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The Ryder Cup

metirish Sep 21 2006 11:20 AM

I love this event,I'll be honest there is nothing like beating the American team,and it's more fun when it happens on American soil,anyway it's supposed to start tomorrow in Ireland,one major problem though is the weather,it's brutal over there. Who else is lookign forward to it?

HahnSolo Sep 21 2006 11:25 AM

I like watching it. The Euro team always looks like they're a bunch of frat guys at reunion weekend. They seem to love the event. The Americans mostly look like they're going through root canal. Interesting that for the first time I can remember, the Americans are going in as the underdog.

metirish Sep 21 2006 11:32 AM

One interesting theory I read yesterday in trying to explain the difference between the teams is that the euro guys grew up playing on public course while most of the American guys grew up playing private courses with coaches and all that..I dunno but I love it....maybe Duan can give us weather updates,the course is not far from Dublin.

Edgy DC Sep 21 2006 11:33 AM

I don't like designating "Europe" as a competitive entity unto itself, taking on the United States. The "Rest of the World" team at the President's Cup is more laughable. As if T.C. Chen and Retief Goosen have any cultural interests to together advance against the U.S. As if chicks should be painting "Rest of the World" flags on their faces. Maybe if the U.S. team was expanded to include other CONCACAF-type nations, it would make more sense. It would be U.S. dominated, but be more in the spirit of international competition. Then Asia, Africa, and such can field their own international teams.

Frayed Knot Sep 21 2006 04:58 PM

The Ryder Cup originally grew out of a U.S. vs England deal many moons ago back when those two lands supplied most of the world's golfers. Eventually the population differences started to get so unbalanced that the entire UK was included, then eventually the rest of "the continent" as golfers like Spain's Seve Ballesteros emerged on the world stage in increasing numbers. I love this thing. Golfers are so used to playing just for themselves that playing in a team event brings a whole new dynamic into it. Suddenly, guys who routinely stands over triple-breaking 10 ft putts for hundreds of thousands of dollars get all knids of nervous when [u:389fe2641c]nothing[/u:389fe2641c] is on the line except for the fact that they'd be letting down their teammates. The normal golf image where the competitors keep their emotions under check goes out the window as there will be those who get inconsolable over missed shots, wild celebrating goes on when shots are made, tears are not unknown as a result of either, wives rush out on the course, captains and players of each side start sniping ... it's a real hoot. So far - although it didn't come from the Eurpoean team itself - there's been an Irish magazine which published naked photo's of Tiger's wife (except it wasn't her) while referring to the other American wives as basically a bunch of trampy, big-breasted sluts (and they said it like that's a bad thing). The mag aplogized - they knew going in those photos weren't of Mrs. Tiger - claiming they were doing "satire" but it's already planted a bone of contention. So did Sergio Garcia's pointing out Tiger lackluster Ryder Cup record.

Edgy DC Sep 21 2006 05:12 PM

As opposed to Sergio's lackluster overall record. Sergio has made some of the greatest shots I've ever seen. He's only won four PGA tournaments, though.

metirish Sep 21 2006 08:18 PM

] As opposed to Sergio's lackluster overall record. Sergio has a great Ryder Cup record,he's 10-3 with two halves,that's the highest winning percentage of any European who has played in at least three cups.

Frayed Knot Sep 22 2006 10:14 AM

Now Sergio just has to figure out why his scores automatically go up by about 6 strokes whenever someone mentions the word 'Sunday' to him in big stroke play matches. Morning Matches: Woods & Furyk vs =darkblue]Montgomerie & Harrington US wins 1 UP Cink & Henry vs =darkblue]Casey & Karlsson =green]Match Halved Toms & Wetterich vs =darkblue]Garcuia & Olazabal =darkblue]Europe Wins 3 & 2 Mickelson & DiMarco vs =darkblue]Clarke & Westwood =darkblue]Europe wins 1 UP Europe leads 2-1/2 - 1-/12

metirish Sep 22 2006 10:27 AM

Europe are handing out a bit of a hammering in the evening foursomes,some PbP here. http://sport.guardian.co.uk/rydercup2006/story/0,,1878946,00.html

duan Sep 22 2006 11:18 AM

weather's actually grand, we were supposed to get the tail end of Hurricane Gordon (I think it was Gordon anyway) but it was mostly high winds last night and not enough rain to be a serious issue. There's a decent wind, but it's a positively balmy late september day with the odd shower. Has that air of a day that could turn miserable in a hurry though. I'd firmly disagree with you about the public course thing, golf's even more of a rich kid's game in Continental Europe and while McGinley & Harrington are 'middle class' rather then upper (both Rathfarnham boys) the both grew up playing in private clubs (The Grange & Stackstown).

Frayed Knot Sep 22 2006 01:26 PM

I agree. I remember talking to an Englishman about various hobbies and I asked him if he golfed. He said, no, that in Britain "you need to have the right tie"; meaning that you have to have gone to the right schools and know the right folks. That and just the lower land/population ratio both in the British Isles and the Continent (and Japan for that matter) makes the public courses a rarer thing than over here. Hell, I played the 2002 (and 2009) U.S. Open course in cut-offs and a t-shirt for 30-some bucks. That said I don't really have an explanation for the poor U.S. showing in recent RCs - although it may just be one of those things. The Euro domination is just a recent occurance and only the last one was really lopsided.

metirish Sep 22 2006 01:52 PM

That's it for today ,Monty again is brilliant as he putts under pressure to half his match,Europe wins one in the afternoon as Donald and Garcia beat Woods and Furyk 1up,the other three matches end all-square. Europe 5 USA - 3

Vic Sage Sep 22 2006 05:16 PM

i was hoping there'd be naked pix of Tiger's wife in this thread. what a jip.

Frayed Knot Sep 23 2006 06:14 PM

Y'know, the lousy weather this morning made for good golf-viewing conditions ... except that NBC decides they want to show the conclusion of today's competition during their usual Sat aft sports hours (ending around 6-ish) so they ignore the trans-Atlantic time difference and tape delay the whole thing, meaning that the stuff they're showing this AM was over for hours. I, the potential viewer, of course know all this so guess what Dick Ebersol? ... I didn't watch! Show it live dudes and people will seek it out. But American networks (and NBC in particular) like to package this stuff like it's a mini-series and show it when they want while hoping you won't realize the difference. They are, at least, showing things live on Sunday starting at 7AM EDT - although my cynical side says that's to avoid football games as much as anything. Anyway, Europe leads 10-6 heading into Sunday's singles matches as each of the 4 sessions ended up 2-1/2 to 1-1/2 in favor of the Euros. THAT would be the big thing to figure out: why the American side tends to fare so poorly in the pairs portion of this kind of competition. Normally (although not last time) they get the edge in the singles but it's often not enough to overcome their early deficit. Eurpoe - as defending champs - need only 14 points (iow, 4 more) to retain, while the Amer's need 14-1/2 or a whopping 8-1/2 of tomorrow's possible 12 points. Either a whopping comeback needs to be in the works or this thing could be over early Singles Matches: 1) 6:15 AM EDT -- David Toms v =darkblue]Colin Montgomerie 2) 6:27 -- Stewart Cink v =darkblue]Sergio Garcia 3) 6:39 -- Jim Furyk v =darkblue]Paul Casey 4) 6:51 -- Tiger Woods v =darkblue]Robert Karlsson 5) 7:03 -- Chad Campbellv =darkblue]Luke Donald 6) 7:15 -- J. J. Henry v =darkblue]Paul McGinley 7) 7:27 -- Zach Johnson v =darkblue]Darren Clarke 8) 7:39 -- Vaughn Taylor v =darkblue]Henrik Stenson 9) 7:51 -- Brett Wetterich v =darkblue]David Howell 10) 8:03 -- Phil Mickelson v =darkblue]Jose-Maria Olazabal 11) 8:15 -- Chris DiMarco v =darkblue]Lee Westwood 12) 8:27 -- Scott Verplank v =darkblue]Padriag Harrington P.S. Whose idea was it to dress each side in near identical unis today? Doesn't exactly add to the team-v-team concept when it looks like there's a couple dozen guys all rushing the same fraternity out there.

metirish Sep 23 2006 07:03 PM

NBC coverage has been terrible,by the time I tuned in today I knew Europe was going further ahead and by 2pm I knew Europe finished the day leading 10-6.NBC will be live form 7am Sunday which is noon ireland time so we should see most of the games. Sergio has been brilliant.

metirish Sep 23 2006 11:33 PM

I love nothing more than beating the yanks....go Europe Sunday...

cooby Sep 23 2006 11:49 PM

Vic Sage wrote: i was hoping there'd be naked pix of Tiger's wife in this thread. what a jip. Whattaya talking about? They don't exist (sez he)

metirish Sep 24 2006 08:54 PM

Well that was easy,out of 28 matches the USA won 6,that's just terrible. Congrats to Europe and especially Darren Clarke.

Frayed Knot Sep 24 2006 09:18 PM

As feared this thing was basically over before it started and thus a boring watch. Like I said, this thing gets good when it's close and the usual golf deportment goes out the window. Guys who normally show little emotion over tough putts worth sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars, suddenly get all knock-kneed over shots that "cost" them nothing other than a half-point for their team. And while normal golf etiquette requires you to act almost embarrassed to win when an opponent blows a shot (imagine the Mets walking off the field w/heads bowed because their win only came via Buckner's error) - in close RC play an important lost hole by the other side results in blatant exultation from the players, loud dancing and screaming from the wives, gut-wrenching tears from the player's teammates, and huge displays of emotions from a generally partisan crowd, and maybe even some sniping between team captains. But, alas, none of that was present today.

metirish Sep 24 2006 09:24 PM

Yeah I agree with you FK, as happy as I am that Europe won it's a hell of a lot better when it's close,if it were not for Clarke then there would have been no real story to be told about this cup.