Thursday Themes - Roman Empire Edition

Hey, Zach was likened to a Visigoth, so everything old is new again.... And the kids today have a newfound interest in the Roman Empire....

A Weather Update - I know, but let's get it out of the way.  It's a long, hilly walk and it'll be a little warm out there:

The issue being how many of your guys do you make trudge this course the full five time..... 

Amusingly, Geoff informs us that the weather in Rome is far better than at the next two venues:

Ironically,. given our weekend washout, Bethpage could be as muddy as it was for that 2002 Open, making it a shame to not have Sergio with us.  Oh, who am I kidding, I'm fine with Sergio curled up in the corner in the fetal position....

Scenes From The Pressers - In 2018, your humble blogger predictably started the week rooting for his homies, but by Saturday was screaming at the TV for Patrick Reed's ball to find a watery grave.... It's just that the more these guys talk.....

Shall we start with Wyndham Clark, the kind of rookie that ought to be seen but not heard.  This previous comment generated a bit of pushback

“I’d love to play Rory. I mean, I have the utmost respect for Rory. I mean, he’s one of our great ambassadors of our game, he’s obviously one of the best of all time and his career is still going. I have tons of respect for Rory. Because of that respect, I also want to beat him. I like to think I am better than him, and I want to prove that. I think it would be a little bit of David and Goliath, and I’m hoping I get that chance.”

OK, I think we all know what he's trying to say and have no problem with it.  The David and Goliath bit makes clear that he gets their relative standings in the game, but you'll also have sussed out that  the "I like to think I am better than him" won't look so great on a refrigerator....

Problem is that yesterday's clarification violates the First Rule of Holes:

“If you listen to the whole interview, I praised Rory and said how much I respect him and how good I think he is and how he's one of the best players in the last 20 years.

“And what I said was I think I'm better than him when I'm playing good -- if I don't think I'm better than every player out here, then what am I doing? If I'm trying to be the best player in the world, which is what I'm trying to be, I've got to believe that.

“Right now, maybe I'm not. He's had a way better career than me, that's obvious. But I also have to have that self-belief that I can beat anyone out here.

“It is kind of funny to me that people took it that way because they kind of saw that I'm better than him and I want to beat him. Well, of course I want to beat him and of course I believe that I can beat him.

“Yeah, it's interesting how things get taken out of context.”

I agree that it's funny that people took your comment that you think you're better than Rory to mean that, checking notes, you think you're better than Rory.  But this is the really weird bit, referencing that the entire Euro team got competitive reps at Wentworth :

So that's kind of how I prepared. I think the European team, it's great that they got to play, but I also think they might be maybe a little mentally fatigued as this week goes on. This is obviously a very intense environment and mentally challenging, and then also you put in a pretty physically demanding golf course being so hilly and up and down that maybe come Sunday they might be leaking oil and we'll be fresh.

The event at Wentworth finished a full twelve days before the first ball will be in the air at Marco Simone, so thanks for sharing your wishful thinking.  I'm still of a mind that the absence of competitive reps for the Yanks could be a real issue, and that Friday morning session playing alternate shot could be a little sketchy...

Then there's Brooksie, whose contempt for his fellow players is apparently unaffected by uniform:

Koepka on if the Ryder Cup came down to one match on the course how many of players would want to be in that position. “Very few. False confidence, I think…I don't know how many guys would want an eight-footer with this on the line.”

You're making it sound like they'd gag as badly as that guy in the last group at this year's Masters and at the Kiawah PGA.  I for one will be watching Brooksie on his eight-footers, but remind me again of why the players he just slammed want him as a teammate?

About Those Crowds - As you might have heard, the last U.S. road game win was in 1993, so what's it all about, Alfie?

Ryder Cup 2023: For the U.S., overcoming the hostile European crowds is critical

Pods, right?  I mean, I got that from Phil and he wouldn't BS us, would he?

The contrast in golf on these two points is obvious. Professional golfers almost never play in

front of a hostile crowd, but when they do, the fans are both extremely loud and incredibly close. So when you ask a group of Americans to play in front of 50,000 European fans who badly want them to lose, not only are they not used to it, but they have to perform with those fans almost literally breathing down their necks in a way that no other athletes are asked to do.

When you consider how overwhelming that might be, it starts to make a lot of sense that the last four Ryder Cups have been blowouts for the home team; all else being relatively equal, those thousands of partisan fans make an enormous, almost unquantifiable difference.

Which leads to the inevitable question: If you're the United States, and you're trying to win the Ryder Cup on the road for the first time in 30 years, how on earth do you deal with that? Especially when eight of your 12 players have never experienced a road Ryder Cup atmosphere?

Ear plugs?

They're certain that this guy's experience in July will help, although not sure there's much comfort to be found in his thoughts:

On Wednesday in Rome, several Americans spoke about that effect, but perhaps none had the recent perspective of Brian Harman. Although Harman has never even played in a Ryder Cup, he

won the Open Championship in July in the face of regular heckling from a small but vocal portion of the British crowd.

"It was overwhelming at times," he admitted. "I don't think there's any way to prepare for it. I expect them to be as fervent and I expect to be at times overwhelmed by it, just like I was at the Open Championship."

Harman was uniquely open in how a fervent crowd can affect you, and candid about how difficult it is to prepare for that level of negative energy.

"The best you can do is just acknowledge it and just move forward and try not to let it affect you as best you can," he said. "But it will affect you. You'd be silly not to think that. Obviously the home teams in the Ryder Cups have been extremely successful, and a lot of that has to do with the fans. They can affect outcomes of matches. It's just our job to try to stay as present as possible and execute more than the other guys and see what happens."

A Merseyside crowd is not to be taken lightly, but it's Triple-A ball as compared to that which we'll see this week.  Not only does the event draw the crazies, but there's so little golf on the course that all of those 50,000 people admitted will be in your ear simultaneously.

But the solution seems more likely to be to channel your inner Simona and Garfunkel:

Brooks Koepka was one of just two players who spoke Wednesday who had actually experienced playing the Europeans away from home—he posted a 1-2-1 record at the 2018 Paris Cup—and he was typically terse in his response.

"I don't think it was overwhelming at all," he said, taking the opposite view from Harman. "I don't know, it was a different week for me even than probably most of the other guys. I'm curious to see how this one is. I'm excited for it. I enjoy the silence sometimes."

Overwhelming struck me as an admission of defeat as well...

"I enjoy it," said Rickie Fowler, the other player besides Koepka with experience in Europe. "I think a lot of the guys on the team this year do, as well ... even if they're a Ryder Cup rookie, they've been a part of other teams along the way. The reason I enjoy it is you're the underdog. It's fun to go try and prove them wrong. Our cheers are—yeah, we will have some fans, but kind of the quietness becomes our cheers."

Max Homa is a convert to the idea of silence as well and has been boning up on what it might be like in a unique way.

"I nerded out and watched a bunch of the old away Ryder Cups on YouTube and just started really enjoying the silence because it meant that our team was doing well," he said.

"I guess I don't know what it feels like yet. I guess like the concept of it, if you can flip it in your mind that every time they're not cheering, that's great. If you can get it into your mind that you'd like to make a bunch of people sad, it's also great. I feel like that's something I've been thinking of. I think it's just kind of changing that in your mind."

There's a reason for the 30-year gap....

More importantly, we've frequently discussed Alan Shipnuck's prediction of an era of U.S. hegemony, although what we seem to have instead is an era of home-team dominance.  It's hard to see this U.S. team being routed, though we though the same in 2018.

The Fashion Beat - it's quite the show:

At least the two captain's wives get the red v. blue thing....

But the funnier bits was this bit of poor tailoring:

What's Keegan's inseam?  That's actually how most pants look on your humble blogger....

I find the no-sock look bizarre on the golf course, but for evening wear as well:

Combined with bad golf tans it's quite the look.

Confidentially Yours - Golf.com has a Ryder Cup Confidential for us, which I'll use to segue into our wrap-up:

The 44th Ryder Cup kicks off Friday at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club outside of Rome, with the Americans hoping to pick up where they left off after their 19-9 blowout victory at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in 2021. Problem is, the U.S. hasn’t won on European soil since 1993. So let’s start there: what is holding the Americans back overseas?

Ryan Barath: I think the one thing holding back the American team the most is the 13th man for Europe — momentum. For some reason at venues outside of the U.S. there is an unmeasurable intangible that seems to click for the Euros and gets under the skin of the Americans. Similar to the recent Solheim Cup, the U.S. team started out with a dominating performance but the Europeans clawed their way back on Saturday and Sunday as the pressure ramped up, and I think we could see something similar in Rome.

It's a little hard to see Ryan's qualifications here, as the answer seems to be that the Solheim Cup has held them back... Or, sorry, was it momentum, though he doesn't explain why that Big-M from 2016 dissipated in 2018.   

Josh Sens: Pick your sports cliche. Home cooking. Team cohesiveness. Playing with a chip on your shoulder as the underdog, etc. Maybe those were factors. But more than anything, I think we are dealing with the law of small numbers and the way we draw big conclusions from limited sample sizes. In the early decades of the Cup, when the Americans won everything on both sides of the Atlantic, there really were big differences between the teams. You could have run simulations of them and the U.S. would have continued dominating. In more recent times, not so much. Many of the matches have come down to little more than a coin toss. We try to assign meaning to this in retrospect but my guess is that if you ran 10,000 simulations of these teams, the record would be pretty close to even.

Gee, Josh, most of these road losses weren't remotely close.  I think we all understand that road games are hard, still thirty years of superior roster depth should have allowed as win or two, no? 

Sean Zak: They need more chances! It’s been six Cups over here, which is one helluva losing streak. But it’s not like they play home and away every year. I say this a bit in jest, but the Americans are basically due to win one over here, out of sheer randomness. Unfortunately for them, they’ll have to wait four more years until it happens.

James Colgan: The thing holding the Americans back has been … everything. Bad play, unfriendly setup, bad breaks, weak roster construction, poor pairings. The good news is, they seem to have rectified a handful of those issues in the last 24 months, and they certainly don’t have the bravado they did in ‘19. The bad news is that the Euros have all the things they did in ‘19, and lots more top-end talent. They’re a legit threat.

How bad is gold journalism?   Colgan at least hints at the root cause (you'd think paying Phil in foursomes might warrant a call out), though his deep dive into the travails of that 2019 Ryder Cup are undermined by the pesky detail that there was no Ryder Cup in 2019.  It's OK, James, your publication and you aren't expected to know much about the game.  

As you've learned, your humble blogger fixates on details of dubious relevance, but see what you think of this factoid.  You've heard ad nauseum about 1993, and you'll see the clip of Davis Love making that putt more than a few times.  So, if '93 was our last road win, that means the first of the six road losses was in 1997 at Valderrama.   Can anyone name two players that made their Ryder Cup road game debuts in 1997?  Isn't Tiger and Phil (who actually played in '95) as good an answer as any?  That the two best players in American golf (in the world, at times) haven't won a road game is quite telling, the only thing stranger would be the to put these guys in charge of the U.S. Ryder Cup effort..... What?  Well, that answers my questions....

Marco Simone Golf and Country Club will make its debut as Ryder Cup host. What do fans watching at home need to know about this year’s venue?

Barath: I think the mix of drivable par-4s is going to be the key to success for whatever team comes out on top. Although the Americans are thought of as the longer team, the stats show that head-to-head driving distance and accuracy is almost a complete wash. Plus, with Hovland and Rory leading the way, those drivable holes could make all the difference in tight matches.

Sens: I recommend the carbonara. Beyond that, like a lot of Ryder Cup venues, this one isn’t going to be all that memorable from a design standpoint. The pins will be set up for birdies and match-play drama, and the winner will be the team that putts the best.

Zak: Fans watching at home will love the 16th hole. It’s a downhill, drivable par-4 that every single player is going to go for. Essentially, it’s the same length as one of those brutish par-3s we saw at LACC during this summer’s U.S. Open. Which, on one hand, will prove to you that par is irrelevant. But this week it’ll mostly just offer some fantastic shot-making during the waning moments of these matches.

Colgan: Marco Simone is not essentially European in any way that matters, meaning the tall, wispy grass and brutish winds will not be the factor they usually are. To me, the course honestly looks like it’d be just as comfortable in about 27 U.S. states. The rough will be thick, and the fairways will be tight, but it’s also a Ryder Cup in Europe — if you weren’t expecting that, what were you thinking?

While the scene of Europe selling its home games to the highest bigger has resulted in a series of iffy venues, this at least was renovated with match play in mind.   Of course, Jack built Dove Mountain with match play in mind, so we'll see if this venue generates the kind of play they have in mind.

Can the Americans break the away-game slump? Will Justin Thomas find his former form? Those are just a couple of the talkers we’re monitoring. What’s your No. 1 storyline for Ryder Cup week?

Barath: There is no doubt that Justin Thomas’ game will be a focus right from the start of play, but I think the real story lurking in the background is about Scottie Scheffler’s putting. He has not had a great year with the flatstick, and when the chips are down and his opponent is making him finish out a testy three-footer, how Scottie holds up could determine the outcome of more than one match.

Sens: Brooks Koepka, the man cast as one of the villains for his LIV defection, runs the tables and is anointed the new Captain America.

Zak: It has to be Thomas. From the sounds of it — more interview scoops from Fred Couples — Thomas might be set up to play five matches this week. That’s one helluva risky strategy. If Thomas can earn two points this week, his reputation will be cleared. If he ends up with anything short of that, it might become a tricky story for him and captain Zach Johnson to handle.

Colgan: There are bigger stories, but I have a sneaky suspicion a whole lotta golf fans are gonna leave this week knowing Ludvig Aberg’s name. Really excited to see the Swedish Sensation get to work.

At least it won't be Justine Reed....at least,  I don't think it will be.  The great thing is you've got 24 choices, and we really don't know, do we?

Let’s get into some predictions. Who is your MVP pick for each team?

Barath: Viktor Hovland for the Euros and, as an out of the blue pick for the Americans, I’m going with Brian Harman.

Sens: Jon Rahm. As Carlota Ciganda reminded us this past week, the Spaniards just seem born for this fiery team match play stuff. And Koepka for the Americans, because the irony of a LIV defector carrying the team just seems too rich for it not to happen.

Zak: Justin Thomas earns 3.5 points, playing all five matches, and Ludvig Aberg earns 3.5 as well, but from four matches.

Colgan: Rahm. These are the weeks he lives for, and his swagger on the 16th on Wednesday afternoon was … noticeable.

All respectable choices, but I don't notice any votes for Rory....

Two years ago, Scottie Scheffler was ranked 21st in the world and hadn’t won on Tour. Yet in his Ryder Cup debut he won 2.5 points at Whistling Straits and took down Jon Rahm in singles. Eight Ryder Cup rookies will suit up this week (four from each side). Who is your pick to turn heads from that group?

Barath: To go along with my prediction of MVP, I think Brian Harman is going to show a lot of people just how great of a player he can be during match play. His game pairs up well with a lot of other players on his team and his putting is rock solid. If he’s hitting a lot of approaches into greens first, it will put a lot of pressure on opponents to match, and that could lead to mistakes.

Sens: Ludvig Aberg. Big-hitting Swede. Former top-ranked amateur who shined in college and has been tearing it up since turning pro. He’s been great on every stage he’s stepped on. Look for more of the same.

Zak: Sens is right. This course is set up to show off his skillset much more than, say, Matt Fitzpatrick. The Euros will win and they’ll count Aberg as an eight-time Ryder Cupper before he even finishes the week.

Colgan: Ludvig!

I would think Harmon would have to be a big factor this week for the Americans to contend, but is it as big a ballpark as Sean Zak implies?  That's not what I've been hearing, but I certainly can't wait to take the measure of Ludvig.

Drumroll, please. Who wins the 2023 Ryder Cup and why?

Barath: The streak will continue and the Europeans will take back the Ryder Cup come Sunday.

Sens: The bookies have this close for good reason. You could make the argument that the Europeans are stronger in the top seven or eight. But I’d say the U.S. has more depth and that will be the difference in Sunday singles. The Americans win this in a photo finish.

Zak: Europe wins 15-13 in the closest Ryder Cup in more than a decade. Matt Fitzpatrick holes the winning putt. We have a lot to write about.

Colgan: USA in a 14 tie. Americans retain, Euros rage about “antiquated” nature of ties; the golf world wins in an absolute slugfest.

If the U.S. "retains" in a 14-14 tie, I predict that the reaction will be quite different than that we saw in Spain.

As is typical, I come at it from the other direction.  Given the aging out of the Euros historical talent base and the depth of the American talent pool, doesn't the U.S. have to win an away game at some point?  If not now, when (yes, the answer to that is 2018, but that's my point).  I view this as one that the U.S. pretty much needs to win.  The alternative of alternating home team wins might become boring rather quickly.

Will they?  Of course it's not knowable, but if it goes pear-shaped, we'll be disappointed that the Netflix cameras won't be in the team room.  That wasn't exactly a show of confidence, was it?

The best of the event to this observer is the foursomes sessions and, given that those will be the morning (zero dark thirty here), I'll be firing up my DVR upon awakening tomorrow.  That's my way of informing my readers that I don't expect to blog tomorrow.  Enjoy this unique weekend of golf, as well as your weekend in general, and we'll dissect it all on Monday morning. 

Tuesday Tidbits - Marco Simone Edition

We'll be flooding the zone this week, at least to the extent that golf and life permit.  Of course, life hasn't been permitting any golf recently, so we'll make it up as we go along.

Big-Picture Bams - Don't think I agree with his premise:

A Ryder Cup Unlike Any Other

The biennial meeting doesn’t have the same feel, and you can thank LIV Golf for that

I was always taught that Ryder Cup's are like snowflakes, with no two being identical..... More to the point, your humble blogger had come to the opposite viewpoint, to wit, that despite the dramatic run-up to the event and the unprecedented uncertainties in golf's current moment, that this was shaping up to be a shockingly ordinary Ryder Cup.  

Specifically, that a numerically-superior and far deeper U.S. team will take on a top-heavy, yet clearly dangerous European team that one assumes will be scrappy and putt like Bobby Locke.... Are we not entertained?

So, how does Mike Bamberger see this?

The 44th Ryder Cup is upon us and we’re treating it like it resembles the 43 that have preceded it. It doesn’t.

Henrik Stenson was on board to be the European captain, but he got fired from this nonpaying job for going LIV. Phil Mickelson was surely going to be the U.S. captain, or at least a captain-in-training. That didn’t happen, either. Both had run afoul of the WGE. That is, the World Golf Establishment.

Stenson’s removal seems quaint now, given that the backers of LIV Golf, a wee group of super-rich, golf-mad Saudis, are now (allegedly) on a path to becoming partners with the WGE. I’ll believe a deal is in place when the world golf schedule—the DP World Tour, the PGA Tour, LIV Golf—is announced for 2025.

Even the precise September dates for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black are not yet known. Maybe there will be a new normal by then. Maybe the Saudi billions will pave over all the feelings of betrayal and the greed that cost Stenson and Mickelson their jobs. Maybe the trio of European Ryder Cup stalwarts—Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood—will find their way back into management roles. In the meantime, this 2023 Ryder Cup has been turned upside-down by LIV Golf and the billions behind it.

Sure, that's in the background, though I'm not sweating the date for that 2025 installment.  But then he says something like this:

Rome would have been such a natural fit for Mickelson. His mother grew up in San Diego’s Little Italy, down by the commercial fishing docks, and her mother’s sugo al pomodoro was the real deal.

Well, that's quite the hot take, though do you know who had Phil being the captain in Rome?  Yeah, exactly no one, nor was there ever a thought that his captaincy would be anywhere but Bethpage.  Mike, being an astute observer should know that Phil would never have taken a road game, cause those are hard...

Here's another of Mike's unsupported hot takes:

Tiger Woods joined the PGA Tour board not to protect his millions but to protect his legacy. He made his name on a golf tour that turned Ben Hogan into Mr. Hogan, Arnie in Arnold and Jackie-boy into Big Jack. That’s the tour Justin Thomas (son of a golf pro) and Patrick Reed grew up on. They aspired to play for the U.S. Ryder Cup team like they aspired to winning the U.S. Open. Thomas got a big prize for not going LIV. He’s on the U.S. team as a captain’s pick. Reed is not. Two strikes against him: He went LIV, and he had only one top-10 finish in the majors this year. He had no chance.

Mike's throwing a lot against the wall.... I guess eventually something might stick.

In inverse order, his trenchant insight about Patrick Reed might play better if he remembered that Patrick wasn't at Whistling Straits, which was before we learned about those Roman numerals.  As for Tiger, the starting point should be that he couldn't be bothered getting his sorry ass to Rome, so that tells us what kind of team player he is.  You might have a clearer understanding of why he's on the Tour Board when you realize who suggested him.... It's more accurate to say he's there to protect Patrick Cantlay's cash flow than to burnish his own legacy.

And again here he misses the point:, more than just a little outside:

Brooks Koepka did. When I asked Zach Johnson, the U.S. captain, if he had any hesitancy about picking Koepka for the team, because of Koepka’s LIV contract, it was clear there was none. He made the team because of his second-place finish at the Masters, his win at the PGA Championship—and his appearance on Full Swing, the Netflix doc, talking about his internal desperation with the cameras rolling.

So the U.S. team is treating Koepka’s place on the team as a normal thing. It’s not. This is not a normal Ryder Cup.

It might be more accurate to say that Brooksie is there because of June 6th, the other bits being background music.  But, Mike, this is the new normal, to which you seem to be struggling to adapt.

Though a single 'graph later he seems to be adapting:

The Americans who went LIV did short-term damage to the PGA Tour, but all those players have to do, to remain on good terms with the lodge brothers they left behind, is to say these words: “I only left for the money, I only left for the money, I only left for the money.” And with that, Patrick Cantlay, PGA Tour board member, will wave his Tour-issued, trademark-protected magic wand over you and all will be forgiven. Forgiven and forgotten. Candor about craving money is some new kind of god-truth. It sets you free, if you’re Brooks Koepka or Dustin Johnson. But Phil Mickelson or Patrick Reed won’t say out loud what is obvious to the rest of us.

Oh, the damage they've inflicted is forever, it's why I'm so angry with Useful Idiots like Rory.  But Mike is correct that Patrick will waive those infidels back into the fold but, and this is the important point, only after Patrick gets his.  Of course, Mike is still settling scores:

Now that’s part of the fun of sport, of course. The players debate, and we do, too. My six picks would have been Jordan Spieth, Keegan Bradley, Collin Morikawa, Lucas Glover, Rickie Fowler and Steve Stricker. By not taking Koepka, I would have been saying, “This team is about loyalty to the tour you came up on, and to the rulebook.” Yes, I can see a couple of glaring problems here: Nobody cares about my picks (for good reason), and nobody cares about the old-school loyalty tests.

Can you believe he's still milking Brooks' caddie giving another player his club selection at Augusta?  I mean, he's right, but that's a system-wide failure he'd need to rally the troops to, because they all do it.

Mike's conclusion is interesting, although still a bit problematic:

Rory is as bright as anyone in the game, but we are all swayed by our attachments, sometimes in ways we cannot see. McIlroy is a founder of the new-for-’24 Monday night, made-for-TV golf exhibition thing called TGL. Thomas is one of the 12 announced players. A star turn by Thomas at this year’s Ryder Cup will be good for TGL business, and therefore good for Rory.

The charm of the Ryder Cup in the Seve era was that it wasn’t about money. The ratings and the excitement and everything else came out of us versus them. It was way overboard at times, but it was real.

Well, it was a good run.

Mike is ruing changes that have been decades in the making, pining for these good old days:

 Have you got another Seve, Mike?  How about another 'Zinger?

It was a different era, one in which the Euro Tour didn't often intermingle with the Yanks.  But mostly the era was about captivating personalities that dazzled with their creativity and nerve.  These days we'll need Patrick Cantlay to provide that thrill, so Good Luck with that.

The Venue - Hard to get a firm sense of how this golf course will play, but here's the biographical background:

Marco’s Solo

By Roman standards, Marco Simone Golf and Country Club is still sparkling new. The golf course — opened for public play in 1989 and renovated by Tom Fazio in 2018 — has a history shorter than even the Eternal City’s newest landmarks.

By pro-golf standards, though, it might be even newer. Heading into the Ryder Cup, the club will have hosted just three professional golf tournaments: the 1994, 2021 and 2023 Italian Opens of the DP World Tour. Otherwise, Marco Simone is a secret not only to the average golf fan but to those at the top of the game, which explains, in part, why both the American and European teams had scouting trips in the last few weeks.

When they arrived, they found a course with an ageless charm befitting the host city. And if the rolling countryside wasn’t enough to convince them of that fact, the thousand-plus-year-old castle that serves as the course’s namesake, logo and primary landmark should have done the trick.

Ageless charm on a Fazio?  If nothing else, that's be a first..... Joel Beall does a far better job or actually attempting to convey information, so let's see how he reacts to the joint.  Although, first an important pro tip:

There is a pasta truck, which is next to a cocktail truck, which is next to a pizza truck, all parked 50 yards from the eighth fairway. If you’re looking for our primary takeaway from our initial walk around this week’s Ryder Cup venue, Marco Simone, that is what comes to mind. Which, frankly, is exactly what you want from a golf event just outside of Rome. Traveling this far for a dog and a beer doesn’t seem right.

But, Joel, if you want to sound cosmopolitan, stop with the pizza references.  Pizza is only the national dish of Italy in the minds of people whose understanding of Italian culture was forged in, checking notes, Brooklyn.

But James Colgan's "Ageless Charm" comment won't survive contact with Joel's touchstones:

Familiar feelings

Marco Simone is not short on scenery, the property offering beautiful vistas of the Italian countryside, olive groves, rustic villages and the Roman skyline. But decouple the views from the course and two comparisons come to mind. The front nine at Marco Simone has the shape and styling of Liberty National, a maximalist and artificial design that puts a premium on ball-striking. The green contours are severe, and if the surfaces are not slow and wet they’ll reject any approach less than right. The routing is compact; there’s a sense the club tried to fit nine holes into an area that has room for just seven. The back nine, however, is far more expansive in scale. Its topography is dramatic, yet the greens are less punishing. While the back nine still can present its difficulties, it seemed fairly gettable; in that vein, it has an air of Valhalla to it.

So it has the ageless charm of Liberty National?  I'm sometimes accused of being a harsh critic, but that tops anything I could throw out there....

Here's a first answer on a question I've been posing, one that should encourage our bombers:

A bit of breathing room

No, it’s not Whistling Straits with fairways wide enough to land 747s with ease. But the test

Americans will encounter at Marco Simone is nowhere near as suffocating as Le Golf National was off the tee (more on this in a moment). The landing areas are generous, and though there are a handful of par 4s with narrow confines—which include bunkers coming into play—those spaces are usually stifling only for long drives. However …

The rough is very grabby … and patchy

It appears the long stuff has been dialed back from the scouting trips each team made a few weeks back. That said, it still looks to be a nuisance in a way most U.S. Ryder Cup setups are not, and the ball could have the chance to burrow in the high stuff. As inviting as most of the fairways are, Marco Simone will make a player pay for his miss. That includes around the green. However, unlike rough that is thick and plentiful—which can subtract creativity and vision from the short game—this grass is uneven (and arguably, unintentionally so). That could lead to more variety, and variance, in terms of the types of shots played and their outcome. Combined with the shaping of the greens, a deft short-game touch will go ways this weekend.

But the key word for the week might just be half-par:

The tweener par 4s

Really cool! There are three drivable par 4s on the course, and though the wind can have a say in how they are played, most can be had with less than driver. However, most are also guarded by water, bunkers, rough or fescue, and because they can be reached with a 3-wood, arguably even an iron, this configuration should prevent players from just banging the big stick without thought. Eagles to doubles (or worse) will be very much in play.

This will be interesting... Normally I don't necessarily expect the Americans to play smart golf, though this is an aspect where the Captain could have a big impact, given how he played his golf.

This sounds....well, ageless:

First 6-7 holes are volatile

“Volatile” is probably a generous interpretation, as critics could argue this stretch borders on gimmicky. Understanding the 24 individuals competing are the world’s best—and thus capable of playing a game unfamiliar to the rest of us—each of the first seven holes have penal aspects to them … sometimes to the shots that the hole seemingly requires. It’s easy to see a few blow-up scores, which could lead to players building a big league early over a struggling opponent.

Gimmicky?  On a Fazio?  What's this world coming to?

But the back nine will be interesting, including the finish:

Last 3 holes should facilitate drama

This stretch is not for the meek. The last three holes are a drivable par 4 over water, a 200-yard par 3 with an undulating green and a 600-yard par 5 with a greenside lake. (Like we said, a little Valhalla-y.) Assuming matches reach this point, the risk/reward spectrum is vast, which—hopefully!—creates a thrilling ending to each match and session.

No word yet on whether a clown face has been painted on any of those greens, but I may never stop laughing at James Colgan calling this place "ageless".....

Tiger In Absentia - In case you haven't noticed, I take all things related to Tiger Woods with a high saline content.  Like Rory, the best case scenario for his actions in the last year are that he was a useful idiot, and we don't have the time for the worst case.

But Tiger wants to be perceived as a moral arbiter in our game, though he wants to do that without breaking a sweat.  Because, as you might have noticed, he's been caddying for Charlie as opposed to getting his ass to Rome.  That's fine, who doesn't like a father caddying for his kid, but life is about showing up....

For months we've been treated to an assault of comments to the effect that Tiger is some sort of secret weapon behind the curtain, that he's micro-managing captain's picks and pairings and, please spare me the rest.... So, at yesterday's presser, Zach kind of gave up the ghost on that meme:

"He's got a lot on his plate"

Johnson also confirmed Woods will not be making the trip to the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.

Woods, 47, is back walking again and recently caddied for his 14-year-old son Charlie Woods as he ticked off another victory in his junior career.

Johnson said: "No, Tiger will not be joining us in Italy. He's got a lot on his plate.

"As far as conferring with him, communicating with him, I mean, we have up to this point, and he is one of -- he understands that now that our feet are on the ground, it's probably kind of best that we navigate this ourselves.

"But he's always on inner corner, and at this point it's more encouragement on his side, whether he's texting the guys or texting the vice captains and captains, he's there to encourage because he's very invested in what we do year-in and year-out with Team USA, and that has never ceased and I'm grateful for that."

Gee, Zach, that's a target rich environment.... Just curious as to the sense in which you think he's invested, because to the rest of us it looks like he doesn't want to be associated with your team.  Otherwise, yanno, he might actually be there sampling the pizza....

But can anyone tell me what being on "inner corner" is supposed to mean?  Unless it's a synonym for Jupiter, FL.

The man simply can't be bothere4d to show up, and we're being told that that's because he just cares so damn much.  Next thing you know they'll try to convince us that Saudis will pump billions of dollars into golf without actually wanting anything....What?  Well, that's very nice of them....

Who Ya Got? - Heck, I don't even know who I might be rooting for, as my loyalty to that 2018 team didn't survive Justine's initial tweet.  That said, Eamon Lynch has a note of caution for those Damn Yanks:

Lynch: Bet against Europe at your own peril in this Ryder Cup

I know he's not betting on football, but any word on who Phil has put his shekels o this time?

First, some history:

The original Great Britain & Ireland team had just three wins in the first 57 years of the Cup, but the subsequent European team has authored a reversal. The last 18 contests have seen 11 wins for Europe versus six for the U.S., with one tie that saw Europe retain the hardware. Seven of the last 10 have gone to the Old World, whose last loss on home soil was in 1993. Still, every two years America is declared a prohibitive favorite.

It’s a proclamation often based on the strength of individuals, not on the collective utility of a team. But this Ryder Cup promised to be different. The U.S. team that easily won the ’22 Presidents Cup gelled seamlessly, thanks in part to LIV Golf relieving them of toxic personalities (Patrick Reed) and childish distractions (Bryson v Brooks). But we’ve heard feverish anticipation of a new era of American dominance before, and it hasn’t materialized. Like in the aftermath of the ’08 win under Paul Azinger, or when Davis Love III skippered the team to its first post-task force victory in 2016. Both “streaks” ended at one.

But, as Phil explained, those 2010, 2012 and 2014 losses were entirely attributable to the absence of pods, so fortunately we've cleared that up.

While I agree with this take, it doesn't address the structural changes that have diminished the Euro Tour or the remaining talent pool: traditional 

The narrative ahead of the ’23 Cup is that Europe has been weakened by not only LIV but the aging out of dependable veterans. Except those players are one in the same. LIV took from Europe a slate of future captains (at least for now, future deals pending), not current players. It hastened a generational change that was inevitable, but the traditional components of team Europe are unchanged.

As I've noted previously, I agree that this is teed up in that traditional fashion:

There’s always been a core group of anchor stars of whom much is asked. In the ’80s and ’90s, that meant Ballesteros, Faldo, Woosnam, Montgomerie, Langer. Later it was Garcia, Westwood, Poulter, Rose, McIlroy. Then there’s a solid “B” tier of players capable of holding their own — the Sam Torrances and Paul Caseys. Finally, the rookies and vagabond journeymen who unexpectedly qualify. From that unheralded contingent, career-defining moments have emerged: Eamonn Darcy beating Ben Crenshaw in singles back in 1987; Paul McGinley holing the winning putt in ’02, the same year Phillip Price took down Philip Mickelson in singles; Jamie Donaldson stuffing the decisive approach shot in ’14 at Gleneagles.

The team Luke Donald will lead into the coliseum in September is no different to those of 15 or 30 years ago.

The core is strong: McIlroy, Rahm, Hovland, Fitzpatrick, Lowry. In support, Rose, Hatton and Fleetwood. The less-seasoned members of the team — Bob MacIntyre, Nicolai Hojgaard, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg — are all winners. There is no dead weight in that lineup, no legacy picks justified on past accomplishments rather than current form.

Except....

That original core group was five deep, all of whom were nails in this event.  Monty might have been soft in a U.S. Open, but boy did he kill us in this event.  In 2023, that core of elite players is three-deep at best (Rory, Rahmbo and Viktor), and at least the first of those is highly suspect.  If I add that Rahm got himself dusted by a rookie in singles at Whistling Straits and that Viktor is untested in this event, you'll see the issues.  As Mark Twain famously said,  “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” Often, but not always....

Which is not to say that the U.S. team is underwhelming. It never is, even as one third of the team that performed so impressively at the Presidents Cup will not make the flight to Italy. There’s so much depth on the American side that any 12 players on that plane will be a daunting lineup, but the caliber of competition and burden of pressure are so much greater at a Ryder Cup than at a Presidents Cup. Otherwise the U.S. might have notched a few away victories in the last 30 years. The idea that Europe is weaker or in crisis is entirely fanciful.

The U.S. always fields an exceptional team that does not always deliver exceptional results. That reality will not be lost on captain Zach Johnson.

Underwhelming?  Of course, not.... But I'd have thought Eamon might spend a moment detailing all the caution signs:

1. The best player on the team can't putt;
2. Their two major champions are untested and have gone cold;
3. Former stalwarts such as JT and Spieth have struggled all year, and you can add Morikawa and Sam Burns to that list;

At the end of the day, everyone seems to be in their assigned lanes and we have a quasi-normal Ryder Cup ahead.  Which is quite the thing given the events of the last eighteen months.

We'll have much more as the week unfolds, although the schedule is dependent on whether golf can be played.  Check back early and often, because you wouldn't want to miss anything, would you?

Weekend Wrap - Sister-Kissing Edition

It was a grand event, one that Ophelia allowed me to see almost all of.... Quite frankly, the weekend washout ensured that I saw far more of the Solheim Cup than I'm likely to see of that other cup this week.  Just because I hope to be on the golf course Saturday and Sunday morning.

Before we get into our coverage I just want to editorialize on how great these team match play events are.  There is simply nothing comparable in our game to take these players out of their comfort zones and thereby provide us with an unusual golf viewing experience.  There is nothing comparable in this game than watching Sunday singles unfold and looking for that extra point needed by one side or the other.  The ebb and flow of individual matches in the context of the team event is so much more absorbing, especially when there's just a little bit of an edge between the teams.

To The Victors... -Except, yanno, for the fact that there weren't any, but we'll get to that conundrum in a minute.  After giving credit to Spain's conquering heroine:

In the end, no amount of planning and strategizing could stop destiny. Walking down the 16th hole, Pettersen turned to her longtime friend Carlota Ciganda and said, “Is this how you wanted it? It’s all yours.”

The fiery Spaniard, who had just cold shanked a shot on the previous hole, dug deep and told herself that she was going to win it for Pettersen because she loved her and thought that she deserved it.

With the hopes of a nation on her back, Ciganda birdied the 16th and stuffed one inside an already close Nelly Korda on the par-3 17th to win the match and retain the Cup for Europe.

To think that I'd been reliably informed that the hardest shot in golf is the one immediately after a shank..... and that's without a home-country crowd.

Quite dramatic and the girl certainly had a week that will be with her forever, going 4-0-0 in front of her peeps.  Although, I'm not at all sure it was the best comeback for the Euros, and certainly not the most unlikely:

Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall, the 121st-ranked player in the world who sat out the first three sessions, put together one of the most inspiring comebacks in Solheim history. Three down with six holes to play, Hedwall made four birdies and a conceded eagle on the final hole to defeated Ally Ewing and give Europe a chance to win three in a row for the first time.

“You know, I never give up, and I showed that today,” said Hedwall, one of Pettersen’s four captain’s picks and her most controversial.

Somewhere in here I needed to work in Geoff's lede:

Shanks, cranks and thanks.

Another team event, another Cup weekend delivering a bit of everything from hosel rockets to smiles induced by stunning performances. The Solheim Cup served up an absurd Hollywood ending, sensational shotmaking, the inevitable Cup-pressure induced gaffes, and several breakout performances. We saw Captain’s being Captain’s. A venue totally ill-suited for the competition. And a new low in television coverage from the people who had already lowered the bar.

We'll get to that TV coverage below. 

The Tour Confidential panel devoted the entire column to this event, awfully gracious until one realizes there wasn't much else to cover.   Now, perhaps they might have done more than phone it in:

1. The Americans and Europeans tied 14-14 in the Solheim Cup on Sunday in Spain, meaning Europe will retain the Cup and deny the U.S. a trophy it hasn’t won since 2017. The U.S. was up 4-0 after the opening session on Friday and the event was tied 8-8 heading into Sunday. What happened? And what was the difference between the U.S. and Euros this week?

Given that the event ended in a 14-14 tie, I'm gonna suggest that the difference was non-existent....

Josh Sens: The oddsmakers had this one right from the start. It was always going to be close. Even that opening session whitewash by the U.S. was tighter than the score made it look. What happened was an event playing out as a lot of people envisioned it would. In the end, that clinching singles match between Ciganda and Korda summed up the razor difference: the flatstick. Hard to remember a Solheim Cup (or Ryder Cup) when that hasn’t been the case.

Jack Hirsh: It’s interesting that one of the differences ended up being putting when this course,

as noted on the broadcast, featured Bermuda grass and is rare in Europe and presumably would give Team USA an advantage. However, in the end, it felt like every crucial putt by Europe went in the heart while U.S. golfers — especially Nelly Korda — were ice cold with the flatstick. Ultimately I think home-field advantage proved the tipping point. When you have a Spanish fan base rally around Carlota Ciganda like they did, that’s tough to beat.

Alan Bastable: All points matter, of course, but hard to overstate the importance of Caroline Hedwall’s point on Sunday, especially given the captain’s pick Suzann Petersen expended on an underperforming Hedwall raised more than a few eyebrows. In the eighth match of the session, she was 2 down to Ally Ewing through 13 holes; lose the match and the U.S. takes a two-point lead. But instead, Hedwall stuck in and won five of the last six holes — which included a closing eagle — to win 2 up and bring the overall score back to a tie. That allowed Europe to need only two points in the final four matches to retain the Cup. Huge pressure-reliever.

That Hedwall rally was really unexpected, though it should be noted that Georgia Hall and Gemma Dryburgh had both gagged horribly towards the finish line, in each case allowing the Americans to steal a half point unexpectedly.  I had noted to the bride that those two girls would be blaming themselves if the trophy ended up over the Atlantic last night.

Much more so than in individual play, that gut-wrenching choking is almost the defining feature of the week.  Sure, it's hard to watch a times and we fear for their psyches, but take a moments to enjoy that palate cleansing aspect of them throwing up over their shoes with no money involved.... At times it's more pressure than any one human should endure, but they're so much more human for the experience.

Grade Expectations -  The TC panel takes a shot at this:

2. Who earned MVP honors for each side, and whose struggling performance were you most surprised by?

Sens: Leona Maguire was a force for Europe, but Ciganda’s week played out so perfectly, it seemed almost scripted. Never trailed in a match. Got the point that secured the Cup. In her home country, no less. Slam dunk. For the U.S., I’ll go with Megan Khang. Came in with a less-than-sparkling Solheim record but was rock solid. Didn’t lose a match and did her best to set the tone on Sunday by going out first and grabbing a full point.

As for struggles, Charley Hull was not the factor she seemed poised to be, but late news of her neck issues helps explain that. On the U.S. side, Lilia Vu won two majors this year but just one match this week, and Zhang’s winless week has to count as something of a disappointing cap to an otherwise epic year.

Hirsh: Ciganda for team Europe isn’t even a question for MVP. For the U.S., I’ll go outside the box and say Angel Yin. As much as Ciganda was the heart and soul of Team Europe, Yin, complete with her Deion Sanders shades and smack talk, was the emotional leader of Team USA, despite being one of the youngest members of the team. She went 2-1-0 in her first Solheim Cup.

In terms of struggling performances, I was surprised to see Charley Hull not only win just one point, but only play in three matches. She’s perhaps the most exciting player in women’s golf and was 11-5-3 in Solheim Cup matches coming in. For the U.S., it has to be Lilia Vu. The top-ranked American player went just 1-3-0 after a season in which she won two majors. Nelly Korda going 2-2-0 with a freezing cold putter wasn’t so great either.

Bastable: Yeah, Ciganda’s clutch home-game performance might be the story of the year. Had chills for her. Also loved European skipper Suzann Pettersen’s steely cool. She didn’t seem to overthink her role, and in an analytics-mad world relied on gut decisions. We also need to talk about Lexi Thompson. With so many questions swirling around her form, she went out and hung up three points, including a singles win in the anchor match. That contest proved to be moot, but the Cup could have oh-so easily hinged on it.

The funny bit is that each MVP survived a critical shank, and that's something I'll bet we haven't seen before....

Care for a digression?  Did you catch that scene after Ciganda's birdie on No. 17?  I made a Justin Leonard reference to Employee No. 2 erven before one of the announcers got there, know that Lexi's match would have been held hostage on the tee.  Geoff, though, has this interesting take:

According to Ryan Lavner’s game story, this was not the first time Ciganda has battled mid-round shanks. Still, she couldn’t believe they reared up Sunday while facing world No. 3 Korda. But Ciganda recovered in mere minutes and wrapped up the tie with an epic shot at the 17th. Bedlam ensued when she made the birdie putt, even with another match coming to the par 3 tee where a teammate was trying to claw back a half point to gain Europe the outright victory.

Such a short-sighted display by Team USA would have—oh you know it—prompted ugly American’s cries and headlines throughout the union. But let’s not make that the defining moment of the contest when there are the usual unsung heroes to celebrate.

Hey, at least CNN tells us it was mostly peaceful.... 

Dylan Dethier's Monday Finish column is up earlier than usual, written in the air from Malaga to Rome, presumably.  He gives the girls letter grades, but it leaves one with the sense that he might not have actually watched the evnt:

GRADE: A

Carlota Ciganda gets a clear and obvious A+ for facing the pressure of being the only Spaniard at the Ryder Cup, serving as enthusiastic host and then delivering an absolute beatdown on the course. Her 4-0-0 record speaks for itself. The fact that her birdies at 16 and 17 on Sunday took down Nelly Korda and delivered the point that clinched Europe’s 14th point? That was almost too good a story.

Megan Khang earned top honors of her own; 3-0-1 including a Sunday staredown of Linn Grant in the first singles match? Hell yeah.

Cheyenne Knight belongs here, too. You can only win the matches you play, and Knight went 2-0-1 including a particularly fun Saturday pairing alongside Angel Yin. Nails.

We’re giving Caroline Hedwall the nod here, too. Sure, she only went 1-1. But she played well in defeat on Saturday, and on Sunday she turned a 3-down deficit into victory on the back nine.

Well, it's not like any of these girls were bums, but Knight only avoided a loss because she was gifted a short miss.  Hedwall's Sunday win might have been the single most important flip of a match but her Saturday strong play was undermined by a series of short misses, so a Jekyll and Hyde kind of day.

But here's where eyes will start rolling:

GRADE: B

European captain Suzann Pettersen earned a solid B+ — perhaps just a point or two ahead of U.S. captain Stacy Lewis. Pettersen finishes the week with a better grade than her American counterpart because the tie goes to the Cup-keeper, but I enjoyed their contrasting styles. Lewis’ approach kept analytics at the forefront, while Pettersen seemed determined to shoot from the hip. It’s tough to say one worked better than the other, given each side claimed 14 points, but Pettersen was the one who got to celebrate.

Oh, and their captain’s picks went fairly well, too: Ewing (1-3-0) Yin (2-1-0) and Knight (2-0-1) combined for a 5-4-1 record for the U.S., while Pettersen’s Sagstrom (1-1-1), Hedwall (1-1-0), Dryburgh (0-0-2) and Pedersen (2-2-1) each (remarkably) won exactly 50% of her matches.

Leona Maguire, Linn Grant and Maja Stark all belong in the “B” grade and perhaps higher; these three felt like the current and future stars of this team. Maguire made five birdies and an eagle in Sunday singles to take down Rose Zhang and improve her record to 3-2-0. Grant lost her first and last match of the week but won the three in between. And Grant, her countrywoman and partner, went 2-1-1.

If you're giving Cheyenne Knight an "A" and Leona Maguire a "B", you might want to be looking for another job, because that just doesn't reflect reality.  Maguire had one clunker out of five, losing a second one when she played well.  But there was no stronger force on either team and she is clearly the heart and soul of the Euros... In fact, while I didn't feel compelled to blog this story, I thought this meme was pretty funny and captures her status in this event:

People you don’t want to see on the first tee pic.twitter.com/ND7hoStqDd

— Will Knights (@willknightsTFE) September 24, 2023

He does at least not hold back for these gals:

GRADE: D/F

Look, we take no pleasure in putting anybody down here! But the Monday Finish can’t be accused of easy grading or people will start to talk. Not everybody’s Cup can be above average.

Ally Ewing‘s week started hot; she and Knight led a preposterous 6 up through nine holes on Friday morning. It was all downhill from there, though. Ewing’s next two team matches were 4 down losses — and in Sunday singles she was 3 up with six holes to play but lost five of those six to suffer a disappointing defeat.

Lilia Vu entered the week as the highest-ranking member of the event; the two-time major champ is also No. 2 in the world. She didn’t make enough birdies in her three team matches to stay competitive but seemed to get ’em all out on Sunday instead: she birdied five of the first six holes en route to a romp over Sagstrom.

Like Vu, Anna Nordqvist got off to a distressing 0-3-0 start in team matches before rallying with a commanding showing on Sunday; she beat Jennifer Kupcho 2 and 1 to salvage a point. As for Kupcho herself? She earned just a half-point in three matches, though a half-point is notably better than no points at all.

Rose Zhang finished the week at 0-2-1, too. It was a bit surprising to see the talented rookie only play three of five sessions. It was even more surprising to see her a bit out of sorts. It’s tough to blame her for a Sunday singles defeat, given Maguire was on the other end. But I’m betting Zhang is already looking forward to the next Solheim Cup; she’s not used to losing. (Nor bad grades.)

Celine Boutier was the only pro on either side to finish the week without at least a half-point. That was a particular shock because she entered the week as Europe’s top-ranked pro (Boutier is World No. 5) and played just three times. She led 1 up with five holes to play on Sunday before Yin chased her down.

I don't know how you give a "D" or "F" to a woman like Lilia Vu who kicks ass in singles.  Part of it is we credit the same points for team wins as single wins, which is quite obviously silly.   Obviously Vu made a far larger contribution than Jennifer Kupcho, who missed as many short putts in one fourball match as I might have ever seen, at least that didn't involve Mark Calacavechia.

In general, as supportive as I'd like to be, the girls missed a million short putts, one of the downers of the week.  No doubt the graininess of the Bermuda greens was a factor, as well as the unique pressure of playing with a partner.  But it's also one of the areas in which the ladies just aren't as good as the men, and I frankly doubt we'll see anywhere near as many misses this week in Rome.

I will say that the concessions were really weird, although I'd need to check the video to cite specific instances.  In general. concessions seemed to be on the stingy side, which I liked (especially given the slopes and aforementioned grain).  That said, there were at least a couple of bizarre concessions to end matches that were highly debatable, putts that had been missed in other matches.  It looked very strange form y easy chair.

A few other bits.....

Shanks For The Memories - I'm having trouble understanding Lexi's gripe here:

3. In an afternoon four-ball session on Day 1, Lexi Thompson needed to get up-and-down for birdie from off the green to tie the match (or have her partner, Lilia Vu, make a long birdie putt), but Thompson shanked a chip and made par, as the Europeans won the match 1 up. Afterward, things got awkward when a reporter asked Thompson about it: “I don’t need to comment on that,” she said. U.S. captain Stacy Lewis added: “That’s a terrible question.” The internet, and players like Jessica Korda, had lots to stay about this situation. How would you unpack it all?

Sens: The question wasn’t terrible but Thompson’s response and the general defensiveness around it were. That’s the price that comes with being paid well to play a game for a living. You get asked about your triumphs. And your trials. Some commentators suggested that the question had sexist undertones. But a male player in that same situation would have gotten the same question, and that, too, would have been perfectly fair.

Hirsh: Well said, Sens. Our colleague James Colgan eloquently summed up the situation here too. To Thompson’s credit, she didn’t have to speak to the media at all and that would have been fine and understandable. But the fact she decided to talk meant she would have had to figure she was getting asked the question. To echo Sens, it’s a perfectly fair question and should have been answered if she was going to be there.

Bastable: Stacy Lewis is a pro, but the “terrible question” jab was amateur hour. What would have been terrible is not asking the question. When a world-class athlete’s skill caves under intense pressure, fans want to know what went wrong. As Colgan pointed out, Thompson and Lewis’ edgy response made the whole episode a bigger deal than it would have been or should have been.

No, Jack, not speaking to the media isn't "fine and understandable".  I've seen this from Stacey previously, and she's prone to the whining.  Here's an idea so crazy it just might work.  How about if Lexi admits she hit a clunker and takes it like a man..... Strike that, how about she takes it like a professional.

Stacey has often whined that the girls are just as good as the men and deserve equal treatment, an argument that I hate.  Here's the thing, girls, you have to earn your audience.  If Lexi can't take the heat of one gentle question about one horrible shot, well then she's just too emotionally g=fragile for her chosen career.

But do you know who can deal with her bad shots?  That would be those ladies holding onto your precious trophy, because this was Ciganda's take:

“Carlota just shanked one,” he told Euro player-captain Anna Nordqvist. It was a “proper shank” Ciganda said later. Chunky from the fairway and exiting on a beeline toward a town called Lost Hole.

Let's see....  Carlotta calls it a "proper shank" and gets on with her business, whereas Lexi curls up in the fetal position..... Kinda tells us all we need to know, eh?

About That Ending - Doesn't there have to be a better way?  First, the case for the status quo ante:

Disappointed the Solheim Cup ended in a 14-14 tie? Why the outcome didn’t bother the Europeans … or the Americans

You sure about the Americans?

Throughout a seemingly endless Sunday singles session of fluctuations, both teams led more than once before the eventual climax. Some may say that a draw is unsatisfactory. But in this case, they would be wrong. For the third time in succession (after Europe’s narrow wins in 2019 and 2021), the Solheim Cup provided the sort of excitement that puts the recently predictable and rather pedestrian Ryder Cup to shame.

“My team played their hearts out,” Lewis said. “Just so proud of 'em, the way they fought. We played the back nine better all week, and they just hung in there and hung in there with every match. I just told 'em, we didn't lose. It was a tie and there is so much to build off this week. I think the rookies learned a lot and that's what it's about. All week I thought we made really good decisions. These things come down to one shot or one putt, and it's just amazing of all the matches that we played, that's what it comes down to.”

OK, but that's not much of an argument... Oddly, this is as close as he gets (he being Scotsman John Huggan) to the actual issue from the header:

And the eternal question as to whether or not a draw is best left as it turns out, or should it be settled with some sort of playoff?

“At the closing ceremony we were talking about whether it should be a tie,” Lewis said. “Maybe it would be a better experience for the fans if there was some sort of playoff. But I don’t know. All I can say is that this feels like a win. Look at where we were two years ago in Toledo and where we are now.”

Look, Stacey is being gracious and accepting the rules under which the event was contested, but it's hardly responsive to the question begged by this result.   

Dylan Dethier tales on that finish, and the arguments are logical:

For the first time in Solheim Cup history, the event ended in a 14-14 deadlock, which meant the defending Cup-holders — in this case, Europe — retained the prize. The Ryder Cup follows this same format (the event has twice finished in a tie), and it’s a shame, because after three days of riveting competition and players leaving every ounce of themselves on the course, as a golf fan you couldn’t have been blamed for wanting to see a winning team that actually, you know, won.

Sour grapes? Nah. I would feel no differently if the Americans had retained the title by the same manner. It’s merely the opinion of an interested observer left feeling a bit unsatisfied at the conclusion of a heated contest.

Imagine if the New England Patriots had tied the Philadelphia Eagles in regulation at Super Bowl XXXIV, and Brady and Co. had been declared the winners only because they were the defending world champs. Or if the United States women’s national soccer team had tied Germany in regulation at the 2003 World Cup final and been awarded the trophy merely because they had won the Cup four years earlier. Fans would be aghast.

Yes, on paper the Solheim and Ryder Cups are only “exhibitions,” but that’s a woefully inadequate descriptor for the magnitude of these events. To most players and fans, these biennial international match-play showdowns mean as much, if not more, than major championships.

He even cites the Golf Channel commentary:

“I get the celebrations from Europe,” Golf Channel broadcaster Tom Abbott said from the booth, “but it doesn’t always sit well for me that the teams celebrate and it’s going to be a tie. I don’t know about you at home.”

Added his boothmate, Judy Rankin, a Hall of Famer who has captained two U.S. Solheim Cup teams to victory: “It has always been awkward and a bad ending when players have to finish when the match has been decided. But a lot of players — not every player — but a lot of players are so interested in their record when all the dust clears.”

Abbott: “But I think the point is, it really hasn’t been decided.”

Rankin: “True, I understand.”

Abbott: “You know what I mean?

Rankin: “I understand what you’re saying.

Abbott: “We’ve gotten to this point now where we celebrate tying the Ryder Cup or the Solheim Cup when, to me, both teams have played equally well.”

Yes, but as weird as this one was, does anyone remember the even more bizarre scene with Tiger in 2012?  One in which Tiger was so clueless as to how to react, that he turned a tie into a loss.  But here we venture into the amusing, because his example of what to do is curious in the extreme:

Amen, Brother Abbott! And it doesn’t have to be this way. Witness the Presidents Cup, which until 2005 had in its bylaws the most inspired of tiebreakers: a sudden-death playoff between two players “in the envelope,” meaning each’s team respective captain had chosen their playoff participants in advance.

Oh, the drama! Imagine, say, Megan Khang and Leona Maguire going toe-to-toe in bonus golf to decide a team winner. Or Ciganda, with the will of her home-country fans behind her, and Lexi Thompson staring each other down as they prepared for a do-or-die hole, tens of thousands of fans packed around a single green.

Don’t like the notion of matches being decided by only one player? OK, pick two representatives from each side and send them out in a sudden-death fourball match. Or have six players across three singles matches. First side to win two holes wins. Smarter people than me will have better ideas than those. Take NBC analyst John Wood, who tweeted on Sunday: “In my humblest of humble opinions, the ‘Retain’ needs to go in all of these competitions. Send out all 12 from both sides go play one par 3. Total strokes wins.”

Only once did the Presidents Cup employ a playoff, and it resulted, in 2003, in arguably the greatest Presidents Cup moment ever: Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, then numbers 1 and 2 in the world, respectively, duking it out mano-a-mano for the Cup in Els’ native South Africa.

Wow, that sounds epic as a way of avoiding it ending in a tie, but remind me how that Prez Cup finished?

Three holes later, with Woods and Els still tied and dusk settling in, U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus and his counterpart Gary Player agreed to call it a tie. But, hey, at least they had tried to settle the contest. (Darkness, by the way, would not have been an issue in Spain, where the matches ended with at least three hours of remaining sunlight.)

OK, so the example of how to avoid a tie ended in, checking notes, a tie?  The TC panel had similar thoughts: 

6. This year was the first time the Solheim Cup has ever ended in a tie, which isn’t exactly the most fun thing in the world. Quick: you have been selected to figure out how to properly end Solheim Cups and Ryder Cups that are all square after regulation. What’s your solution to crown a winner?

Sens: Take a page from soccer and go to a penalty shootout. Each team sends out 5 players, one at a time, to play a short par 3. If the teams are tied after that, it goes to sudden death.

Hirsh: Select two players from each team for a chip-off. Two balls each and you aren’t allowed to watch anyone else’s attempts. Team with the closest ball wins. I’m also going to use this opportunity to point out how egregious it is that in 2023, NFL games can still end in ties.

Bastable: It’s a deeply unsatisfying way to conclude three days of hard-fought competition. I loved what the Presidents Cup had in place until 2005: before the singles matches, the captains each put one player’s name in an envelope. If the overall score was tied at day’s end, those players faced off in a sudden-death playoff. You’ll remember that’s the format that gave us the epic Tiger Woods-Ernie Els showdown in 2003. Darkness eventually forced the captains to agree upon a tie, but the three holes before that accord were a blast. Time to put that format back in play in all the big team events.

I agree strongly that the retention of the cup BS should go, as it's just not kosher to allow one team with "win" a tie.... That said, let's not pretend that a playoff will be satisfyingly or feel like a proper resolution, just like penalty kicks and sudden death playoffs after 72 holes seem insignificant and gimmicky after long competitions.  The more players involved the better, but when the event is based in the U.S. (and these things are always in the Fall with shorter days), let's not pretend that these idiots will leave enough daylight for much more than a few holes.

I Saw It On TV - I'm still in shock at how bad the coverage was, and searching for a reason why.  The shot selections to be shown live were bizarre, although that's something always prone to second-guessing.  But the absence of taped shots to fill in what was missed seemed inexplicable...

The broadcast was also notably cheap, with limited shot tracers and other bells and whistles, but nothing was as objectionable as the clunky graphics that made following the competition so impossible.  Here was Dylan's take, including some other citations:

I also would like to speak for you, my sports-viewing people, when I say the quality of the event was not matched by the quality of the broadcast. The commentators were clearly frustrated by it; they weren’t in control of the feed and the provided feed wasn’t good enough. We missed crucial storylines, we lacked context from scorekeeping graphics, we spent too much time some places and far too little others. The gripes of Meghan and Tron below seemed to resonate with those watching…

There are THREE matches on the course in one of the greatest, most dramatic, most enthralling, most unpredictable team events there has ever been….
And we’re not getting to see every shot.

If you ever doubted that women’s golf deserves better 🤢🤐

Say it louder 🔊

— Meghan MacLaren (@meg_maclaren) September 24, 2023

A tale of extremes today. Among the team golf competitions of my lifetime.

And some of the worst television coverage in golf broadcast history and an insult to players, fans and even the commentators forced to make it work, alike. Time to turn up the heat on those at fault ☠️☠️

— Tron Carter (@TronCarterNLU) September 24, 2023

The graphics were terrible beyond belief.  The single biggest issue was that, presumably as a cost-saving move, they didn't take the concluded matches off the summary graphic and failed to summarize how many matches each team was leading in.  This is so basic and has been done for so many years, that it almost seems like willful indifference to the viewing public.

I do hope that heat is brought to those responsible, because it's a great showcase and the feed was really that bad....

I'll save our coverage of that other cup for the coming days.  Have a great week and pray that the rain stops at some point.