News & Tours
11 reasons why Europe will win the Ryder Cup (and 11 more the U.S. could win)
By John Huggan
Picking the winner of any Ryder Cup shouldn't be so
difficult, of course. There's only two teams -- so a 50-50-chance of
choosing correctly. It's an even money bet. But it's tougher than that.
Take the last two matches. Both won narrowly by the European squad, both
could just as easily have gone the other way. Invariably, it's too
close to call with any certainty. And this one looks like being just as
competitive.
So some thoughtful, intelligent
and logical analysis is required. Or, instead, 11 top-of-the-head
reasons why each side could, should or might win the 40th episode of
golf's most eagerly anticipated biennial series at Gleneagles over the
next three days. Here goes.
WHY EUROPE WILL WIN
1) World
number five Henrik Stenson is back for the first time since 2008.
That's a pretty potent addition to a team that has won seven of the last
nine Ryder Cups.
2) The best American golfer is absent. No Dustin Johnson is a huge and potentially fatal blow to the visitor's cause.
3) While
it is true that a few of the Euros will be seeing the PGA Centenary
Course for the first time in more than a wee while, the vast majority of
the Americans will be casting their eyes over it for the first time
ever. That's an edge. Not a big edge, but an edge nonetheless.
4) Four
of the top-six players on the planet will be wearing Europe's colors
this week. One of the top-six will be playing for the US.
5) The
Caledonian crowd will be cheering very long and very loudly for the
home side. Hey, we need a break from that Referendum stuff.
6) Paul McGinley has more assistants than does Tom Watson. So there.
7) The best golfer in the world is playing for Europe.
8) Stephen Gallacher is Scottish. As will be most of the spectators. (See 5)
9) Based on his play for most of this year, Sergio Garcia looks like he is (finally) making putts.
10) The highest-ranked American in the team has not won a tournament in four years.
11) The Europeans always win.
WHY THE US WILL WIN
1) No cigar-puffing Michael Jordan, who last time tried to distract Ian Poulter. And we all know what happened then. The big dope.
2) The law of averages is on America's side. I mean, this can't go on forever can it? Can it?
3) No Tiger. The only time America has emerged victorious in this century, Woods was notably absent.
4) Rickie
Fowler, patriotic haircut and all, is in town. At the end of a breakout
year, he is a young man on the rise. And, as his Walker Cup record
clearly shows, he is no dud when it comes to match play.
5) Jim Furyk is really pissed off. As he should be after losing the last two holes at Medinah to a brace of Garcia pars.
6) The course might be located in Scotland. But it plays like it is in Seattle.
7) Patrick Reed might just be right (top-five player).
8) The
Scottish crowd will become confused by the presence of someone called
"Jimmy Walker" and begin cheering for the "wrong" team.
9) If Jordan Spieth really is going to become a truly great player, now would be as good a time as any to prove it.
10) Tom Watson never loses in the Ryder Cup, not as a player or a captain. Never. And certainly not in Scotland.
11) As the late tennis great Vitas Gerulaitis might have said: "No one beats America eight times out of ten."
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