The biennial Ryder Cup Matches tee off at historic Medinah Country Club in suburban Chicago in just six days. Twelve-man squads of golfers representing the United States and Europe will battle it out in foursomes (alternate shot), fourball (better ball) and individual matches in an effort to win Samuel Ryder”s little gold cup.
Medinah is a traditional parkland-style Midwestern course that is tree-lined with water coming into play on nine of the holes. Having grown up in that area as a youngster, Medinah was always the Beast of Chicago Golf. It has hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and played a whole lot harder than other area courses with a national reputation such as Cog Hill, Olympia Fields, Midlothian and Beverly. However, to the gifted golf professionals who set scoring records at the 1990 National Open, the 1999 PGA and the 2006 PGA, Medinah doesn”t stack up with other American masterpieces such as Oakmont, Oakland Hills, Baltusrol and Bethpage.
However, Medinah might just be the perfect setting for the Ryder Cup and the nuances of match play. With all that water, with three par-5s that can be reached in two, and with the 15th hole revised as a 290-yard par-4, there are a bunch of feast or famine holes out there, a perfect scenario for match play. Try to drive the 15th hole, make eagle-two, and you”ve won the hole. Push your drive into the water on No. 15, make double-bogey six, and you lose the hole. All this makes for drama-laden golf, unlike stroke-play major championships where cumbersome par after cumbersome par will put you atop the leader board. Medinah will be a fun Ryder Cup venue.
In the olden days of Ryder Cup competition there was such a thing as home course advantage. The Great Britain and Ireland team wasn”t familiar with American-style courses such as East Lake, site of this week”s Tour Championship, or Champions Golf Club in Houston, a former U.S. Open site. The Americans had limited knowledge of sites such as Lindrick and Walton Heath. Even the ball was different as the European ball was smaller to better combat the wind that was often present at British links-style courses.
However, home course advantage is no longer a valid point in today”s worldwide golf scene. Tiger Woods won the 1999 and 2006 PGA Championships at Medinah. Spaniard Sergio Garcia came in second and third, respectively, at Medinah. Englishman Luke Donald, who attended Northwestern University of the Big 10, was the leading money winner last year on both the European and American tours. Irishman Graeme McDowell has a U.S. Open win at Pebble Beach, fellow countryman Rory McIlroy has a U.S. Open and a PGA victory as well as the two most recent Fed Ex Cup tourneys. Germany”s Martin Kaymer won the PGA at Whistling Straits, beating Bubba Watson in a playoff. Nine of the 12 European team members have won PGA Tour events on American soil. Not only does their worldwide game travel well, but American courses with their diabolical length and lightning-fast greens are no longer a mystery to the European players.
Both teams have a lot balance with a good mix of bombers and control players, iron masters and putting phenoms. Many of the linksters on one side seem to have a counterpart on the other side with remarkably similar skills. Luke Donald and Justin Rose are accurate ball strikers who putt lights out, just like Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar. Nicolas Colsaerts is a big-time bomber, quite similar in style to Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson. Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley were surprise major winners as were Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer. Paul Lawrie is 43 years old, Steve Stricker is 45, and Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk are both 42. Bradley, Simpson, Johnson, Colsaerts, McIlroy and Francesco Molinari are all 20-somethings. Sweden”s Peter Hanson and Englishman Lee Westwood along with Americans Jason Dufner and Brandt Snedeker have played well in the majors and have the overall game to be the next Keegan Bradley. And with Rory and Tiger, each side has a No. 1 guy who can handle the heat.
Yet not everyone will cherish the Ryder Cup spotlight. Although we”re talking about 24 golfers, all ranked in the top 36 of the world rankings, we”re also talking about human emotions and the relative unfairness of the game of golf. At the 1989 Ryder Cup at the Belfry, the penultimate match came down to Irish journeyman Christy O”Connor and one of the game”s top guns, Freddie Couples Tied going into the final hole, O”Connor stiffed a 2-iron from 210 yards away. Couples, who hit a drive 80 yards ahead, fanned a wedge. O”Connor won in a total stunner, allowing the Euros to retain the Cup. Why did someone like Colin Montgomerie flame out in the majors and yet excel under the glare of Ryder Cup pressure? Why do Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson with 19 combined majors have losing Ryder Cup overall records?
Three-time Ryder Cupper Johnny Pott said earlier this week, “It should be a great contest and I”m sure nerves will be tested on both sides.” Pott brought up the conclusion of the 2010 matches in Wales, won by the Europeans by the thinnest of margins. The final match was between Graeme McDowell and American Hunter Mahan. McDowell had a makeable birdie putt and was ahead in the match by one hole. Mahan was just short of the green and had to chip in for birdie to extend the match. It he hit a great shot and came up one inch to the side of the cup, then he was going to lose. He had to chip it in.
As it turned out, Mahan flubbed the chip. Europe won back the Ryder Cup 14 1/2 to 13 1/2. Pott stated, “That”s some pressure and I”m sure he didn”t get over the press conference afterwards that nailed him to the wall.” As Pott continued, the most telling point was that “I”m sure all of the team remembered a shot that could have earned a point sometime during the matches.”
In the end, that is what it will all come down to. Who can maintain their composure, take advantage of the breaks and putt lights out? Pott sees Europe winning in a squeaker and I concur.
While the Ryder Cup is about great drama, I have only one wish. I want it all to come down to that final match on Sunday, the one featuring Tiger Woods against Rory McIlroy. Wouldn”t that make for a highly entertaining and deadly dramatic 39th Ryder Cup?
