Looking ominous in the Ryder Cup.

[MacAdder]

Re: Looking ominous in the Ryder Cup.

I was pleased for McIlroy who did well to get a win from a position where he must have been as low as he’s ever been in his career - he’s still one of our best players and has to be a central part in any recovery. Great that Lee Westwood, a real team man, but with an appalling singles record, won at that format in what must be his last game in the competition surely and you’ve got to admire Poulter as well for going to the well one more time when playing poorly and beating a very good opponent in Finau.

I don’t watch enough tournament golf these days to be sure of this, but it seems to me that Harrington just drew the short straw really in that his time came when we were as weak as we’ve been in a long time and we were not good enough to take advantage of the perennial American weakness of having too many in their side who are just not equipped mentally to prosper in team golf - if this strong, younger group coming through are better in that department of the game, then Europe faces a tricky decade or two.

Only one Europe captain has struck me as being poor since we became so much better at this format in the eighties and that is the utterly self absorbed Nick Faldo whose much stronger team than this one also got trashed - Harrington had virtually no chance with the hand he was dealt.

McIroy is a talented golfer, no doubt about it.
You don't win multiple majors being average.

I do think though that he has tended to not play the percentage shot when he should and this, in my view, has cost him titles and as for playing in a team, this approach is not the way forward.

His emotional interview did surprise me a bit I have to say.
Maybe he only knows one way to play and that frustrates him.

Pleased for Westwood especially, as you say, he may have played his last Ryder Cup.
World number one on occasions and a very talented golfer who just couldn't put four great rounds together often enough.

Faldo always struck me that it was all about him, doubt he did much "legwork" as captain.
I did love his masters wins though.

As for Harrington, see my reply to Elwood Blues.

[Delbert]

Re: Looking ominous in the Ryder Cup.

Europe handicapped themselves by giving the Captain only 3 picks when the US Captain got 6. Something has gone wrong when Fitzpatrick makes the team ahead of Justin Rose.

Harrington made some questionable calls but in truth it made no difference, this US team is vastly superior to Team Europe. The bigger issue is how does the Ryder Cup retain its competitiveness and interest given the gap between the teams seems likely only to get wider.

[Elwood Blues]

Re: Looking ominous in the Ryder Cup.

You don't think captain should take some responsibility for such a demoralising and embarrassing loss?

It is not simply about just picking a team.
The form of the players, realising their strengths and weaknesses.
He should get inside knowledge of the course and the backroom staff, who I am sure there are many of, getting the players as prepared as they can be.

It was not only the amount of points they lost by, it was the manner of how they lost them.
Very few went down the eighteenth faiway.

The only saving grace is that covid probably played a significant part in some of the prep and would no doubt have been to the advantage of the American team.
However, in years to come, PH will be remembered as the captain who lost the Ryder Cup by a record score.
I don't happen to think that he was just unlucky.

What is it with some on here that they assume they know what you mean with no facts to go on??

I never said he didn't bear any responsibility, of course he did. And there will obviously be an inquest into the rout.

You just said he was shocking without any further explanation so I replied in the same way

When you say pick a team, that is part of the problem, he doesn't pick 3/4 of the team And those he did pick at least partially justified their choice. Garcia and Lowry on the first two days, and Poulter on the last day. USA picked 6 and Paul McGinley yesterday suggested that the European team captain should in future pick more of the team. Harrington went down from 4 to 3 picks which as it turned out was probably a mistake as he could then have picked Justin Rose, although in a defeat this size I doubt if it would have made that much difference

And how do you know he didn't have a detailed knowledge of the course or didn't prepare the players as much as possible.

How do you cater for the fact that on the last day when it mattered most the three players who had probably done the worst in the foursomes and fourballs based on their experience in the Cup (McIlroy, Poulter and Westwood) rose to the occasion magnificently but the ones who had played pretty well in the first two days (Garcia, Rahm and to an extent Lowry and Hatton) all failed pretty miserably.

And that Casey, although he played well at times would lose all four he played.


The Americans played like a team for the first time in years. The lack of team spirit has often nullified the USA's superior fire power. This time it complemented it.

[Elwood Blues]

Re: Looking ominous in the Ryder Cup.

I was pleased for McIlroy who did well to get a win from a position where he must have been as low as he’s ever been in his career - he’s still one of our best players and has to be a central part in any recovery. Great that Lee Westwood, a real team man, but with an appalling singles record, won at that format in what must be his last game in the competition surely and you’ve got to admire Poulter as well for going to the well one more time when playing poorly and beating a very good opponent in Finau.

I don’t watch enough tournament golf these days to be sure of this, but it seems to me that Harrington just drew the short straw really in that his time came when we were as weak as we’ve been in a long time and we were not good enough to take advantage of the perennial American weakness of having too many in their side who are just not equipped mentally to prosper in team golf - if this strong, younger group coming through are better in that department of the game, then Europe faces a tricky decade or two.

Only one Europe captain has struck me as being poor since we became so much better at this format in the eighties and that is the utterly self absorbed Nick Faldo whose much stronger team than this one also got trashed - Harrington had virtually no chance with the hand he was dealt.

I agree with pretty well all of this Bob.

[MacAdder]

Re: Looking ominous in the Ryder Cup.

What is it with some on here that they assume they know what you mean with no facts to go on??

I never said he didn't bear any responsibility, of course he did. And there will obviously be an inquest into the rout.

You just said he was shocking without any further explanation so I replied in the same way.

I thought it was pretty obvious what I meant but having seen your sharp reply, accompanied by a load of question marks when, if it was a simple question you were asking, one would have been necessary, then I naturally assumed you took up a contrary position.

[Elwood Blues]

Re: Looking ominous in the Ryder Cup.

I thought it was pretty obvious what I meant but having seen your sharp reply, accompanied by a load of question marks when, if it was a simple question you were asking, one would have been necessary, then I naturally assumed you took up a contrary position.

It wasn't meant to be a sharp reply, that would have been exclamation marks, just thought that shocker was way over the top, at least until the inevitable post mortem into all the reasons why it happened.

As I think I made plain on my other post doesn't by any stretch of the imagination mean that he doesn't have questions to answer.

[MacAdder]

Re: Looking ominous in the Ryder Cup.

It wasn't meant to be a sharp reply, that would have been exclamation marks, just thought that shocker was way over the top, at least until the inevitable post mortem into all the reasons why it happened.

As I think I made plain on my other post doesn't by any stretch of the imagination mean that he doesn't have questions to answer.

Fair dinkum it seems we share some common ground.