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2016 Ryder Cup: 5 Things We Learned from Day 3

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8 years ago

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Ryder Cup 2016, as with all things done in the USA, was built up to be either a colossal success or a humiliating failure. With the second go-round for Captain Davis Love III, the assembly of the task force, the selection as a pick of a slumping Rickie Fowler, among other uncertainties, the host team had quite a task to complete.

Four rounds of partner play gave the Red, White and Blue a three-point lead over the three-time defending champion Europe, but a sea of blue Euro flags on the Sunday morning scoreboard meant that any celebration was a long way off. The Americans, despite being historically known for its individual-match prowess, were on the ropes due to the Europeans’ early Sunday run of form. What would transpire over the next six hours would give fans everywhere a memorable lesson in superlative golf, team connection and head-to-head play.

Here are the 5 things we learned from the final day of the Ryder Cup 2016.

Captains’ picks should target youth

This is a terrible thing for an aging writer to type, but the hot young hand is the way to go in future matches. It was that way in 2016, as well. Thomas Pieters won four points as the last man selected by Team Europe, and he did it in dominating fashion. After losing an opening match with Lee Westwood, Pieters partnered with Rory McIlroy to win his next three matches. On Sunday, Pieters knocked J.B. Holmes out by a 3 & 1 margin.

Ryan Moore was the last man in for his USA side, and after a slow, Friday start (a loss in fourball play), Moore won his next two points, including a singles victory over Westwood that sealed the win for Team USA. Rickie Fowler had an uneven week, winning on Friday, then losing on Saturday. On Sunday, playing against Olympic golf medalist Justin Rose, he looked to be on his way out the entire match, yet somehow hung on. A 16th-hole win gave Fowler the margin of victory he needed to stop a two-match Euro streak from becoming three. As for the old man selection (Lee Westwood), well, you know.

Ryder Cup courses should be set up for birdies and eagles

If anyone ever imagined that fans would cheer for hard-fought pars, let’s put that notion in the trash bin. Nothing gets people stoked like wondrous shots, magnificent putts and low scores.

Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia posted 19 birdies in their match, with each shooting the equivalent of 63. Both birdied the 18th with the point on the line, with a well-earned half being the reward for both. Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy seemed to make birdie or eagle on nearly every hole of the front nine, rousing the galleries to record decibel levels. Here’s hoping that Le Golf Nationale in France will offer the same opportunities to two talented teams in 2018.

Rory and Reed are better than you thought

In case you haven’t noticed, week in and week out, the world’s best professional golfers measure their performance against a field. They take a moderate risk, knowing that too many chances might result in missed cuts and lost tournaments. In stark, raw contrast, they lay it all on the line in team events like the Ryder Cup. Nowhere was this more in evidence than in the McIlroy-Reed, lead-off match on Sunday. When faced with a putt of any consequence, which is to say, every putt, both were flawless.

McIlroy buried a 50-plus foot roller on the 8th green and danced an Irish tarantella, shouting “I can’t hear you.” Moments later, Reed dunked a 20-feet putt of his own, wagged his finger as if to say “Oh, no you do not!” As they exited the green, they bumped fists, patted chests and went off to make more history.

Unsung golfers get the job done

Raise your hand if you thought that the backbone of the winning team would be names like Snedeker, Koepka, Moore and Johnson with a Z. Just as in matches past, when European afterthoughts became headliners, the less-illuminated Americans earned crucial points, especially on Sunday. Individual matches are like wrestling; there’s nowhere to hide and you’re wearing a singlet. After the blue flags came out early on the scoreboard, golfers No. 5 through 12 settled the crowd with timely birdies, recapturing the U.S. advantage. Expect more of the same in two years’ time…which team it will be, who knows?

A balanced Ryder Cup is the greatest event in golf

We saved the best, most apparent for last. When 24 of the greatest individual performers, whose professional lives are geared toward themselves and no one else, cast off this cloak of solitude and don one of solidarity, the fans present and on television are the benefactors. Caddies, vice-captains, and other support personnel join in the fun, words like “family,” “brotherhood,” “bonds” and “blood” are used with abandon.

Perhaps it was Darren Clarke’s interview immediately after the matches were resolved that crystalized the essence of the matches. Asked if it were too soon, losing Captain Clarke responded that it was not, that the matches were wonderful, that the U.S. players had performed marvelously and that he was proud of his players. Although one king has died, long live the King!

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Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. richard patten

    Oct 6, 2016 at 9:33 am

    All in all: NBC, Love III’s team and Rory put on a good show. Hard to see Westwood’s yipping, but it reminds to lay off using the dominant hand for putting (short ones in particular).

    Reply Report comment

  2. dapadre

    Oct 3, 2016 at 4:33 am

    We also leaned the Willet should tell his brother to shut up especially if he is not playing. Its MORE than obvious that Willet was off and was just not there, possibly due to his brothers tweets. Whether you agreed with them or not, I couldnt help think damn you just made your brother a target and in the singles he got annihilated.

    Reply Report comment

  3. dapadre

    Oct 3, 2016 at 4:28 am

    We learned that Patrick Reed is a STUD, point blank. You have pressure players and he showed he is one of them.

    Reply Report comment

  4. Awful

    Oct 3, 2016 at 2:07 am

    I’m just glad that farce of a circus of shouting is over. It’s so completely and utterly out of control and ugly watching the players and fans get loud and ugly with each other all over the place. Regular people who don’t play golf must continue to think we’re a bunch of clowns to even play this game against each other week in week out.
    Sure it’s not representative of what golf can be during the regular season but clearly this sort of reckless, unruly, childish Yodeling competition is starting to leak over everywhere else in golf and that is not a good thing at all. The least the TV coverage could do is to turn down the sound from the course except for the sound of the club hitting the ball and drown out the crowd noise so that viewers can’t hear what’s really going on at the courses as far as rowdy crowd behavior and foul language is concerned, it’s bad enough we hear the players’ foul language from time to time.

    Reply Report comment

    • Chris

      Oct 3, 2016 at 12:24 pm

      You must be a lot of fun at parties… I agree that the fans shouting offensive comments at the players was appalling, but its nice to see some emotion on the course from the players. The vast majority of the crowds were awesome, and made for great TV. You can watch the standard/tame golf event every other week of the year. The Ryder Cup is different and that’s what makes it great. I personally loved the entire 3 days, and was glued to my TV for all of the matches.

      Reply Report comment

  5. Rich

    Oct 2, 2016 at 7:54 pm

    What Golf? I think NBC showed 10 minutes of golf for every 15 minutes of commercials. There were more commercials during this broadcast then any sporting event I have watched in 50 Years…and on top of the regular commercials they even put commercials in (same ones over and over) with little bits of the play still going on in a box??? This was 90% commercial 10% golf…and as far as the course set up….if it would have been set up tough we would have seen 20 more minutes of golf and 30 or more minutes of commercials……Where do you think all the money went for this show, players played for free…..be a good bet NBC’s and PGA CEO, Presidents get fat bonus this year…

    Reply Report comment

    • Rwj

      Oct 2, 2016 at 8:36 pm

      Friday coverage on golf channel was ridiculous. There were more “short breaks” than full shots shown. You would be shown putts but never the shots that got there…unless it was spieth or mickelsons shots. I was disappointed with the network. NBC was okay, not as bad as golf channel. You just have to accept there will be ED, prostate, luxury watch and car commercials that fill the majority of time

      Reply Report comment

      • rich

        Oct 2, 2016 at 10:26 pm

        NBC owns The Golf Channel and when NBC is going to show part of a tournament the Golf Channel coverage is always less, only for the Ryder Cup commercials where out of control, I think NBC was getting a big paycheck before we hit the less watched fall tournaments…also they needed extra money to cover the special Palmer Tuesday on Golf Channel….

        Reply Report comment

    • AGF

      Oct 4, 2016 at 10:08 am

      I had a family event Sunday and DVR’d the Ryder Cup singles matches. Watched all 6 hours of coverage in 2.5 hrs. It’s the only way to do it. (When the commercial segments still seem long at 3X fast forward, you know there are too many commercials…)

      Reply Report comment

  6. Fl

    Oct 2, 2016 at 7:26 pm

    Might as well play it out on a miniature golf course with the way the cups were cut on the flattest parts of greens

    Reply Report comment

    • Rich

      Oct 2, 2016 at 8:03 pm

      Would have been nice if they cut out about 50% of the commercials and showed some of the golf….

      Reply Report comment

    • Chris

      Oct 3, 2016 at 12:27 pm

      I don’t understand why people are complaining about the course set up. The event is meant to be entertaining. Guess what’s entertaining… birdies and eagles. No one wants to see the guys fighting around to make pars. They want to see long putts that can swing matches. It’s also not like all of the players were lighting up the scoreboard with these “miniature golf” hole locations…(looking at your J. Rose)

      Reply Report comment

      • BD57

        Oct 10, 2016 at 7:19 am

        Bingo!!!

        It’s not the US Open, it’s the Ryder Cup.

        And if what I heard was correct, tees & pins were set by a “committee,” not by Davis, i.e., representatives of both sides are involved in the process and make the decisions . . . . so if the course was set up “too easy,” “blame” them.

        Except you’d be a fool to “blame them.”

        The Ryder Cup is better when there are roars. That’s why you set up a par 4 to be “drivable,” that’s why you set up pins where guys can get at them . . . . you encourage the players to “attack!!!!” and “go for it.”

        “Roars” are part of the “home field advantage” – if the home team can make them happen.

        Oh … anyone who sniffs at the birdie putts traded by Sergio & Phil coming down the stretch, who thinks that wasn’t ‘good for golf’ …. well, I’ll leave it at this: I’m glad the Ryder Cup was run by the people who ran it, and not them.

        Reply Report comment

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