So, any golf to watch this weekend?
An Edifice Complex - Usually the province of politicians, there's a Ryder Cup arms race under way:
Until it hosts 6,000 fans and bellows like the Superdome, the first tee grandstand at the Ryder Cup is bound to be under-appreciated. Just wait a couple days.
On a peaceful Tuesday afternoon, only a handful of people sprinkled the navy blue seats. Two women chatted in the sun. A handful of marshals shot the breeze in the breeze. A worker zip-tied wires to a pole. Down on ground level, Rory McIlroy rode by in the back of a golf cart. On first sight that day, the grandstand towered over the 4-time major-winner. Later on, he’d admit it gave him goosebumps.
By now, you’ve likely seen the behemoth. Maybe it gave you goosebumps, too. Ever since the first digital rendering of it was shared in early March, the ultra stadium seating is all anyone wanted to see. It’s all they want to take pictures of. It’s all they want to talk about.
“I looked up and felt like I kept looking up and up and up,” Patrick Reed said Tuesday. “There’s going to be so many people that are sitting in there. It’s going to be an unbelievable atmosphere.”
When they tell us that theirs is bigger than ours, I guess we'll have to agree:
Max capacity is 6,800, which is about five times the total at Hazeltine two years ago, and nearly three times the total at Gleneagles in 2014. The biggest problem might actually be filling it. Here at the most hyped event of the year and perhaps the most hyped Ryder Cup of all-time, it’s certainly a risk worth taking.
Youtube search: Ryder Cup first tee. You’ll find countless videos of the past three cups — Bubba Watson and Ian Poulter raising the roof at Medinah, the dewy and boisterous sunrise at Gleneagles and the “I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN” echos at Hazeltine.
It would be mildly amusing if it's only half-filled, though you know how golf-crazy those Frogs can be:
In Other Important News... - The Forecaddie has been an invaluable source of insight in our little world, most recently with details on the course set-up. Today he addresses an issue of great national importance:
When The Forecaddie ventures to France, he expects to get questions about wine, cheese and how many croissants have been consumed. Instead, the No. 1 question from folks back home?
Is Paulina there?
So....is she?
Since The Man Out Front would like to get on with important things such as speculating on Ryder Cup pairings or dreaming of tonight’s meal in this wondrous land of food andvino, here is what we know: Paulina Gretzky has been seen here in Paris and appears to be enjoying croissants at her hotel as any rational human being would. Although she might want to turn up the thermostat in her room since an Instagram story listed the temp at a brisk 51 degrees.
The intrigue surrounding her presence is somewhat understandable since the model and mother of two children with Dustin Johnson recently deleted all Instagram traces of her man. This led to speculation she might sit out this year’s Ryder Cup, dashing the spirit of wife-and-girlfriend watchers.
Bookmakers even aggressively suggested they did not expect her to make the trip, offering +180 (9/5) odds if you believed she would be present at Thursday’s opening ceremony. While she still could take a rain check on the festivities and prove the bookies right, The Forecaddie has heard that Paulina boarded the PGA of America Team USA charter and has been enjoying the early week team festivities.
But who knew there were joint WAG activities? I'll put our WAGs up against theirs any day of the week....
Here's the funny part, at least to me. Back after the 2017 Masters, a friend of the blog with good sources informed me that it wasn't socks on the staircase, but rather that Paulina caught the notorious hound in flagrante delicto. Time passed and, contra the jet-ski bit, everyone seemed to buy the staircase story.
Last Saturday I'm out with some fine fellows in our faux Ryder Cup event, and the mere mention of DJ brings out this story yet again. When I noted that I had heard the rumors, it was asserted that it's way more than a rumor... I don't actually know what happened, but many seem alarmingly ready to assume the worst about our DJ.
What Passes For News - Our hero Phil is on record that he can't perform without pods, so pods there will be:
SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — The U.S. Ryder Cup team already knowsthis week’s pairings. But everyone else is eager to find out more. So when Tiger Woods teed off in Tuesday’s practice round alongside Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, it sparked intrigue as to this week’s potential teammates.
“They are very aware of who they will be playing with this week,” captain Jim Furyk said Tuesday morning. “They are very aware of some of the options they have, and they will work on that a lot in the team room and they will work on that a lot in the next couple days.”
Still, he suggested fans and media stay away from drawing conclusions from Tuesday’s groups.
That's kinda rich, Jim. Besides Paulina, what else do we have to talk about? You know sending them together will draw speculation, but you promised us you'd behave:
Over the summer, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk was asked on the Golf Channel if he’d consider pairing Tiger Woods with Phil Mickelson, should they both make theRyder Cup team. He laughed it off.
“I hope they’re both watching, because they just fell off the couch laughing,” he said at the time. “I wouldn’t guess that would be a good idea as a captain, I’m just saying.”
It was more than a guess, but while has me worried...
But Mickelson wasn’t laughing when he answered a question on the same potential pairing on Tuesday. Well, he wasn’t laughing right away, at least. “I think we would both welcome it,” he said, then repeated himself. “I think we would both welcome it.”
This has me closer to apoplectic:
Rumors were swirling that Mickelson was testing a Bridgestone ball at last week’s Tour Championship, which would indicate prepping for a pairing with Woods or DeChambeau. Will either come to fruition? We’ll know by Saturday afternoon.
Egads! I've seen this refernced in three different items, and they all buried the lede. Forget the pairing, the only reason for him to practice with another golf ball is that he might play in foursomes.... And that belongs on the Mount Rushmore of bad ideas.....
Oh, and in another buried lede, Spieth and Reed were in different pods yesterday. I'm not shocked by that, as fault lines have presented themselves in their relationship since Hazeltine. Most notably Patrick's comment about his back still hurting form that partnership....
Pairings, By The Numbers - Richie Hunt, a golf stats guru with whom I am unfamiliar, comes up with stats-driven pairings for your consideration:
The Reed-Spieth partnership that torched Europeans in 2016 didn’t reveal itself as a toppairing in Hunt’s model. Reed is more of a scrambler, and Jordan more of a ball-striker who has struggled this season with putts inside 10 feet. Not a great combination in 2018.
“Outside of Seve and Olazabal, trying to get that one pairing that plays well all the time is kind of a pipe dream,” Hunt says.
Webb Simpson and Phil Mickelson was another U.S. alternate-shot partnership that Hunt’s model ranked lowly.
“Mickelson misses a lot of fairways and Simpson is not good out of the rough,” Hunt says. “That’s kind of a disaster pairing.”
no surprises there, as Spieth-Reed was always more about attitude, though no one remembers that we have the disgraced Tom Watson to thank for that pairing. But the Mickelson-Simpson pairing isn't about the pairing, as they both profile poorly for alternate shot. For a short hitter, Webb doesn't hit too many fairways, and short-and-wrong is bad everywhere.
The pairings are all about foursomes, as it matters far less in better ball:
Bryson DeChambeau-Tiger Woods
“Both have excelled in approach shots from the fairway and Bryson is good out of the rough, which would help cover for Tiger’s inaccuracy off the tee.”
Key stats: DeChambeau 15th in Rough Proximity; Woods 135th Driving Accuracy
And this looks even better if you factor in Tiger's late season improvement in driving stats. Also, one assumes Tiger would tee off on the even number holes, which includes three of the one-shotters.
Webb Simpson-Rickie Fowler
“Webb Simpson is a player better suited to alternate shot. He struggles out of the rough so would need to be paired with a player who hits a lot of fairways. Rickie Fowler would be compatible.”
Key stats: Simpson 159th in Rough Proximity; Fowler 54th in Driving Accuracy
I don't know about this, especially how Furyk plans on using Webb this week. But I have to believe that Rickie will be an important guy in both foursomes sessions, because who else does he have?
As for those other guys:
Justin Rose-Tommy Fleetwood
“Two excellent ball-strikers. They both really hit the driver well, deadly accurate, would be tough for the U.S. team.”
Key stats: Rose 13th SG: Off-the-Tee, 5th in SG: Tee-to-Green; Fleetwood 16th SG: Off-the-Tee, 13th SG: Tee-to-Green
Jon Rahm-Ian Poulter
“One of best Ryder Cup pairings in my model. Poulter’s iron play has been above average this season.”
Key stats: Rahm 5th SG: Off-the-Tee; Poulter 25th SG: Approach
I expect that those first two will play all five sessions, though not necessarily together. But Rahm is a guy that doesn't profile great for alternate shot, or in general at this venue with its tight corridors.
Stat So? - Alex Myers goes for Shock and Awe with his thirteen Ryder Cup facts. While he comes up considerably short of that goal, I'm not an easy man to shock.... But there are some worthwhile nuggets:
6: Tiger Woods has had 12 partners in seven Ryder Cup appearances, compiling a disappointing 9-16-1 record. But the inability to find Tiger a consistent teammate goes even deeper with Woods playing just one match with six of those 12 golfers. The only one-off he won with? Chris Riley in 2004.
Fortunately that was old Tiger... he was a tough guy to pair, especially in alternate shot because he used a higher spin ball than the other guys. Also because he seemed not that into it....
And we of course love the old-time inconsequential stuff:
6-0: We said "at least seven Ryder Cup matches" when mentioning Gardner Dickinson's sparkling career record because if you cut that number to six, then it's impossible to top Jimmy Demaret, who went a perfect 6-0 from 1947 to 1951.
We love the old timey stuff....
Does He? - John Feinstein has one of his long thumbsuckers about the Reed-Rory match, including how it came about. But is this correct?:
Given Rory's trying Sundays all year, notably with Patrick at Augusta but also with Tiger at East Lake, perhaps he'd like to take his chances with.... I don't know, Phil? Webb?
Elsewhere, Alan Shipnuck's mailbag wasn't as Ryder Cup-centric as I expected, but he did have this:
On a scale of 1-10 how disappointing was Rory’s performance? -Peter (@pkeen52)
If 1 is a Dustin Johnson shrug and 10 is Rory forlornly burying his head in his arm in Amen Corner circa 2011, I’m going with a million. Beyond the wild driving, loose irons and shaky putting, what was so disturbing was the utter lack of fight McIlroy displayed. Playing with his boyhood idol, with the entire world watching, he had packed it in before reaching the turn. Rory has always reveled in being old-school but it’s time for a full-blown intervention with a sports psychologist, to say nothing of a yogi and shaman.
I thought it strange when he showed up on the first tee with a sheet of Forever stamps, but what a desultory performance it was. If I'm Thomas Bjorn, I'd be more than a little concerned, not that there's all that much he can actually do.... Though I think I'd try to keep him away from Patrick to the extent possible.
Since You Mentioned Shipnuck.... - Other topical bits from the man that predicted an era of U.S. dominance:
The only thing that could top what happened at East Lake would be Tiger/ Poults in the last pairing of the Ryder Cup as the deciding match. Am I right???? -@fakePOULTER
You are right. It would be redundant for Tiger to dust Rory or Rose, theoretically Europe’s two best players, since he just did that. Poults is a different kettle of fish. Tiger is better than him at every single facet of the game but you know that Poulter would fight to the death. Could he summon enough of his old Ryder Cup magic to actually steal a win? If we get the chance to find out it will be riveting theater.
Hmmm.... Tiger-Rory? Tiger-Rose, a ball-striking clinic.... Or, you know, Tiger Sergio? I'm not sure the Era of Good Feelings extends quite THAT far....
How about a Tiger-Molinari rematch? It's more than passing curious how Tiger got a pass for the finish of that final match at Medinah, when he should have been able to get them a halve. I know, it had to be crazy out there, but still...
#AskAlan #Rydercup Who are your dream singles matches? -@DougSeaberg
Reed-Rahm (dueling volcanos), Jordan-Rory (fire and ice), Koepka-Fleetwood (U.S. Open rematch, two years running), Phil-Sergio (lions in winter), DJ-Rose (ballstriking Jessies), Bubba-Hatton (emotionally unstable mega-talents).
Meh! Spieth-McIlroy would be interesting, but more because both guys have played so poorly on Sundays that they should consider observing the Sabbath.
Why do you NOT send out Tiger and Phil as the first pair out on Friday morning? -@JonKrause77
Hell yeah, let’s do it. Let’s blow the doors off this Cup! That probably mean sacrificing Tiger and Bryon in alternate shot that afternoon but so what? They can reprise that pairing on Saturday. Sending out Tiger and Phil first would put a huge charge into this event. It’s what the world is clamoring for, and sometimes you gotta give the people what they want, strategy be damned.
And what happens when they lose 6&5? Seriously, given Phil's form in recent months, why would Tiger take on that charity case? Others seem to agree:
Ryder Cup 2018: Phil Mickelson asks for a stroke a side from Tiger Woods, Patrick Reed tells him it's not enough
They're under a little pressure, as poor play could reduce demand for their pay-per-view boondoggle, and interesting subtext for the coming week.
And this:
In the history of the Ryder Cup, has there ever been a more potential game-changing captain’s pick than Tiger? #AskAlan -Ben (@Konocomm)
Yes, Curtis Strange at Oak Hill. Oh, you meant game-changing in a *positive* way? It remains to be seen how much Tiger has left in the tank – he has to be emotionally exhausted after the win and physically run-down after months of non-stop golf at the end of a taxing season. I’d be very surprised if he plays more than three matches. But as far as bringing mojo/juice/buzz, there’s never been and never will be another captain’s pick like this one.
I do like both parts of how Alan handled it. Always good to be reminded of the risks captains take with their picks, Sergio being very much in the mode of Lanny choosing Curtis. But Tiger has played a lot of intense golf the last few months, and we've seen other guys have a letdown in the aftermath of a big win.
I'd be surprised if he doesn't play well, but not shocked....
An Appeal to Authority - Brandel Chamblee remains a hoot, the prefect remedy for the interminable waiting period until Friday. His current premise is that the U.S. team might have too many cooks in the kitchen, a theme I've come at from a different premise. But his appeal to authority is simply priceless:
The research suggests that while leaders are very good at learning how to influence others, they are less likely to learn how to follow. As a result, when groups of leaders get together they may have difficulty in coordinating their activity.
University of Texas professor Paul Woodruff, a classics scholar whose knowledge of the ancient world and military background influence his classes on leadership, often lectures about the problems that occurred as far back as recorded history among groups and armies when there were too many leaders. It is necessary, he argues, especially in this era where the assumption is that everyone should strive to be a leader, that leaders also know when to follow to optimize the potential of a group.
Professor Woodruff often makes the analogy that today’s business world is not unlike the story in Greek mythology where Agamemnon struggled for years with how to best manage the Greek heroes Achilles, Ajax and Odysseus, who fought for him against the Trojan army. Is it merely a coincidence that Odysseus finally conceived of the Trojan horse and the Greeks defeated the Trojans, after Achilles and Ajax had died?
As Professor Woodruff would say, there is only one corner office and only one No. 1.
I've long though that Agamemnon can teach us much about Phil and Tiger.... If only Hal Sutton had read up on his Greek mythology. Or, you know, read anything....
Put differently, is Furyk really in charge and able to do that which needs to be done? If so, Phil will play the fourballs but sit in alternate shot. But it's hard to say no to the guy that got you your job...
Stay tuned....
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