Go Time

As I stretch my fingers to blog, we're a mere 1 hour and 45 minutes from the opening tee shot.  I might watch just a little of it...

Session No. 1 - Foursomes:  Buckle in, it's a strong start:

 

Steve Stricker and Padraig Harrington announced their lineups for Friday’s morning session of foursomes (alternate shot) at the 43rd Ryder Cup. And both captains are leaning on their top players to draw first blood.

Leading the charge for the United States will be Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. Boasting a combined four major victories, Spieth and Thomas were the rare duo to find success at the 2018 Ryder Cup, racking up a 3-1 record in Paris. They will be the first group Friday morning, facing the Spanish pair of Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia.

No surprises here, though the captains are laying down some hefty bets.  For Padraig, the lure of pairing Spaniards must be irresistible, though there's a statistic I'd love the media to research.  What would you guess the won-lost record of all Spanish pairs to be over the years?  It's a hard number to recreate, the closest I can come is this item which note they won twelve points from fifteen matches played together.  The gamble here is that he quite obviously needs to ride Jon Rahm this week so, for it to pan out, Sergio must be the Sergio of old, as opposed to just plain old Sergio.

For Captain Stricker, the risk is Jordan in alternate shot.  I get that there was no way he was sitting this team in the opening session, but leading with Jordan in 2021 seems a very different calculation than in 2018 and prior.  

Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa will be the second group out for the Americans, where they will play Paul Casey and Viktor Hovland. Match No. 3 will see former Florida State teammates Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger take on the English duo of Lee Westwood and Matt Fitzpatrick.

Folks are calling the first and final matches Appointment Television, and it's easy to see why.  But these middle matches could be where it all gets decided, as the alpha dogs have a way of offsetting each other.  I heard one talking head call Casey-Hovland the kind of pairing that has won Europe many of these matches, a grizzled veteran guiding a youngster through the process.  Of course, you could say the same about DJ-Morikawa, at least until you remember that it's DJ involved.

That third match seems to me the swing match, one in which I have no zero expectations.  I'm not sure any player is under more self-inflicted pressure than Brooks Koepka, and Stricker has given him the partner with whom he has the most personal comfort.  Combined with drawing what looks to be the weakest Euro foursomes team, and the kinda, sorta have to win, no?

Rounding out the morning session will be Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele and PGA Tour Player of the Year Patrick Cantlay against Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter. Schauffele and Cantlay played together in all four team sessions at the 2019 Presidents Cup.

This to me is Captain Padraig blinking.  There was talk earlier in the week of Rory playing with Hovland, which I thought could be brilliant.  But take those comments about Casey-Hovland above and think what this pairing means.  Poulter should be guiding a youngster this week, but instead is apparently needed to babysit.... Rory.  I guess Wiesberger is on his own....

The Golf.com gang has been convened to dissect these matches:

The Ryder Cup, after a long, three-year wait, is finally here. And on Thursday, we got our matchups for Friday morning foursomes. First off are Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas for the Americans, against the Spanish duo of Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia for the Europeans. The second match pits Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa for the U.S. against Paul Casey and Viktor Hovland from Europe. In match three, Americans Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger meet Europe’s Lee Westwood and Matthew Fitzpatrick. And finally in the fourth match, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele of the United States face Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter of Europe. Two questions! Were there any surprises among the pairings? And which one are you looking forward to the most?

Sean Zak: Not surprised by anything, frankly. Bryson sitting foursomes is understandable. Europe trotting out veterans with younger players in the alternate shot (and potentially just for that session) is understandable. Tommy Fleetwood is the most in-form Euro not to play … so if Westwood and Fitzpatrick get spanked, that’s one team you could second-guess. But we’ve got four very intriguing matches regardless. Everyone will be following the first match, but the fourth is the really good one. Team Poulter/McIlroy can be savages in alternate shot, but they’re playing against the most in-form American team. That’s a doozy!

If we're gonna talk surprise at a guy riding the pine, to me it would be Tony Finau.  His game seems perfect for foursomes, and I'd be really shocked if he's not out in that format Saturday morning.  Same thought for Scottie Scheffler, though he ranks lower in status than Finau for obvious reasons.

Dylan Dethier: I was mildly surprised to see Westwood and Fitzpatrick out in the first session, but even that makes sense — they’re better suited to alternate shot than the demanding birdie-fest of afternoon fourball. These are eminently sensible pairings. They’ll be delightful to watch. The first and fourth matches are appointment viewing. Let’s get this thing going!

Both their games are a better fit for alternate shot than for fourballs.  I like it from Padraig's perspective, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them put the hurt to Brooksie, whose bluster hasn't been backed up for some time now.

Alan Bastable: That first match — JT/Spieth vs. Rahm/Sergio — is an absolute barn burner. Not hard to imagine those four ending the week with 15 points among them. No point is any more

important than any other point, of course, but a full point from either side in that match would be a big emotional lift for the other 10 players on their side. None of the pairings jump out at me as surprises, but I am perplexed by why Stricker chose to open with alt-shot, which historically has not been a good format for the Yanks. Asked about the decision Thursday evening, he said, “Stats have shown over the years that that’s a better format for us. Yeah, so we wanted to kind of stay with that plan and that’s what we’re doing.” Odd.

The foursomes-fourball numbers have ebbed and flowed over the years, it's actually only recently that the U.S. foursomes results have gone underwater.  But they started with foursomes at Hazeltine and I like the call here.  The other issue is that fourball matches take so damn long (they're planning for 5 hours and 15 minutes for them, so it creates a bit of havoc to play fourballs in the a.m. and turn around players for the afternoon session).

Luke Kerr-Dineen: Was a bit surprised to see Westwood and Fitzpatrick go out in the third spot, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense: Fitzpatrick has a safe game for alternate shot, and both players almost certainly won’t play on Friday afternoon. Fleetwood sitting will raise a few eyebrows, but rumblings from the European team room suggest Rahm might be the only player to play all five matches — and that’s if he plays well. All of which is to say, everybody will have to sit at some point. As for the match I’m most looking forward to? DJ and Morikawa vs. Casey and Hovland. The latter pairing is straight out of the ‘How Europeans win Ryder Cups’ playbook: A trusted hand who knows the drill, whose job is to show the ropes to a talented upstart rookie. DJ and Morikawa, for their part, have had some lingering questions about their form coming in. Each player in that group has the potential to be a major factor for their respective teams — for better or for worse — and it’ll make the match itself a fantastic bellwether for how the contest will play out.

Yeah, DJ-Morikawa feels like a clunker to this observer....

Nick Piastowski: I’m mildly surprised that Tommy Fleetwood, after a dominant run in Paris, is sitting to start, and I’m a little disappointed that Bryson won’t try to pump it out there 400-plus on the opening tee shot. But there are solid matchups up and down the board. The one I’m looking forward to the most is the last one. The cool duo of Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay meets the fiery one of Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy. Love it!

Really, Nick.  Then you must be shocked that Frankie Molinari, the guy that actually won five points in Paris, isn't on the team.   Paris was three years ago, and what happened there doesn't actually count this time.

James Colgan: The pairings were about what we expected, but I was a bit surprised by the cadence. Xander/Cantlay as Stricker’s “anchor” pairing could be dangerous for the Americans. Both are playing lights-out right now, but can’t help but wonder if you’d rather get your rookies (particularly only the pair of first-timers playing tomorrow) out earlier.

Yeah, their reputation seems a bit much for guys that went 2-2 at Royal Melbourne, but you really don't want to let Poulter get on any kind of a roll...

Jessica Marksbury: I’m a little surprised by the fact that, looking at the matchups, an American AM sweep seems feasible! Maybe I’m feeling a little rah-rah for the red, white and blue, but hear me out: The toughest match will for sure be the opener, with Rahm and Garcia likely to put up a really good fight. But my money’s on JT and Spieth to grind that one out. Then, DJ/Morikawa, Koepka/Berger and Cantlay/Schauffele? On paper, no European opponent seems up to snuff for those duos. LET’S GO. I’m loving Team USA’s prospects on Friday morning.

Gee, Jess, did you just say, "On paper"?  Have you perhaps not seen those twelve previous Ryder Cups, when no Euro seemed up to snuff?  I've long ago concluded that you're not a candidate for Mensa, but a basic knowledge of the history of this event might, yanno, be helpful.

Josh Sens: Nothing shocking in the pairings, though there were earlier signs that Hovland and McIlroy might go out together. I actually think Harrington’s decision makes more sense, as Rory has clearly gotten a thrill out of Poulter’s exploits in the past and the two are likely to feed nicely off each other. As for the match I’m most looking forward to? Bastable’s right. That first one stands to be a barn burner, but really, how can you not be pumped about them all.

We get to watch them all, so no need to pick amongst them.  As I note above, those middle two matches, call them the undercards if you will, could be the better harbinger of the week.  The alpha dogs might fight to something of a draw, but the question is always whether the greater U.S. depth is determinative.

James Colgan tries to break it down into four storylines:

1) Homegrown

It’s hard to think of a better opening match for Ryder Cup action than the one golf fans are going

to receive on Friday morning. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, who have an established history both as childhood friends and Ryder Cup teammates, look to form a rock-solid tandem for the Americans. In 2018, Thomas and Spieth were American bellcows, two of only three players who competed in all five sessions for the U.S. The two buddies combined for four of the U.S.’s 10.5 points in 2018, with Spieth finishing 3-2-0 to Thomas’ 4-1-0. It’s early to say whether either player will be leaned on in a similar capacity in 2021, but Stricker’s confidence in choosing the pair first is hard to overlook.

On the European side, Rahm and Garcia form a tandem that should give American fans nightmares on Thursday evening. The two Spaniards are a ballstriking force, and should give the shorter-hitting Spieth-Thomas pairing all they can handle off the tee.

Someone care to explain the header to me?  It's an appealing match, but Colgan hasn't added anything here.  If you want to storyboard it, tell me how Sergio plays...

2) Rookie/Vet

Hard to fault either Steve Stricker or Padraig Harrington for pairing their high-profile rookies with established veterans. For the Europeans, Viktor Hovland has all the shotmaking talent to make life miserable on his opponents, while Casey’s steady nature and four prior Ryder Cups should go a long way in easing his early nerves.

Across the bow, Morikawa and Johnson enter the tournament on down streaks after long seasons, but the Official World Golf Ranking tells us the 24-year-old rookie and 37-year-old vet are the two best players on the American side. From a distance, these two are overwhelming favorites to take their match. But the versions Stricker gets of these two will ultimately decide the match.

Here I think Colgan performed a valuable framing service, as both teams follow that superficial model.  he could have gone further, as the two rookies came out together and their careers can be compared at this early juncture, with the Yank obviously ahead by virtue of those two majors.  But as for grizzled vets?  I'd expect Casey to fill that role perfectly, and I similarly expect DJ to show up on the first tee.

3) Gentlemen vs. Floridamen

It’s difficult to think of two more likable players on the European side than Lee Westwood and Matt Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick is playing in his second Ryder Cup — but comes into Whistling

Straits a very different player from 2018 — while Westwood is in his 11th (!!!), tying Nick Faldo for the most starts all-time.

They’ll pair up against a pair of former Florida State teammates and longtime friends: Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger. Berger is one of six U.S. rookies in the fold at Whistling Straits, while Koepka is hoping to stave off further injury in his first competitive action since withdrawing from the Tour Championship with injury.

If I had to pick one player as a bellwether for the week, it would have to be Koepka.   Maybe a little more on that below.

4) Heroes and Villains

Xander Schauffele has the unique distinction of entering his first Ryder Cup a bonafide American hero. Schauffele comes into Kohler riding high — only weeks removed from claiming gold for the U.S. at the Tokyo Olympics, and looking to make a dent in his first-ever Ryder Cup appearance. His partner, Patrick Cantlay, is fresh off his first-ever FedEx Cup after a heroic playoff win at the BMW Championship. Their opponents? Only two of Team Europe’s most-established villains.

Rory McIlroy (11-9-4) and Ian Poulter (14-6-2) have long been thorns in the Americans’ sides, and on Friday morning, they’ll once again have the opportunity to deflate one of the U.S.’s most crucial duos.

Villains?  Plural?  Rory was more Patrick Reed's bitch than a thorn, unless you go back to the Paleozoic Era of 2012-14.  It is a contrast in personalities, emotional vs. placid, and it will certainly be fun to see how that plays out.

Koepka Fatigue - What comes after tiresome?  It's an overused cliché, but Brooks Koepka very much needs to start speaking with his golf clubs, because the other way isn't working out so well for him.  

Everyone saw his comments about the Ryder Cup, but apparently it's all the result of dark forces:

If you’re wondering whether or not this made it back to Koepka, well, he removed all doubt just a couple questions later. Asked specifically about feedback from the interview.

“I never said it was negative,” Koepka said, stone-faced. His stoneface is among golf’s stoniest,

and he has a Tiger-like ability to hold a reporter’s gaze when their question has fired him up.

“Y’all spun it that way. I never said it was negative. I said it was different. Like I said, I’ve never played any of these team events. I didn’t play Walker Cup. Never played Junior Ryder Cup. Never played anything. I just said it’s different. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. Y’all spun it that way.”

It was clear from Koepka’s glances around the room that “y’all” meant the assembled reporters and also that we were serving as proxy for writers and bloggers and internet commenters worldwide.

It’s worth pointing out, in defense of the “y’all,” that Koepka was not misquoted. What seems more likely is that his remarks didn’t land the way he intended; they weren’t read the way he thought he had delivered them. This is the risk anytime a public figure speaks on the record. The disconnect between delivery and reception is also, ironically, something Koepka shares with rival-turned-frenemy Bryson DeChambeau.

And it seems to this observer that Dylan Dethier has caught a breakthrough case of a Stockholm Syndrome variant....  Apparently, quoting Brooks accurately is now a hate crime, at least to Brooks.

So, let's revisit what he said and see how it feels after his "clarification":

For virtually all of your career, you get to set the schedule and make the rules and be responsible for your own performance. How does that mesh with the Ryder Cup experience? Is it strange being on a team?

It’s different. It’s hectic. It’s a bit odd, if I’m honest. I don’t want to say it’s a bad week. We’re just so individualized, and everybody has their routine and a different way of doing things, and now, it’s like, OK, we have to have a meeting at this time or go do this or go do that. It’s the opposite of what happens during a major week. If I break down a major week, it’s so chill. You wouldn’t even believe me. I go to the course. I play nine holes. I go work out. Other than that, I’m sitting and watching TV, taking my mind off golf with relaxing stuff. The physical part, I can handle. The mental side, you have to be able to turn it off. Sometimes, the power comes from being able to turn it on. But for me, I get power from turning it off. That’s been a huge, huge thing for me that I really haven’t understood until the past five or six years of my career.

This is what I so love about our Brooksie.  Of course he's calling it a "Bad week" for him, though he'll hide behind the straw man.  This isn't the worst of his quote, because it's fair to talk about the changes in routine and the players' natural individualism.  But it's what's missing that's most incriminating, any sense of enjoyment of being part of a team, plus any sense that he'll make adjustments to improve.

But this to me is where he screws the pooch:

But, as you said, at a major, you’re only concerned about yourself. At the Ryder Cup, that dynamic is different.

It’s tough. There are times where I’m like, I won my match. I did my job. What do you want from me? I know how to take responsibility for the shots I hit every week. Now, somebody else hit a bad shot and left me in a bad spot, and I know this hole is a loss. That’s new, and you have to change the way you think about things. You go from an individual sport all the time to a team sport one week a year. It’s so far from my normal routine. I can barely see my [personal] team. It’s hard to even go to the gym. At the Presidents Cup in New York, we had to go to the gym at 5 a.m. to get it in. We went to the Equinox, and it was me, Dustin and Tiger, and we come back and go to a team meeting. Under regular conditions, I take naps a lot. I might take an hour, hour-and-a-half nap, or just chill on the couch and watch “SportsCenter,” before rounds, after rounds, whatever. There’s no time to do that at the Ryder Cup. There’s no time to decompress.

If you wanted to be cast as the worst teammate ever, what would you say differently than those first few lines?   So, when Captain Stricker goes to his players and asks, "Who do you want to play with?, how many do we think answered Brooks?  My guess is that Daniel Berger had that pairing locked up early...

The Envelope, Please - One bit I failed to get to earlier in the week is this legal document:

Inside the Ryder Cup Captains’ Agreement: 9 obscure rules you didn’t know existed

Shack has a running gag about cart drivers, but he might be surprised to learn that they're strickly controlled:

2. Golf-cart limit!

Per the agreement: Each team may only have up to a maximum of six (6) “Team Golf Cars.” All such carts must follow the agreed upon routing with no access to nine of the holes. Any cart/driver not abiding by such routing may be removed from use for the remainder of the week.

And this:

3. Stricker is prohibited from making any further course set-up tweaks

The course is long, the rough is light, and that’s how it will stay for the remainder of the week.

Per the agreement: It is recognized that the home side has the opportunity to influence and direct the set-up and preparation of the course for the Ryder Cup. It is hereby agreed that any such influence, direction and/or preparation will be limited to course architecture/course design, fairway widths, rough heights, green speed and firmness, and will conclude the Sunday prior to the matches. (Sept. 19)

Meaning, wait for it, that the Dye is cast...

Schedule News -  Your humble blogger has made a regrettable decision.  A gentleman that helped sponsor us into Fairview has a charity that we like to support as a way of expressing our thanks.  Accordingly, Employee No. 2 and I are playing at Quaker Ridge early Monday, unfortunately deferring my Ryder Cup wrap up post until Tuesday morning.   Management regrets any inconvenience this might entail, but I promise to be especially trenchant on Tuesday.  Enjoy!