Corey Pavin has called for a Senior Ryder Cup
“You would think there would be a way to make the whole Ryder Cup experience that much better by including something for the former greats,” said the 51-year-old.
“People would love to watch Tom Watson tee it up in a singles match against Sandy Lyle or Bernhard Langer. That would be really fun for the fans to see.
“If it was part of the lead up to the actual Ryder Cup it would be a lot of fun. It would be competitive. It would be somewhat inspirational.
“There’s only one Ryder Cup and that’s for the young bucks.
“But to bring back some of the golden oldies – people would love to see their long-time heroes play in a Ryder Cup-type event, as long as it didn’t detract from the real thing. That always need to stay front and centre as the biggest event in golf.”
I totally agree. There’s a crop of “senior” golfers out there (and coming up) with tremendous name and face recognition. It would be huge.
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They used to have such an event; it was known as the “Chrysler Cup.” The original captains were Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. It was played at the TPC at Prestancia (Sarasota FL) for 8 years and was a sanctioned Champions Tour (aka Senior Tour) event.
My parents are former members and they marshalled the event several times. I know Jack Nicklaus never played but Lee Trevino, Al Geiberger, Chi Chi, Hale Irwin and many other mainstays of the early senior tour used to play there. It was the USA versus The World since Europe did not have enough seniors to muster a competitive team.
The event was played in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s but eventually died out due to a general lack of interest from the general public.