the BMW Championship and Tour Championship, which cemented him as one of the best golfers on the planet. He most likely would've been named to the team anyway, but he was able to qualify right at the end of the season. The points started getting tallied at the 2019 Masters Tournament, meaning more tournaments were included than the standard Ryder Cup. The other 6 captain's picks were:
Daniel Berger (#16)
Harris English (#11)
Tony Finau (#9)
Xander Schauffele (#5)
Scottie Scheffler (#21)
Jordan Spieth (#13)
This is a really solid group of golfers, with some of them playing their best golf late in the season like Finau, Cantlay, and Schauffele. Finau of course picked up his first win in 5 years just a few weeks ago, and Schauffele took home gold at the Olympics for the US in singles play. The states have struggled in Ryder Cup play, going just 2-7 over the last 9 iterations of the event. Both of those wins did come on American soil, so hopefully they can get back on the train and take home the cup again this year.
There are some other storylines that surround this team, most notably being the beef between Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. It appears the two have buried the hatched heading into play this weekend, but I wouldn't expect them to be paired in any events. The two clearly don't like each other and team chemistry has been a huge issue for Team USA in recent Ryder Cups. Another storyline is Jordan Spieth even being on the team given his struggles in recent years, but Spieth really came back into form this past season, even winning the Valero Texas Open back in April for his first victory since 2017. Spieth does provide some controversy in the fact that he has been notoriously bad on Sundays this year, and the singles event on Sunday provides the best chance for Team USA to make up some ground they may lose on the first two days.
Team Europe is made up of the top 9 point-getters, as opposed to USA's 6, with only 3 captain's picks. The Captain will be Irishman Padraig Harrington, with Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland), Luke Donald (England), Martin Kaymer (Germany), Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson (Sweden) as his vice-captains. The 9 automatic qualifiers were:
You may look at that list and say "Outside of Rory and Rahm, they don't seem too scary! Look at those world rankings!" Well, if you're thinking that, get that right out of your head. This is a VERY good team who I expect to give Team USA a very tough time, especially because they're all so used to playing links-style golf. Links courses are commonplace on the European Tour, which is where a lot of these guys spend most of their time. Tommy Fleetwood is as consistent as they come, he just chooses not to play a ton of events over here. Lee Westwood has the 8th most wins on the European Tour of all time, and has played in 10 Ryder Cups already. The rest of these guys are very good golfers as well, with Hovland being one of the best young players on tour right now. This is far from a pillow fight, especially when these are the guys Harrington picked to round out the team:
Once again, not too scary right? Wrong. Ian Poulter has been a thorn in Team USA's side for YEARS in the Ryder Cup, playing in his 7th this year. He has an incredible record of 14-6-2 in overall play, and a lights-out 5-0-1 record in singles play. That's right, he's NEVER LOST A SINGLES MATCH. Sergio Garcia has played in 9 Ryder Cups, coming into this weekend with a 22-12-7 record. Sergio has long been a great match play and team competition player, and I don't expect that to stop this year. And then there's Shane Lowry, who might not jump off the page for some, especially since he's never played in a Ryder Cup before, but then you see this picture:
What's that he's holding? That's the Claret Jug, which they give to the winner of The Open Championship (or as many Americans call it, the British Open) every year. That's right, he won The Open just 2 years ago at Royal Portrush, which is an incredibly hard course. "Well if it's so hard, he couldn't have played that well right?" Wrong again. He shot -15 to win The Open by 6 strokes. SIX STROKES. This guy can play, and I expect him to perform this weekend.
Picks
So we don't know who the pairings are yet for this weekend, but I've still got some plays that I like for The Ryder Cup as a whole, so I'll give them here. Once the pairings come out maybe I'll provide some picks on those as well. Reminder: I am not a gambling expert and cannot provide gambling advice, this is just what I'll be putting my money on this weekend.
TOP POINTS SCORER: TEAM USA
This is an interesting one for me. While I'm tempted to take the easy way out and take Justin Thomas at +530, it's the guys with the 2nd best odds that intrigue me. Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay are both at +580, and both have been great putters this year. Both are Top-35 on Tour in Strokes Gained Putting, which basically means they put a certain percentage better than the average Tour player. I'm gonna go with Cantlay here, mainly because of the putting performance he put on in his two victories at the end of the year. In the BMW, he was making everything inside of 25 feet, and had the best SG Putting tournament since 2004. The Ryder Cup isn't about hitting long drives, it's about putting, so I'll take the guy who I think will make the most big putts.
TOP POINTS SCORER: TEAM EUROPE
Jon Rahm is the heavy favorite here at +280, and sometimes it's okay to go with chalk. I think Rahm is playing the best golf of his life right now and is not one to shy away from the big moment. The putter has been a little inconsistent in his career but his stats are up for 2021, plus he is easily the most consistent driver of the golf ball on Team Europe. I will say, if you want some more value look at Ian Poulter at +1000, strictly for the history he has in this event.
TOURNAMENT WINNER
This is easily the toughest bet for the tournament. Right now Team USA is the favorite at -225, with Team Europe sitting at +175. Team USA has struggled in this event over the last 20 years, and with Whistling Straits being a links course, I think I see that continuing. Obviously I'm rooting hard for Team USA and I probably won't touch this bet, but I think the people deserve to know my honest opinion. I like Europe as the dog here, strictly because they have more experience, better chemistry, and the course plays in their favor. I think Team USA is too focused on hitting it far and not necessarily finding the fairway, which is not the right way to win this event. Ian Poulter is one of the best players in the history of the event and he struggles to carry the ball 295 yards. It's all about consistency and I'm not sure the US has enough to win, so I would put my money on Europe +175.
Final Thoughts
This is a really great event, and I recommend everybody check it out. I know a lot of people can't get into golf like I do, but rooting for your country is always a fun activity. The crowds will be rowdy, the energy will be high, and there is plenty of fun to be had. So even if you aren't a golf fan, try to tune in. I swear it isn't as complicated as it sounds, and once you get into it you'll become a fan of the event for life. Plus, you'll get to see one of the most beautiful golf courses on the planet, and who knows, maybe you'll learn to love the great game of golf. Go Team USA, peace.