Sunday dawned a glorious fall day in Medinah. No one could have asked for a better day to
experience the upcoming celebration of the return to the US of the Ryder Cup. The sun was out. The US crowd was ready to cheer and roar and
make the ground shake as our heroes had finally returned to form. Sunday was to be the coronation. When was the last time you saw a golfer
asking the crowd to cheer as he hit his first tee shot? Good for Bubba…unfortunately the tee box was
the last place most of our players heard cheers and roars.
The blimp falling out of the sky onto the golf course would
not have been as loud colossal thuds heard around Medinah all day. The US crowd was ready to cheer wildly for
the third straight day. The Euros who
were pretty quiet all week and seemed prepared to cheer their heroes on even in
their demise.
Jose-Maria did exactly as I (and everyone else no doubt)
expected – front load with his guns and hope the fired on all cylinders. They did.
Davis unfortunately did the exact same thing with different
results. I, who should have been
consulted (and wasn’t), would not have done that. And I certainly would not have stuck the #2
player in the world in the last slot regardless of his record.
Even though none other than Greg Norman, himself the king of
collapses, pronounced Tiger as intimidated by Rory McIlroy, Tiger still brings
it. Whatever ‘it’ is. I firmly believe that there is not a golfer
on the planet, young Mr McIlroy included, that doesn’t shiver just a bit about
going up against Tiger Woods. For
whatever reason Davis chose to leave Tiger out of the mix. He and Steve Stricker were irrelevant. By the time Stricker and Tiger figured out
they were not out there playing $2 nassaus, the fan had already been hit. Hard.
And speaking of young Mr McIroy, what the heck? He did not know what time he was
starting? In the current time zone? I heard that Jose-Maria basically told the
players Saturday night in the team room that he was done and they needed to
figure things out themselves and left.
Based on the Sunday’s results does it not beg the question – do we
really need captains? Anyway, whose
responsibility is it to make sure players get to the course just a little bit
more than 12 minutes before their tee time?
I think we can rest assured that in future years the last words out of a
captain’s mouth at the evening meeting will be the time it is, the time zone
they are in and what time they play in the morning. That said, wouldn’t it have been fun to see
the panic that would have ensued had he actually been late? The European PGA needs to send that police
officer who did an excellent Mario Andretti impersonation an all expenses paid
trip to Gleneagles in two years. He
personally saved their collective bacon.
So, how’s all that for some hyperbole?
It is difficult to find words to describe the shock and
stunned faces – on both sides. The US supporters
could simply not believe what was happening right in front of their faces. All of a sudden people started looking at
each other with questioning expressions – this really cannot happen, can
it? It could and it did. The Euro fans had similar questioning faces. It could and it did. Ole, Ole!
(The USA chant is overdone at all events and can be
annoying. But the Ole, Ole thing is out
of control annoying. Just my opinion…oh
I forgot, this is all just my opinion. And it never ceases to amaze me that you kind
people actually want to hear my opinion.
Crazy) I digress….
Simple fact is the US did not get the job done. Who knows why? Did they come out arrogant and too
self-assured? I mean really, we needed 4
and one half points out of 12. We had 12
of the best 24 golfers in the world (supposedly) and we could not manage 4-1/2
points. Did some of them mail it in? Soapbox time:
Should a few of them been left at home?
Snedeker? He just won the Fedex
Cup so he made Love look good. Dustin Johnson
who had a rough start this year made him look really good. Furyk?
Couldn’t finish the Open and a couple of other outings? Unfortunately that pattern continued right
up to the 18th hole Sunday.
Stricker? Had a pretty poor year
for him. Probably the worst choice in
the picks.
Wonder what Hunter Mahan, Nick Watney and that crazy guy Rickie
Fowler thought on Sunday. (I forgot, Hunter said he would not watch) Rickie Fowler may have only won one tournament
but he brings energy like no one else.
He’s young and has a huge fan base that is UNDER 30! UNDER 20!
And he birdied the last four holes Sunday at Celtic Manor that kept us
in the competition to the very end.
Leaving him off the team was downright bad for the team but worse for
golf because he is its future. I never
see kids on the course with TW or Lefty on their hats. Or Bubba or Webb for
that matter. But I see tons of kids with
pumas on their hats and dressed in Rickie orange. I’ve said it before…golf needs the young
Rickies and Rickie-ettes getting into the game and it needs more of them. The kids in the puma hats would have been
glued to their TVs Sunday had their hero been playing. Just sayin’…
More Soapbox: As each
day ended the golf course looked like a landfill. Even though there were trash receptacles
everywhere the course was littered with beer cans (mostly) and empty water
bottles. This has never happened at an
Open in the years I have been going. I
cannot understand why this happened but Ryder Cup fans need to get a grip. It was horrid to see Medinah treated in such
a crude manner.
Personally I had been looking forward to seeing a Ryder Cup
for years – high on the old bucket list.
I was excited at the possibility of seeing our team win. It was hugely disappointing but there will be
another in two years and we can try again.
But next time I will be in front the TV for certain. Been there, done that. Got the T-shirt. Well really it is a sweater.
I have been to six US Opens and it is awesome. The Ryder Cup experience is like none other
in its energy and emotion. The Open is
hard to see…the Ryder Cup is next to impossible. For two days there are 40,000+ people
watching and four groups on the course.
You get the picture. My
suggestion would be on Friday and Saturday to start all four groups at the same
time one 1, 5, 10 and 15. What about a
shotgun on Sunday? How fun would that
be? I know it is totally out of the
question but I can tell you that fans would LOVE it! And the Euros would not have to worry about
almost missing tee times. LOL
It is done and I’m home and back at work. Many thanks to Nancy and Tony for joining me
in the experience of a lifetime. We
played some golf, watched some golf, ate some great food and drank some good
wine. As always I am totally blessed to
do what I do. Most thanks to Jeff for
putting up with my passion whether it is to wander the countryside watching
golf or taking the day off to go play golf.
Till next time…play well and often.
