Random Thoughts On The 2023 Ryder Cup Matches

Random Thoughts On The 2023 Ryder Cup Matches

• I watched as much as I could live, and more in replay. I love match play. I wish it was a regular thing on the PGAT schedule, but understand why it isn’t.
• Congratulations to the European squad. The Ryder Cup is always a mixed bag for me because some of my favorite players are on the “opposing” team.
• A few analysts have said the biggest problem for the US team might be the lack of competitive play prior to the Ryder Cup. To fix that, the PGA could move it closer to the end of the PGA Tour season.
• Or … maybe the PGA of America could hold a two or three-day invitational round robin match play tournament at their HQ two weeks before the Ryder Cup as a play-in for Captain’s pick hopefuls and a warmup for automatic picks. I am certain they could find sponsors for a purse and tv interest.
• Is there a sport where the home field advantage is greater than in the Ryder Cup? The sample size is really small, but over the last twenty years the home team is 7-3 for a 70% winning percentage. In the NFL and NBA, it’s 56%.
• Part of the home team advantage may simply be that pro golfers are not used to playing in front of fired up crowds. I imagine that hostility from the galleries can wear a player down mentally.
• I am not sold on the whole Captain as Kingmaker thing. I don’t think there’s anything a Captain could have done to change the outcome at Whistling Straits. I also am skeptical that there is anything Zach Johnson could have done at Marco Simone. In each case, one side simply was playing better.
• I don’t think adding the missing LIV guys would have made a difference. Brooks Koepka — probably the best of the LIV players — went 1-1-1. If you replaced 0-2-0 Rickie Fowler with a 1-1-1 LIV player, the US still loses.
• The European team did not miss Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter or any other of their wayward former players. Indeed, there’s the possibility that those aging stars would have made the European team worse.
• The much-derided Justin Thomas pick worked out ok. Thomas earned 1.5 points — the same as Koepka and Wyndham Clark, and more than auto picks Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler.
• If I was asked to be the Captain of an away team, I might very well turn it down. Who wants that headache?
• Will Tiger captain the US team at Bethpage in two years. I would think he could be captain whenever and for as long as he wishes.
• This next thought is tantamount to heresy, but what if the Ryder Cup mixed up the playing schedule? Play Fourballs and half the singles on Friday, Fourballs and Foursomes on Saturday, then Foursomes and half the singles on Sunday. That would make for some REALLY interesting Captain’s decisions — and might prevent a situation where the event is essentially over by Saturday afternoon.