Well, there you have it. The International squad shall be victorious!


Americans:

Let the Thread begin:

God Bless
Jer

American teams have won on Robert Trent Jones courses. Red, White and Blue will win. Look for Tiger to pair up with Furyk.

im with you slicktry the international team will crush the americans.

how could you lose when you have all those aussies on your team.

If the Americans come together like the US Solheim Cup team did, then the US should win. If they show up, and look like they don't care....it could get ugly.

-Thomas

well...... the rest of the world team won't have to worry about Lefty.....

Looking at the Pics posted so far, Phil's using the 2-ball again

I'm tired of the US getting wooped. It is time for them to step up.

i think the us will be fine. they get to play golf and not worry about the stupid politics surrounding the ryder cup.
the ryder cup makes a huge deal out of team uniforms, wives clothing, food, and of course the most overrated position in all of sports, Ryder Cup captain.
now the us can get away from this and play some golf.

Yes, I can see how all those things caused the Yanks to get reamed by 9 points on home soil last year.

How do they determine who's ball to use? whoever tees off? So fc and tw using the nike on tiger's holes and the b330 on freddy's holes?

Jeff

Right now its tied three matches each side.

I think it will be the same as the 1999 Ryder Cup.

Only we will be down 10-4.


And we will win 10 and half points on Sunday.

Goosen and Scott is kicking some seriuos butt atm

Means nothing.

Come Sunday when the singles are really the Americans thing.

yeah. they beat everyone on Sunday.

and the euros come out and play hard and win. that's great. they get into a couple of events on the pga tour and then realize that when it comes to stroke play they can't hang and end up going back to the second tier tour, otherwise known as the european tour. by the way, how many majors on that team?

Tiger and Boom Boom are losing or just lost. Same old US team when it comes to the team stuff. Hope they pull out their Sunday best in singles. NOTE TO THE CAPTAINS: NO TIES THIS YEAR PLEASE!!!

GO TEAM USA!!!!

Pretty good day one. 2 1/2 points for the US is pretty good for the team portion. Great? No, but acceptable. As long as they keep the Internationals somewhat close, they'll have a great chance come Sunday. GO USA!!!

Unfortunately today showed that Freddy doesn't belong in this type competition anymore. He was so outclassed by the other 3 today it wasn't funny. It was so bad that Fred even admitted that he got smoked today in an interview. Maybe a captains pick that will come back to haunt jack.

Sad but unfortuntely true .

When did the european tour become the 2nd best tour. That honor goes to the Nationwide tour.

depends on your criteria for best........

Don't know what all the excitement is about...it's only all the colonials having a 4 day outing?

fine, maybe it's third tier, right up their with the hooters tour. the us just doesn't get that excited about team play b/c they're too busy win majors and real tournaments, not some tournament that television decided can bring in some cash. nbody cared about the ryder cup before tv realized it's potential.

People became interested when it became the Europeans vs US rather than GB & I vs US......... TV just followed it and it was the press that has, and does 'hype' it.

Incidentally the 'last best tour's' leading money winner won the US open, whilst the Nationwide's leading money winner was choking like a dog*



No offence meant, I like Mr. Gore immensely, but he was.....

I don't really get these team competitiopns and here is why...

I know the Americans are playing for and representing their own country, as a team, but what are the "International" teams really representing?

I can only come to the conclusion that the "International" teams, and I will throw the Euro Ryder Cup team into that category, are really just anti-American. What else could they possibly be playing for?

Many of them are from countries that can't stand each other, however they all get together for this fist-pumping, high-fiving bond every couple of years to try to beat the American team.

If they dislike Americans that much and feel the need to defeat the US in a golf match, I sugest that each Country get their own team together and take a shot at us. As it is, it takes all of Europe or the rest of the planet to give us a game.

When it is one Country versus another Country, head to head, then I will believe that it is truley an exhibition, until then every time I watch Gary Player fist pumping or Sergio and Jesper jumping around like monkeys in the fairway, I take it as an anti-American act.

Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.....

As far as the Ryder cup goes......
What are they representing ??well take one or all of these...

The continent of Europe V the US.
The R&A versus the USGA
The European Tour vs The USPGA


.....anti American........ wow that really is missing the point!

maybe you should take a look at the history of the Ryder cup. (one of it's stated aims is to foster relations between the US and European tours).

The President's cup is for the US to get some practise before the next Ryder cup

not it's about money. have you noticed that nobody is playing an international vs european event? why? b/c nobody would watch.

Au contraire.......

there is a Euros V GB & I event happening RIGHT now, people are watching it, maybe not US citizens but people ARE watching it.

If there was an Internationals v Euro event people would watch, maybe not US Citizens but others would be interested.

There is no Internationals v Euros as there is nowhere to fit it in the Calendar.

Here I go again, Negative Joe. The Ryder Cup is the only international competetion that the U.S. has ever been able to get up for, it is a Major event. The Presidents cup is not significant and I (speaking only for myself) don't think the American Team believe it is really anything special. Sure they would like to win, but its not something to get a hard on about.

I personnally think that trying to sell it as a Major event is failing, and that it detracts from the historic Ryder Cup.

Yet it has only driven a wedge between the players and Countries. Ever heard of Paul Casey? Or all the whining when Justin Leonard made his putt on 17? Monty? The list is endless.



No it doesn't miss the point at all. It has become an "us versus them" mentality and is as far away from the original Ryder Cup intention as it can get...which was an exhibition.

I know the US team is playing for the pride of their country and, since they are all Americans, that makes sense but what doesn't make sense is what are the Euro's and/or the International's playing for? Not for pride of their country.

What it has become is Euro's and international's putting aside their differences for a week to team up and try to beat the Americans. Their only motivation is one of anti-American and Paul Casey's words backed that up. Notice Paul never actually apologized for what he said, he only felt bad for saying it to the wrong person.

Bottom line is that the Americans are playing for the pride of their Country while the International Teams are just playing to beat the US team motivated by their dislike of America.

Complete and utter BS!

And as far as the European Tour being some B-Tour comperable to the Hooters Tour, money doesn't equal quality. (Campbell, Goosen, Els, Monty, Harrington, McGinley, Olazabal and the list goes on)

The PGA players are not playing for the pride of their country, they are playing because it is expected. This was an ill-conceived contest only because the Ryder Cup only allows U.S. vs U.K. and someone thinks it is good international relations, its politics.

As I read the opinions about what competetion is about from our subscribers, it makes me shudder. We have come to believe that you must have hate for your contest adversary, and belittle any who are not with your team. I see it when the fights break out between football/basketball/baseball rivals, and at U.K. Football events. It is sickening.

Golf is supposed to hold itself above petty rivalry, and the joy of the sport is a game well played. The contestant should be applauded whether losing or winning, and the game played for its own sake. It is a sport of common interest that brings people together. It is the most difficult sport known to man, your true contestant is YOURSELF.

Quit crying. Don't hate.

Did anyone see how well Tiger was doing on the Par 3's today? Unbelieveable. He is a freak of nature.

God Bless
Jer

I think you missed my point which was that I feel these competitions have become too fierce because they are not an exhibitoon anymore.

I think the US players and fans are defensive because they feel they are being ganged up on by a groug of players and fans who are playing not for national pride but instead playing for spite.

Someone explain exactly what the international teams are playing for? What is their motivation? I know it's not just to "sing" that ridiculous, redundant ole song.

How is it BS?

Why don't you explain just what the International teams are playing for then?

Certainly you won't claim it is national pride. They are all from different Countries, many of which are less than friendly, however they always put those political differences aside because the Americans are a bigger target and their only motivation as a team is to join forces to beat the US.

This is why the competitions have become so fierce. Obviously moreso with the Ryder Cup where you have Scotts, Irishmen and English all acting like best friends because they are all, at heart, anti-American.

I did not just come up with this out of the blue. I have two good British friends here in the US who play professionally and they agree that the feeling with the Euro fans is one of dislike for Americans in general.

They both came to the US for the first time to play collegiate golf and married American women so they have a different perspective on Americans, however they are brutally honest about how we are perceived by their fellow Countrymen.

Paul Casey confirmed that at least one of the Euro Ryder Cup players feels this way too.

The main thinking off Sam Ryder was to foster good relations between the US and GB&I in golfing terms...that is as fact.
I don't believe for one minute that Europeans "hate" Americans, and if they do, they have very short memories.
Maybe the hunger and desire to beat the Americans is as simple as this: the USPGA Tour is the best by far, both in talent and the money played for. Before when it was USA V. GB&I, the matches were a foregone conclusion, and it was Jack Niklaus who came up with the idea that maybe the GB&I should include Europeans to make it more competative.
When European play USA in the Ryder Cup, they must have strong feelings that they are up against what is perceived to be the best players in the world. I am sure that develops into a "let's show them" attitude....and the recent matches have become a lot more competative, so much so, I think that both Europe and USA team members are now , playing for pride.
Both Sam Torrance and Curtis Strange made every effort to get the Ryder Cup back to where it was supposed to be i.e. played in a competative spirit but at the end of the day, we are lovers of this great game, and should develop friendship and shake hands regardless of who wins.
PS: Paul Casey was misquoted by the gutter press, and it's a pity that in the US they 2 hour interview he gave, was blown out of all proportion in a headline that read "we hate Americans"....just like your Brit friends, Casey has an American girlfriend, has a house in America, and played college golf in America....to say he hates Americans is BS.

I didn't say he hates Americans, he said he hates them.

He wasn't so much misquoted as he would like you to think. He admitted to saying most of the stuff, he just claimed he was "taken out of context" with some of it.

Furthermore, the fact that he went to school in the US and has an American girlfriend doesn't mean anything. Half the terrorists that blew up the World Trade center went to college in the US, so I would imagine it is quite possible for Casey to simply dislike American while going to school here.

Yikes. I never thought a thread like this would become so political. I never seen this much excitment since the Amish challenged the Hutterites to a bale throwing contest.

God Bless
Jer

Well with all the you guys duking it out, Im glad the americans are back in it. It could turn out to be a photo finish tomorrow.

ur1down, you made your point, now sit back, relax and let others try to answer your question if they can. beating a dead horse is just going to get the thread locked for no reason. You do not know Paul Casey so you really do not know how he or any other member of the Euro PGA feels. Quoting one newspaper interview is not exactly an airtight case. On top of all that the WTC reference is in poor taste.

Why not re-read jtmacg's post which makes a good point that the Euro Ryder Cup team and Int'l team on the President's Cup are playing for team pride and competition. They don't hate America, they don't hate Americans. As you stated, they are not representing one Country, so it's not like a Pakistan-India Cricket Match in intensity. You basically are opening the door to the idea that what the Int'l teams play for are the chance to beat the best. The US born players on the PGA tour still carry a certain amount of recognition as being the best in the world, so to beat them is a great accompishment. To do it at a team level requires pride borderlining on national representation, it requires intensity and above all, good golf.

If that's not enough for you, don't watch. If it's not enough those who think like you, then it will get less attention. But clearly, we are nowhere near that point.

On a side note. When watching some of the coverage, it was pathetic to hear some of the fans reaction to any less than great shots by Vijay. One fan is so lost on the spirit of the event that when VJ hit a ball over the green, he immediately stood up in the bleachers and started cheering like crazy. He was the only one who did this so it stood out and made him look pretty bad. What is all that about? Hating on VJ? I don't get it.

Same thing when VJ missed the 18th, a few fans cheered loudly. It seems like the players took a cue from the Solheim Cup and are conducting themselves for the most part pretty well (Appleby's stall tactics not withstanding), but a few fans learned nothing.

WWII ended quite awhile ago, the US vs Them mentality does not play.

UR1down, your post is now edited.

Last warning, follow the rules of the forum, stop the personal attacks, or find another golf forum to participate in.

Like I said, you had your say, unless you have something new to add in a constructive way, you have had enough at this thread.

ROFL...

Isn't the point of team sports to pound the snot out of the team you're playing against. Once you get between the lines, ropes, gutters, whatever the heck defines the field of play to object is to kick the other into tomorrow. After it's all over you go drinking together and attempt not to get arrested. The thing people lose sight of is that these are GAMES! Nothing more nothing less and in the grand scheme of things relatively minor. Much Ado About Nothing would seem to be the case when attempting to politicize this event.