Ryder Cup 2018

[Tripping William]

Even if we don't have a contest (and that, to my eye, remains in TBD stage), there still should be a thread to discuss the Ryder Cup, which begins very early in the morning tomorrow. So here it is.

I have a couple of initial questions:

(1) Team USA is trying to win on European soil for the first time in 25 years. At minimum, Phil Mickelson has talked about that. Will that added bit of pressure inspire the Americans? Or weigh them down?

(2) How will the rookies fare? DeChambeau, Finau, JT are first-timers for the US. Nearly half the Euro team are rookies: Fleetwood, Hatton, Oleson, Rahm and Noren.

(3) How will Tiger 2.0 fare?

Should be fun.

[Tripping William]

Friday morning four-ball pairings:


2:10 a.m. (ET) - Brooks Koepka-Tony Finau v. Justin Rose-Jon Rahm

2:25 a.m. (ET) - Rickie Fowler-Dustin Johnson v. Thorbjorn Olesen-Rory McIlroy

2:40 a.m. (ET) - Jordan Spieth-Justin Thomas v. Paul Casey-Tyrell Hatton

2:55 a.m. (ET) - Patrick Reed-Tiger Woods v. Francesco Molinari-Tommy Fleetwood

Sitting out are DeChambeau, Mickelson, Simpson and Watson for the USA, and Stenson, Noren, Garcia, and Poulter for Europe.

[mkirsh]

Friday morning four-ball pairings:


2:10 a.m. (ET) - Brooks Koepka-Tony Finau v. Justin Rose-Jon Rahm

2:25 a.m. (ET) - Rickie Fowler-Dustin Johnson v. Thorbjorn Olesen-Rory McIlroy

2:40 a.m. (ET) - Jordan Spieth-Justin Thomas v. Paul Casey-Tyrell Hatton

2:55 a.m. (ET) - Patrick Reed-Tiger Woods v. Francesco Molinari-Tommy Fleetwood

Sitting out are DeChambeau, Mickelson, Simpson and Watson for the USA, and Stenson, Noren, Garcia, and Poulter for Europe.

I really like Furyk's pairings, seems like he put similarly styled players/personalities together (though somewhat surprised he didn't put workout buds Brooks and DJ together - maybe he's saving that one, or feels like each needs a little more energy from a partner). Bjorn's approach seems different, like he paired steady players with aggressive players (but I admittedly don't know much about the guys who primarily play the European Tour). Looking forward to watching this tomorrow AM!

[sagegrouse]

Friday morning four-ball pairings:


2:10 a.m. (ET) - Brooks Koepka-Tony Finau v. Justin Rose-Jon Rahm

2:25 a.m. (ET) - Rickie Fowler-Dustin Johnson v. Thorbjorn Olesen-Rory McIlroy

2:40 a.m. (ET) - Jordan Spieth-Justin Thomas v. Paul Casey-Tyrell Hatton

2:55 a.m. (ET) - Patrick Reed-Tiger Woods v. Francesco Molinari-Tommy Fleetwood

Sitting out are DeChambeau, Mickelson, Simpson and Watson for the USA, and Stenson, Noren, Garcia, and Poulter for Europe.

On the Euro side, Rose & Rahm are tough, but so are Molinari & Fleetwood. If the course is as tight as reported, then Molinari has an advantage. Also, I suppose, Tiger could be very good if he is able to use irons on many of the holes.

[Tripping William]

Americans lead 3-1 after Friday morning four-ball, with Johnson/Fowler, Spieth/Thomas, and Finau/Koepka winning. Only Reed/Woods lost (to Fleetwood/Molinari, with Fleetwood hitting clutch putts on 16 and 17).

"Afternoon" foursomes are as follows:

7:50 a.m. (ET) - Henrik Stenson-Justin Rose vs. Dustin Johnson-Rickie Fowler

8:05 a.m. (ET) - Rory McIlroy - Ian Poulter vs. Bubba Watson-Webb Simpson

8:20 a.m. (ET) - Sergio Garcia-Alex Noren vs. Phil Mickelson-Bryson DeChambeau

8:35 a.m. (ET) - Francesco Molinari-Tommy Fleetwood vs. Justin Thomas-Jordan Spieth

[killerleft]

Well. Is the U.S. team going to continue its usual 'wrong-side-of-the-pond' duffer-fest? Or will we man up and put some heat on those Euro pests? Another session like this afternoon's, and we'll have to call in Gentle Ben and hope he's got a good feeling about this.

[rsvman]

Alternate shot has always been a bugaboo for the US team, and this year is no different, lol. Pairing Mickelson with Dechambeau for alternate shot ranks right up there with one of the worst decisions in Ryder Cup history, and the result was predictable.

[sagegrouse]

Alternate shot has always been a bugaboo for the US team, and this year is no different, lol. Pairing Mickelson with Dechambeau for alternate shot ranks right up there with one of the worst decisions in Ryder Cup history, and the result was predictable.

Phil needs to sit until the Sunday singles.

Saturday's US pairings are the same as this AM's. It appears the Euros's only change is to sit Justin Rose in favor of Ian Poulter. Tiger and Patrick Reed have a rematch with Molinari and Fleetwood.

[BD80]

Phil needs to sit until the Sunday singles.

...

But today the US is wearing Phil's pinstripe pants!

[Tripping William]

Were it not for the heroics of Justin Thomas, the Yanks woulda got waxed again. And Eduardo Molinari’s Twitter trolling of Patrick Reed was classic.

But why are the Euros dressed like Longhorns?

[nmduke2001]

I would have teamed Mickelson and Finau in four ball. Each of those guys can make a ton of birdies and boogies. Combined, I think they would have picked each other up and won a lot of holes with at least one carding a birdie.

Woods is a terrible team player. His record when partnered is awful.

Europe does a good job setting up these courses in their favor. This course favors precision over length. The modern U.S. player prefers length over accuracy and it’s biting them in the rear end. Maybe Zach Johnson would have been helpful on this course?

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Alternate shot has always been a bugaboo for the US team, and this year is no different, lol. Pairing Mickelson with Dechambeau for alternate shot ranks right up there with one of the worst decisions in Ryder Cup history, and the result was predictable.

That's been my observation too....it's like the more independent minded American spirit doesn't work as well as the more communally minded Europeans. Seems to me the US does better in the singles than any of the other formats. And alternate shot is awkward under any circumstance.

I would also hate to be the captain in this event....I mean a case can be made that Phil and Tiger need to sit...but who's gonna do that?

[grossbus]

Choking dogs

[Tripping William]

Choking dogs

I can almost hear killerleft now: “ In the FedEx Cup, he was Bryson A. DeChambeau. In the Ryder Cup he’s just BAD.”

[arnie]

I would have teamed Mickelson and Finau in four ball. Each of those guys can make a ton of birdies and boogies. Combined, I think they would have picked each other up and won a lot of holes with at least one carding a birdie.

Woods is a terrible team player. His record when partnered is awful.

Europe does a good job setting up these courses in their favor. This course favors precision over length. The modern U.S. player prefers length over accuracy and it’s biting them in the rear end. Maybe Zach Johnson would have been helpful on this course?

Tiger has just lost 7 straight Ryder cup team matches and he should not have played the Saturday afternoon match. I guess Furyk was told by NBC he had to play him and he didn’t want any PC criticism. Sometimes a coach has to make difficult decisions, guess Furyk couldn’t do that.

[JasonEvans]

Best pairings on each side:

Molinari & Fleetwood: 4-0 and won their matches by a combined 17 holes (an average of better than 4 holes per match)

Spieth and Thomas: Despite getting blown out in the afternoon yesterday, they are 3-1 and will be the only Americans to win more holes than they have lost coming into Sunday's match play.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

tiger has just lost 7 straight ryder cup team matches and he should not have played the saturday afternoon match. I guess furyk was told by nbc he had to play him and he didn’t want any pc criticism. Sometimes a coach has to make difficult decisions, guess furyk couldn’t do that.

this ^^^....

[Tripping William]

DeChambeau as your anchor? As the Brits say, “Brilliant!”

[killerleft]

I can almost hear killerleft now: “ In the FedEx Cup, he was Bryson A. DeChambeau. In the Ryder Cup he’s just BAD.”

That's pretty close.

Singles matches present us with a fair comeback chance, but I think we need to load up the early matches with our best guys (uh, do we have any best guys?).

Nowhere to hide the BAD or the ugly. Everybody needs to contribute.

[Indoor66]

Maybe Bryson has too many facts, figures and statistics in his head and maybe needs to just play golf.