THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
The 44th holding of the Ryder Cup takes place this coming weekend. The venue for this year's event, a biannual competition that features the best of United States golfers against Europe's elite, will be the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Guidonia Montecelio just north of Rome, Italy.
Coming off the back of a record-breaking 19-9 win two years ago at Whistling Straits, it is anticipated that this year's competition will be a lot closer. As always both teams are hyping up their own chances of winning while paying respect to their opponents. The battle lines will be drawn, however, and once the first pairings are announced for the Friday morning's play, any friendships that are established will soon be forgotten.
As a way of a mouth-watering preview, the Solheim Cup, the same version of foursomes, fourballs, and singles matches across three days, but for the women golfers took place last weekend. It was a thrilling encounter that went almost down to the very last match. Team USA jumped up to a 4-0 lead on the first day after sweeping the foursomes contests, but Europe steadily chipped away at the lead, and by the start of play on Sunday morning the match was tied at 8-8. Europe were the holders, and going for three straight Solheim wins, therefore only needed to hit the magic 14 points mark to retain their title.
With matches ebbing and flowing, Europe finally managed to gain footholds in several key matches in the middle of the order, and points started to be gained. It eventually fell to Spanish golfer, Carlota Ciganda, to sink her short putt on the 17th hole of her match to gain the 14th point for her team. The result was a 14-14 tie, meaning the Solheim remains in European hands again.
The men this week will look to go one step better by retaining their own trophy, and where there was much drama in Spain last week with the women, it puts extra pressure on captain Zach Johnson. He has had the task of selecting a team that would be able to compete away from American soil and take the sting out of a hostile European crowd. The team of twelve players consists of six who have topped the USPGA money list, which is transferred into points, and six who are selected by the captain. Points are gained through various events in the calendar and players can often play themselves into the Ryder Cup team very early by hitting great form and then can see that form drop off. This is why the captain's selections, which have gone up from four in recent years, are important as some players will come into form too late but are considered a vital part of the team setup, especially if they are experienced Ryder Cup players.
Scottie Scheffler is the leading points scorer over the qualification period, and he had over double the number of points to the second-placed man Wyndham Clark. World number one Scheffler is always considered a threat when Major tournaments are played and his play this weekend will be crucial to how the team does. The other four automatic places are filled by Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, and Xander Schauffele. This is where the selection process becomes hard on some players who may have done enough to be considered for the team. Cameron Young and Keegan Bradley were in the top 12 earners but have been left out. Instead, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas have been selected, two names that have played in the Cup before and will bring vital experience to a team that is a little short of it.
The team in full is as follows:
After making the tough selections, Zach Johnson will go into the Friday morning having to make more difficult decisions. The pairings for the first two days format play of foursomes and fourballs could be crucial. Player chemistry is one thing, and shielding perhaps more inexperienced team players from too much pressure is another. Gaining any advantage going into the Sunday singles matches is important. The magic number is 14 for Team USA, as that will be enough to take the Cup back across the Atlantic. You may have to set your alarms to catch the start as the action starts at 6.35 am BST on Friday morning, September 29th.
