Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

[lowpaiddonkey10]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

Pretty sure the bigger issue down the stretch was Jordan Spieth totally disappearing.

He's won here and there but his best days are behind him. These guys have so much money there's no incentive for some of them anymore.

[lowpaiddonkey10]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

I understand their friendship but have to get Spieth out of there.


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Don't hold your breath.

[l3ulvl]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

He's won here and there but his best days are behind him. These guys have so much money there's no incentive for some of them anymore.

I'm stunned he's 30, I was thinking mid 20s, I wanted to be like cmon man, he's young (not that 30 isn't young), but you may be right, it feels like not long ago he was the future of golf, and it may already be over

[lowpaiddonkey10]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtGxusvUT3k

[pietasterp]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

Neither Spieth nor Thomas should be on this team, based on their recent form. The captain's picks have been a bit of a bust. Having Bryson on the team would be useful right about now, IMO.

This thing is over but at least there's some mild interest from the increasingly hateable Rory McIlroy and hotheaded Shane Lowry somehow getting into beef with the US caddies. Too bad Brooks wasn't there. I would like to see Brooks take a swing at Rory and Shane. Now THAT would make this Ryder Cup interesting.

As it is? It's a Sunday in autumn. That means NFL football.

[kehlis]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

They were right to be upset with Lacava. He was in the wrong there.

Any US player would have reacted the same should the tables have been reversed.


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[pietasterp]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

They were right to be upset with Lacava. He was in the wrong there.

Any US player would have reacted the same should the tables have been reversed.

I disagree. LaCava was not:

a) standing anywhere near Rory's putting line
b) standing anywhere near Rory's through-line
c) impeding his ability to read his putt
d) interfering with Rory's standard process

Rory made it an issue because he wanted to make it an issue - if he just goes about his normal business, it never becomes anything. Maybe LaCava stood around and celebrated for too long, but that's a pretty grey judgement area. Too long for the Euros, no doubt.

LaCava has been in the game for over 3 decades and no one has had anything bad to say about him, even when he had the somewhat unenviable task of being Tiger's caddie. Rory has proven himself to be a petty prick with regularity, writ large for all to see in the recent Netflix show and his hilariously "company man" comments throughout the LIV/PGA split (which continued to this Ryder Cup).

No matter your opinion on what is admittedly ultimately an inconsequential affair, it was by far and away the most interesting thing that happened in an otherwise extremely boring and inconsequential exhibition. I, for one, thank Joey LaCava for injecting a mild bit of interest into the proceedings.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

...it was by far and away the most interesting thing that happened in an otherwise extremely boring and inconsequential exhibition.

Isn't that generally how the Ryder Cup is, though - at least recently? It's almost a guarantee that the home team will win, and the score will not be close.

Here are the final scores for the last 5 Ryder Cups:

16.5-11.5 (Europe wins in Europe)
19-9 (USA wins in USA)
17.5-10.5 (Europe wins in Europe)
17-11 (USA wins in USA)
16.5-11.5 (Europe wins in Europe)

The only two close Ryder Cups in the last 20 years were 2010 and 2012.

I wonder what could be done to make things more interesting, in terms of actual on-course play. I have heard some podcasts and recaps of the event asking about this, but no one really offered any real ideas or suggestions.

[lowpaiddonkey10]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

It is what it is. Some guys are hot some guys are cold some guys shouldn't even have been selected. But you can't know until they play.

[kehlis]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

I disagree. LaCava was not:

a) standing anywhere near Rory's putting line
b) standing anywhere near Rory's through-line
c) impeding his ability to read his putt
d) interfering with Rory's standard process

Rory made it an issue because he wanted to make it an issue - if he just goes about his normal business, it never becomes anything. Maybe LaCava stood around and celebrated for too long, but that's a pretty grey judgement area. Too long for the Euros, no doubt.

LaCava has been in the game for over 3 decades and no one has had anything bad to say about him, even when he had the somewhat unenviable task of being Tiger's caddie. Rory has proven himself to be a petty prick with regularity, writ large for all to see in the recent Netflix show and his hilariously "company man" comments throughout the LIV/PGA split (which continued to this Ryder Cup).

No matter your opinion on what is admittedly ultimately an inconsequential affair, it was by far and away the most interesting thing that happened in an otherwise extremely boring and inconsequential exhibition. I, for one, thank Joey LaCava for injecting a mild bit of interest into the proceedings.

Obviously I agree with A and B.

C and D is where I take an issue (especially D).

Whether us normies think it's needed or not, there are clear shots of Rory trying to read what the green is doing from different angles like most pro's do on most putts.


And don't get me wrong, I LOVE the emotion of the Ryder Cup. The celebrations and everything about it.

Joe took it too far, even when the golfers celebrated (on either side) they are doing it as they are walking off the green.

In this case, Joe was standing in the middle of the green for far too long when there are still TWO putts with a chance to halve the hole. Get off the green and let them finish the hole.

Just thought it was excessive and was no doubt done because of the trolling thrown at his player throughout the day.

There is no chance you would see a player do that after sinking that putt on 18 to seemingly win a tournament while his opponent still has a chance to make a putt to tie.

[pietasterp]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

Obviously I agree with A and B.

C and D is where I take an issue (especially D).

Whether us normies think it's needed or not, there are clear shots of Rory trying to read what the green is doing from different angles like most pro's do on most putts.


And don't get me wrong, I LOVE the emotion of the Ryder Cup. The celebrations and everything about it.

Joe took it too far, even when the golfers celebrated (on either side) they are doing it as they are walking off the green.

In this case, Joe was standing in the middle of the green for far too long when there are still TWO putts with a chance to halve the hole. Get off the green and let them finish the hole.

Just thought it was excessive and was no doubt done because of the trolling thrown at his player throughout the day.

There is no chance you would see a player do that after sinking that putt on 18 to seemingly win a tournament while his opponent still has a chance to make a putt to tie.

Under normal circumstances I would completely agree with you. But the Ryder Cup isn't a normal circumstance, and I don't think you can apply standard tournament behavior to the Ryder Cup. This isn't a standard PGA Tour event or a major championship - the rules are obviously all different in the Ryder Cup, and basically all common golf etiquette gets thrown out left-and-right all week long. In a normal golf event, you don't have 50,000 people heckling one of the golfers on every hole, you don't have the golfers fist-pumping right in other guys' faces, you don't have a bunch of other guys off the green celebrating misses by the 'other' guy and makes by 'their' guy...the list goes on. You don't see golfers running around pumping up the crowd like they were Usher in a standard PGA Tour event either, because that would be considered gauche. We aren't talking normal decorum here, and in that context, nothing Joey LaCava did was particularly excessive (by Ryder Cup standards). I think it's selective outrage to decide it's perfectly okay to break unwritten rules #1 through #55, but we draw the line at unwritten rule #56.

Rory was irritated that they gave up a lead and decided to make an issue out of something that would never have been an issue if he had just moved on and continued reading his putt. Rory was the one that made a non-issue into an issue, period. He was offended by the 'excessive' celebrating on the green - to which I say, if the everyone decided to make an issue out of every time that happened in a Ryder Cup - to the ridiculous extent Rory did - there would have been fistfights going back to '91. (Which, by the way, I would be very interested in seeing.)

It's all nonsense and Rory knows it, he's just so far up his own rear-end he can't see the forest for the trees. He probably can see his own appendix, though.

Isn't that generally how the Ryder Cup is, though - at least recently? It's almost a guarantee that the home team will win, and the score will not be close.

Here are the final scores for the last 5 Ryder Cups:

16.5-11.5 (Europe wins in Europe)
19-9 (USA wins in USA)
17.5-10.5 (Europe wins in Europe)
17-11 (USA wins in USA)
16.5-11.5 (Europe wins in Europe)

The only two close Ryder Cups in the last 20 years were 2010 and 2012.

I wonder what could be done to make things more interesting, in terms of actual on-course play. I have heard some podcasts and recaps of the event asking about this, but no one really offered any real ideas or suggestions.

Yeah, the Ryder Cup has a home blowout problem, and I have finally started to hear some in the general golf media start to acknowledge it. The interest in the event is fragile, and it'll only be a few more blowouts before this thing has the same level of interest as the 2nd round of the Valspar Classic. I no longer think this is a small sample-size statistical quirk - something about the home field advantage is tilting these things way out of proportion.

What's the solution? I have absolutely no idea. But I'm losing interest in the Ryder Cup.

It is what it is. Some guys are hot some guys are cold some guys shouldn't even have been selected. But you can't know until they play.

I would argue the US did not bring their 12 best players to the event. I have no idea if it would have mattered or not, but it probably wouldn't have been worse than what transpired.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

One thing that gets me interested in the Ryder Cup is that it's match play. We don't see that very often anymore in pro golf. And we'll see it even less now that the Dell Match Play event is no more.

I know it's a pie in the sky thing, but I'd really like the PGA Championship to go back to being a match play event. It would set that major apart from the others.

[lowpaiddonkey10]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

In a post tourney interview Jordan Spieth mentioned something about the timing of the tournament. They may want to think about holding it some other time. Not an excuse for poor play but something to consider.

[lowpaiddonkey10]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

One thing that gets me interested in the Ryder Cup is that it's match play. We don't see that very often anymore in pro golf. And we'll see it even less now that the Dell Match Play event is no more.

I know it's a pie in the sky thing, but I'd really like the PGA Championship to go back to being a match play event. It would set that major apart from the others.

While it is a major it always felt like the 3rd place game in a soccer tournament.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion

In a post tourney interview Jordan Spieth mentioned something about the timing of the tournament. They may want to think about holding it some other time. Not an excuse for poor play but something to consider.

Yeah, most of the US players basically took 5 weeks off. The only PGA Tour event between the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup was the Fortinet Championship. And of the US Ryder Cuppers, only Justin Thomas and Max Homa played in that. And also, not every US player came to Marco Simone for the practice session the team had there in the run-up to the event.

Meanwhile the Euros played events on the DP World Tour basically every week between the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup, and essentially the whole European team played at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on Sept. 14-17. Seven of the Euro Ryder Cuppers finished in the top 10 in that event.

There was a definite issue with preparation and form going into the event for the US team. The Euros were all playing well and were sharp in their run-up to the Ryder Cup. The result was not that surprising to me, to be honest.