In case you haven’t heard, it’s Ryder Cup week. The teams are (finally) fully announced, the 

, and we’re just about ready for the crowds to descend upon Hazeltine and the balls to begin flying.

Now, what usually happens in a Ryder Cup preview post is that the writer throws out terms like “wedge play” and “proximity to the hole” and “fairway percentage,” and uses these and other dubious statistics, along with the always-important personality factor, to create what the writer believes to be the best two-man groupings to go out in team play.

And the reason I’m not gonna do that is simple – I’m not a captain. It’s not my job to mix up a bottle of Michael’s Secret Stuff and cram it into the stand bags of 12 players, trusting that they’ll share the contents with their partner and form some deep telepathic golfing connection that results in a 7&6 drubbing.

I just want to see some killer singles matches.

Match play singles is the purest form of golf. There are no platitudes about just playing the course, no discussions of posting a number and hoping it’s enough. It’s you against the other guy, straight up. Oftentimes it feels like a game of HORSE, as one player pours in a long birdie and metaphorically tosses the ball to their opponent, daring them to match the feat. Or, to use a different sports analogy, this is the closest thing golf has to an Oklahoma drill.

 of a Ryder Cup match almost like it’s a phsyical malady. “I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t swallow,” Hale Irwin said of his clinching 1991 match against Bernhard Langer. “The sphincter factor was high.” If you don’t think I’m tagging #sphincterfactor in some tweets this weekend, you sir are wrong.

Constantino Rocca, he of the British Open loss to John Daly, missed a short par putt on 17 to hand Davis Love a singles match in 1993. “I miss putt because I go to look too quickly the ball go at the hole,: he said, “…The tension. The tension.”

In 1967, Billy Casper, then in his fourth Cup, explained it with a question: “Did you ever try to hit a golf ball with no oxygen in your system?”

I personally haven’t, but it doesn’t sound easy. Now, let’s check out which matchups would produce the most spine-tingling, sphincter-factoring, oxygen-depleting golf on Sunday afternoon in Minnesota. First, a reminder of the squads.

Now, let’s see if we can find the best 12 singles matchups in these groups. This is completely subjective (obviously) and ranked in a loose order of most to least compelling.

The Heavyweight Championship of the World


Who else could it have been? Sure, Phil vs Rory would be great. And yes, I do believe that should he be paired with Rory, Patrick Reed would train a bald eagle to tee his Titleist up for him on every hole and then soar majestically down the fairway to be his forecaddy. But this is the singles match that would send the golf world into an absolute frenzy the fastest.

Coming off two wins in his last three tournaments, including a de facto singles match against Ryder Cup captain’s pick Ryan Moore in a playoff, Rory is proving once again that when he’s playing well, he can torch just about anyone. He’s also responsible for a brief internet outage in the greater Amsterdam area just after 1 AM local time on Sunday:

, Soly may have needed a smoke and a pancake after that effort.

The only American who can match Rory’s world-consuming narrative and stranglehold on the golf community is the man who often seems completely oblivious to the idea that anything he does on (or off) a golf course is being scrutinized at all. DJ can match Rory’s outrageous length, can pick blimps out of the sky with his short irons just as well as the Northern Irishman, and possesses the same kind of balky/streaky/mercurial putting stroke that has flummoxed Rory for parts of his career. If this pairing winds up happening, and both play at or near their best, this could go down as an all-timer.

Another great thing about match play is that it shines a spotlight on the players’ personalities. Short of the odd 

Donkey-Kong ground pound style meltdown, 

we don’t often see the inner churnings of a player’s psyche on full display during the regular season. But when the Ryder Cup cauldron gets a-bubblin’, there are sure to be some monstrous displays of emotion on both sides. And if we’re looking for everything from histrionics to ultra swagged-out #TourSauce, I can’t think of two players more suited to square off in match play than Patrick Reed and Sergio Garcia.

It could have happened in 2014, but instead we had just about the opposite situation. Reed overcame stoic Swede Henrik Stenson, and Garcia outdueled James Taylor lookalike Jim Furyk. If the two most combustible personalities on each team happen to be paired up in singles on Sunday, I’m going to need someone on an NBC affiliate to sacrifice their 

rerun marathon so we don’t miss a moment of this volatile showdown.

Not much more needs to be said here. The #narrative discussions if this matchup were to occur could sustain NBC’s talking heads until the next Ice Age. Phil and Stenson were so far ahead of everyone else at Royal Troon this year that they may as well have been playing match play (aside from the obvious strategic differences, but you get the point). A couple of fortysomethings lapping the field at the oldest tournament in golf, then running it back a few months later with international pride on the line? Sign me up.

Another matchup that’s dripping with narrative and intrigue. After Spieth’s double drink job on 12 at Augusta, Danny Willett swooped in and nabbed the green jacket from Spieth’s grasp. I almost want someone to start working on one of those video Photoshop things that the kids are doing now just in case this pairing ends up happening. I can see it now – the rain pouring down on Andy Dufresne’s back as he [SHAWSHANK SPOILER] climbs out of the sewer pipe, the film’s score slowly fading out and replaced with – can it be? It is! – the tinkling piano of the Masters theme. Dufresne slogs downstream, the camera cuts to him face-on and his head is replaced with Jordan Spieth’s. He tears his soiled. two-year-old green jacket off and lifts his face and arms to the heavens, and suddenly his hands are cradling the Ryder Cup.

A lot to like here. Two Cup rookies with utterly contrasting looks and playing styles. What I’d be most excited about from a golf nerd perspective, however, is the similarity in career choices. Just as Brooks Koepka plied his trade on the European Tour in an effort to gain status on the PGA Tour, Matthew Fitzpatrick is 

planning to live and golf in the United States full-time

 after the Ryder Cup is complete. We’ll get an up-close look at whether the 22-year-old has the game, and the stones, to make such an idea feasible this weekend. Also, I’ve never read 

I just think this is an exercise in contrasting styles. Brandt Snedeker is one of the most fidgety, herky-jerky players you’ll ever see. His swing is beautiful and he pures everything, but when he’s over the ball he looks like a nervous rabbit that just found a bed of clover in the middle of a six-lane highway. He’s also not particularly long with the long sticks. Kaymer, on the other hand, is a model of German engineering: a plodding, powerful, smooth-swinging player who I hope treats Snedeker the way an old German Shepard treats a Chihuahua puppy.

Nothing fancy here, just a couple of Ryder Cup vets grinding out pars and looking for any advantage they can. If DJ vs. Rory is a boxing match between Ali and Frazier, Kuchar vs. Westwood is a game of poker between Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson. Neither player has that fiery personality, and there won’t be any explosive outbursts, but you can bet that nobody will make any egregious errors.

The “Chicks Dig the Long Ball” Matchup

Holmes led the PGA Tour in driving distance this season at 314.5 yards. Pieters ranked 16th on the European Tour, and first on Europe’s Ryder Cup team, at 301.420. Look for both of these mashers to blaze a long rip off the tee on almost every hole.

Zach Johnson is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Justin Rose is from the English countryside. Both players are accurate with their irons and deadly with the flat stick (ZJ, in particular, can somehow pour in putts with that 

). But both players have a competitive streak that sneaks out in big moments. Witness Justin Rose’s iconic (and extremely British) celly after winning the 

gold medal, and the steely resolve Johnson demonstrated in capturing a 4-hole playoff over two players in the 2015 Open Championship.

The “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” Showdown

I’ll start by saying that I frankly don’t know who Chris Wood is. It looks like he won the BMW PGA Championship in May, followed that up with a T6 at the succintly named Lyoness Open powered by Sporthlife Cashback Card, and hasn’t carded a top 10 since June (though there are some top 20s sprinkled in there). We all know about Rickie’s 2014 major top 5 streak, and he got the monkey off his back with a win at the Players last year, but he hasn’t found the winner’s circle this season and has been unimpressive since fading badly in The Barclays at Bethpage in late August.

Ryan Moore’s claim to fame is that he wears dope outfits. This doesn’t help in a team event. If this pairing shows up on your screen, it’s time to hit the bathroom and/or load up on snacks.

The Most Entertaining (Potential) Ryder Cup Singles Matches

The first official Ryder Cup was contested in 1927 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Since that inaugural event, the Ryder Cup has grown to become a biennial sporting phenomenon, as legendary players like Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, and J.J. Henry have done battle across historic tracks such as Muirfield, Oak Hill, and Old Warson Country Club.

As with every long-running sporting event, there have been memorable moments. Bernhard Langer’s missed putt in the 1991 War by the Shore looms large, as does Justin Leonard’s improbable putt and the U.S.’s subsequent celebration in Brookline. There have been epic runs (Poulter’s birdie barrage in 2012), improbable shots (Poulter’s chip-in on 15 in 2014), and Seve-fueled comebacks (the miracle at Medinah) – and that’s just the crap that Ian Poulter’s affected in recent years.

The Ryder Cup’s long history has also had its share of curious occurrences. The one that springs to mind first is Rory’s police escort to make his tee time in 2012. But, with the help of the internet and a 

 that my mom got me for Christmas a few years ago, here are a handful of other notable moments from the 90-year-old tournament.

Yes, the first Ryder Cup history nugget hails from six years before the actual tournament began. The story of who came up with the idea to stage an international golf challenge is a murky one, and many people lay claim to some part of the genesis of the Ryder Cup. But according to my handy book, the “greatest drive and determination to achieve the fixture” was shown by one James Harnett, a circulation rep for 

As players began to cross the Atlantic in both directions in search of golfing glory, the idea of a U.S.-vs-Britain showdown cropped up. Harnett sensed a business avenue (more golf = more readers), and lobbied for America’s country clubs to pitch in some funds to send a dream team of American golfers to the British Isles for a team competition. Many clubs were hesitant, but Harnett eventually got his wish, and then some. The idea grabbed the attention of the USPGA, and they voted to allot $10,000 towards the cause of sending a 10-man American team over to Britain. The two men chosen with picking this squad? Walter Hagen and James Harnett.

Upon arrival in Scotland, the American team found that the luxurious Gleneagles Hotel had yet to be completed, and were forced to sleep in converted train cars with no bathrooms or running water. Great Britain won 9-3 (with three halves).

As far as I can tell, nothing interesting happened between the start of the Ryder Cup and the 1970s. Ben Hogan captained the 1947 US team to an 11-1 thrashing in Portland, Oregon, a tournament that was surely heard by at least two dozen radio listeners in Great Britain. The U.S. retained the cup in every tournament from then until 1985, but a few fun things happened in the meantime.

These also aren’t technically Ryder Cup stories, but they’re too good not to relate. The Ryder Cup stuff is coming, promise.

There used to be a TV series in Britain called 

which is exactly what it sounds like – a series of exhibition matches with golf pros and celebrities held at Gleneagles. In the ’70s, Lee Trevino was up to his usual antics. He played an 18-hole match with head Gleneagles pro Ian Marchbank, Trevino putting with a Coke bottle and Marchbank with a claw hammer. The match was halved, because the golf gods have a sense of humor.

Marchbank also claimed that during a practice round on the Gleneagles Queen’s Course, Trevino stood on the tee of the par-3 17th and put 14 balls on the green – one with every club in his bag.

“There was a gallery of maybe 50-60 people,” Marchbank said, “and it was absolutely amazing to stand and watch him. The putter didn’t even go along the ground, he just opened the face up and knocked it up in the air. Driver, everything. 14 balls. He is something, he really is.”

Scotsman Bernard Gallacher lives for the Ryder Cup. At 20 years old, he was the youngest player ever to represent Great Britain when he made his debut at the 1969 Ryder Cup. He went on to play in eight Cups and captain Europe three times. Sadly, his 1973 tournament was cut short by a bad piece of fish.

After the first day’s play, Gallacher had to have been pleased with himself and partner Brian Barnes. They had won their morning match over Lee Trevino and Billy Casper, then repeated the feat with a 5&4 rout over Tommy Aaron and Gay Brewer in the afternoon. According to Gallacher, they enjoyed dinner at a local hotel and all ate from a set menu. That night, Gallacher’s sleeplessness owed much more to his dinner choices than any Cup-related nerves. Sweating, feverish, and a night on the bathroom floor – it was a classic case of food poisoning. “It was just one of those things,” said Gallacher, “nobody else got sick, I got sick. It was an unexplained thing.”

An unexplained thing, and an unexpected gift for the American team. Europe’s most formidable pairing was felled before it could deliver two more blows, and Gallacher’s replacement Peter Butler was given only 90 minutes of notice before his morning tee time. The Butler-Barnes pairing lost both Day 2 matches, though Butler did become the first player to record a hole-in-one in Ryder Cup history.

Most people who follow golf know the story of Jack Nicklaus conceding the putt to Tony Jacklin on the final hole of the 1969 Ryder Cup. Jacklin had a three-footer to ensure the tournament ended in a draw. Since the U.S. was the defending champion, they’d retain the cup either way, and so Nicklaus picked up Jacklin’s marker and gave him the putt in a display of unmatched sportsmanship and goodwill.

Eight years later, the Golden Bear was at it again, this time on a larger scale. It’s hard to imagine now, with the American team mired in a slump, but in Jack’s era the team had grown bored of winning.

“‘We won almost every time,” Jack said. “In 1977, Weiskopf went on a sheep hunt up in Alaska rather than coming to play in the matches. You had guys making the team, but they didn’t really care if they played or not.”

Saying it would be “the best thing for the game…and the matches,” Nicklaus proposed to the British PGA that their Ryder Cup selection process be expanded to include all players on the newly created European Tour. His will was done, and the tournament became the spectacle we know and love today.

The 1975 Ryder Cup was played at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Lingonier, PA, a scant 20 minute drive from captain Arnold Palmer’s hometown. The Americans won in a 21-11 rout, but Brian Barnes (he of the Gallacher-Barnes pairing from earlier) had his day in the sun.

On the final day’s singles matches, he took down Jack Nicklaus twice – 4&2 in the morning, and 2&1 in the afternoon. The tournament had been decided by the time the morning matches ended, so Nicklaus actually spoke to Palmer and had him arrange a rematch against Barnes in order to keep the gamblers interested. Don’t say Jack never did anything for the degenerates out there.

Also, let’s take a second to acknowledge the fact that Jack Nicklaus played on an Arnold Palmer-captained Ryder Cup team. That’s the definition of legendary.

If that name doesn’t ring any bells, don’t worry. It shouldn’t. Coltart’s all-time Ryder Cup record reads 0-1-0. In his only Ryder Cup match, Coltart was given the unenviable task of dueling with Tiger Woods. His 3&2 loss was one of the many casualties that Europe suffered that day in the midst of the massive United States comeback, but it stands out for a few reasons.

First, because Coltart only played that one Ryder Cup match ever. Sending the dude out totally cold to face 1999 Tiger Woods is like starting Jacoby Brissett against JJ Watt, Jadeveon Clowney, and the Houston Tex– wait, bad example. The point is, the guy stood no chance.

Secondly, his sister is married to Lee Westwood, if you’re into European Tour family gossip.

And finally, Coltart stands out because in his one and only Ryder Cup match, he managed to stir up a gamesmanship conspiracy.

After he lost he tee shot left on the 9th hole, Coltart said he “was directed into the trees, to a place [he] knew the ball could never be.” After the requisite five minutes of searching, Coltart had to return to the tee and hit his third. Moments after this embarrassing shot landed, his first ball was miraculously “found” just a few yards off the fairway – tantalizingly playable, just minutes too late. Did the rules officials have it out for the rookie against the Big Cat? Or did his ball just bury into the thick Brookline cabbage? The world may never know.

The 2014 Ryder Cup continued the trend of American futility. We all remember Tom Watson’s turbulent (to say the least) captaincy, the mercurial Spieth/Reed pairing, and the mutiny at the post-tournament press conference. But a few moments from the most recent tournament have been lost to the endless churn of the golf content machine. Since I was lucky enough to be 

 two years ago, I’ll touch on a few of the less-heralded occurrences at Gleneagles.

The USA team of Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson were saddled with the honor and privilege, as well as the responsibility and pressure, of leading off the 2014 Ryder Cup. And if their nerves weren’t already frayed by the cacophonous noise raining down from the grandstands ringing the first tee, they were thrown just a bit more off their game during the player introductions.

In golf, there is no more legendary starter than Ivor Robson, the flute-voiced Scot who served as the official starter for all European Tour events from 1975 until his retirement in 2015. Every great player in the last half-century has heard his name come hooting out of Robson’s mouth like a curious barn owl, and Simpson surely expected as much when he stood on the first tee of the Gleneagles Centenary Course, poised to hit the first shot of the 2014 Ryder Cup.

Both Watson and Simpson seemed to take it all in stride, but I still think this was a bit of gamesmanship, rather than simply a mistake, from sneaky Sir Robson.

After the mix-up, Simpson proceeded to go down in Ryder Cup infamy by nearly whiffing his tee shot. He put some kind of helicopter follow through on it in a salvage effort, but the damage was done, and his shot barely made it to the fairway.

He even earned an idiot mark for his troubles.

Although some here at NLU aren’t fond of a certain gangly Skechers-wearing, dad-joke-making, smile-offering Georgia resident, I’m the one writing this and I’ll come right out and say it. I Love Matt Kuchar.

Sure, the guy doesn’t hit it a mile. But he’s consistently among the top 10-15 players in the world, swings a club like he’s sneaking up on a doomed housefly, and is just a genuinely good dude.

That last point is usually irrelevant when it comes to his potential success on the golf course, but it becomes an asset in a team competition like the Ryder Cup. Tom Watson, in his infinite wisdom, chose to send Kuchar out three times out of four possible team matches, and each time with a different partner. Though he came away empty-handed, Kuchar put up a strong effort in the Saturday fourballs by combining with Bubba Watson for a score of -9 through 16 holes against Europe’s killer Rose/Stenson combo.

Bubba and Kuch came to the 15th hole 2 down, and Stenson produced another brilliant iron shot into kick-in birdie range. Bubba was off doing God knows what, so it fell to Kuchar to keep the Stars and Stripes level. After stalking his way around the green for what felt like an hour, he punched a delicate fairway wood from the fringe and watched it bounce and roll some 30 feet, until it found the center of the cup for a halved hole. The place went bonkers.

Yesterday. Kuch lining up a birdie chip. He made it, we went crazy, he gave us high fives. #rydercup2014 #brilliantmoments

A photo posted by Robbie Vogel (@robbievogel14) on Sep 28, 2014 at 2:32am PDT

Yes, they lost the next hole and the match. But it was a great moment, and he gave us some hand sandwiches.

On Saturday afternoon, the U.S. kept their young stud pairing of Reed and Spieth together, with mixed results. The twosome set fire to the the overmatched pairing of Thomas Bjorn and Martin Kaymer in the morning, winning 5&3. Then, in the afternoon foursomes, things started out hot again for Patty and the Golden Boy as they faced Martin Kaymer and Justin Rose.

The Americans were 2-up through 11, but Europe clawed their way back to a tie by the 15th. After Reed missed a gimme that would have won the 16th, Spieth stuck an iron in close on the par-3 17th, and the match came to the final hole all square. Reed piped a drive down the center of the fairway, then neglected his tee the same way a degenerate gambler does his family on Thanksgiving.

Spieth had an uphill look at the putting surface from something like 230, and put it into the front right bunker. We were standing on the hill along the left side, about even with the trap, and we saw the reactions of the crowd across the fairway from us – the ball was absolutely plugged into the lip.

Spieth couldn’t see the landing spot from where he was, because the hole played mighty uphill. To illustrate – I took this walking across the fairway during a practice round.

I must have had a premonition, because I took this photo on Tuesday. The Spieth bunker.

The drama of a live Ryder Cup is hard to imagine. There are only four matches out on the course during a session, so the massive galleries have far fewer options between which to split their viewing. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that more than 75% of the fans on the property were watching the 18th hole between Reed/Spieth and Kaymer/Rose. And along with the faceless masses, dozens of team hangers-on are split between every match. When Kuchar chipped in, we high-fived with the wives of several PGA Tour higher-ups who were inside the ropes, as well as captain Tom Watson who had ambled over. Vice captains, caddies, players who have that session off – sometimes it feels as crowded inside the ropes as it does outside.

And all of these people saw Spieth’s trademark, sleeve-worn emotion bubble over when he crested the rise in the fairway and spied his ball wedged into the face of the bunker.

 I was 20 feet away – utter despair. Spieth also went hands to mouth/half crouch the moment he saw the lie



— Robbie Vogel (@RobbieVogel14) 

It’s those little moments that make the live viewing experience that much powerful, and show that the players really do treat this event as something special.

Despite Johnny Miller’s assertion that this is the best U.S. Ryder Cup team ever assembled, it looks like we’re in for another hard-fought three days. It’s hard to say who will hoist that trophy when the dust settles, but we can certainly count on coming out of the weekend with a handful of memorable moments, as well as one or two stranger-than-fiction stories like those above.

Ryder Cup History: The Notable, Quotable, and (Un)Forgettable Moments

The 2016 PGA Tour season came to a thrilling close on Sunday night when Rory McIlroy overcame Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell in a tense playoff at the Tour Championship.

And as the sun sets over East Lake for another year, now is the perfect opportunity to reflect on how some of the tour’s top players performed this year. Here are my grades:

The Northern Irishman may have had an indifferent start to the season, and been plagued by putting woes throughout, but when the time came he was more than up to the task.

A win at the Deutsche Bank Championship put to bed any doubts of Rory not qualifying for the season finale, and although he needed some help from Dustin Johnson on Sunday at East Lake, McIlroy’s first ever Fed Ex Cup win marks an excellent season – despite extending his major drought to two years.

DJ won his first major championship at Oakmont in June (credit: AP)

Johnson will still be kicking himself for losing the Tour Championship after being in ideal position for most of the tournament. However, that still doesn’t lessen the South Carolinian’s achievements this season, which include a maiden major title at the U.S. Open, two other tournament wins, over $9million in tournament earnings and a career-high world ranking of second.

Day on his way to victory at the 2016 Players Championship (credit: Getty)

The Australian may have been forced to withdraw from the last two events of the season due to a back injury, but it has still been one of his most successful seasons on tour.

Day recorded top-10 finishes in three out of the four majors, as well as winning three prestigious events – The Players Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC-Dell Match Play. In addition, he has maintained his position at the top of the world rankings for 26 weeks and counting.

Spieth distraught after throwing away a big lead at the Masters (credit: Getty)

It was always going to be difficult for Spieth to live up to a 2015 that included two major titles and a Fed Ex Cup. Unfortunately for Jordan, despite two tour wins in 2016, most people will remember it for his Masters meltdown – where he threw away a five-shot lead with nine holes to play. The tournament was won by England’s Danny Willett.

Adam Scott during the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March (Credit: Getty)

Scott had a roaring start to the 2015/2016 season with two wins and two runner-up finishes in his first seven events. The 13-time PGA Tour winner struggled throughout the summer though, especially with the putter, and his best performance in a major was T-18th. However, four consecutive top-10’s in the Fed Ex Cup playoffs saw the Aussie recapture some of his best form and complete a more than satisfactory year.

Watson at the 2016 Northern Trust Open (credit: USA Today Sports)

Bubba won early in the season at the Northern Trust Open in February, and backed it up with a second at the WGC-Cadillac his next outing. Despite this, he could only manage two top-10’s in his next 14 PGA Tour starts, and finished outside the top-35 in all four majors. This disappointing record culminated in Watson missing out on selection for the Ryder Cup.

Fowler at the 2016 U.S. Open, where he missed the cut (credit: Getty)

Five of Fowler’s eight top-10 finishes on Tour this season were in his first ten starts, after which he struggled – missing cuts in two of the four majors. The 2015 Players champion looked like getting his season back on track when he led after 54 holes at the Barclays, but dropped to T-7th with a final round 74 and missed the Tour Championship by one spot. Even with a below-par season by his standards, Rickie received a Ryder Cup wildcard pick from Davis Love III.

PGA Tour Report Cards 2015/2016

On Sunday night, Davis Love III and the US Ryder Cup team announced that they would be using their fourth and final captain’s pick on Ryan Moore following his runner up finish to Rory McIlroy at the Tour Championship earlier that day. The pick makes a lot of sense in many ways, but how we got there is a bit of a circus.

Following the disaster that was the 2014 Ryder Cup, the PGA of America instituted what is naturally known as “The Horschel Rule.” Billy Horschel won the 2014 BMW Championship, Tour Championship, and FedExCup after Tom Watson’s captain’s picks were already decided, and an uproar ensued. The U.S. team was demolished 16.5-11.5, and while Horschel could not have saved that team (neither could Tiger in his prime), it was clear that some improvements in player selection could be made. So when the Ryder Cup task force put together a new selection process, they increased the number of captain’s picks from three to four, and announced that the fourth and final pick would be made after the Tour Championship, a week before the event.

In 2014, all three captain’s picks were made on September 2, with two full tournaments remaining (the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship) in the season, and the top 70 players from the FedExCup standings still vying for that $10 million prize. The possibility of a player catching fire after the picks were already made was very real, and when it happened, the task force wanted to make sure this disaster never occurred again. In comes the Horschel Rule, and the problem is solved, right? Well, no.

When they put the rule in, I was all for it. I’m a proponent for setting up the team as late possible to make a best effort to fill out the roster with a combination of guys in great form, and guys that you’re bringing with you to battle regardless of what kind of form they are in.

But the scenario in 2016 would play out much differently than the one 24 months prior. Directly following the first three selections, which were made after the Deutsche Bank Championship on September 11th of this year, there was a scheduled break in the PGA Tour season. While the thought of identifying a hot player clearly has logic, this “rule” that was established made a lot more sense with the 2014 schedule, with the season and Tour Championship ending 

weeks before the Ryder Cup, than it did with the one in 2016.

The only additional information you gain in those extra two weeks before you make the final selection is their result from the 30 man Tour Championship in Atlanta. The PGA Tour’s grand finale event is effectively turned into a play-in game for the final spot, and when Ryan Moore showed out, Love’s hand was forced.

For all the changes that the task force and the PGA of America have claimed to make in the last two years, the one thing they’ve been adamant about is that they have a plan in place. But how much of a plan can you have in place, when your team is not complete less than five days before the first matches? What occurred on Sunday night, both in the public’s eye and behind the scenes, showed that this Horschel rule caused them a lot more trouble than they had originally anticipated.

 that it appeared that Bubba was going to get the final captain’s pick. I’m not an insider, and I know people like to roll their eyes at anonymous sources, and I totally understand why. No one likes word of mouth “reports”, but I felt that I had some very solid information that was well worth sharing. Bubba obviously did not end up getting chosen, so please feel free to take any or all of this with every grain of salt that you wish to.

I was told on Saturday night that the Bubba pick was “100% done.” And I was shocked. As of 24 hours before that, I was told that JT was the front runner, and in my mind, I had already ruled Bubba out.

To me, the even more interesting part of this news was that apparently Tiger had flexed his muscle to get Bubba on the team, and had “thrown a fit to get his way.” Previously unaware of any relationship between Bubba and Tiger (other than Gerry buying Cat’s old house), I was skeptical to say anything about this on twitter. But not because I didn’t trust the information. I was just not convinced that these guys were done changing their minds.

Phil Mickelson had the following to say at his press conference after his round on Sunday:

“It might have been a mistake to wait this long for the final pick, probably. It’s kind of hard to get all the game plans and so forth in sync when the team is not quite finalized, but those are all little details.”

Around 6:30 PM ET (12:30 AM my time) on Sunday evening, I got word that the Moore situation (final round 64) made things a lot more complicated, but the captains were in the process of finding a way to still pick Bubba, and “explain Ryan Moore away.” As Moore was still in the playoff, a person close to the decision making process said that, as of now, it was still 90% that Bubba was going to be the pick!

To me, combined with the Phil quote above, this was an indication that their minds had already been made up going into the week on who the pick was going to be, and if Love had the ability to make that fourth pick on September 11th, he would have so he could have avoided this disaster. But with what was unfolding on the course, a public firestorm was looming, and the rage was already boiling over on twitter. What was the purpose of holding off on the final pick if you weren’t going to take the hottest hand? It wasn’t at the 2014 Horschel level, but the people clearly wanted the final pick to go to Moore.

Being on European time, I shut off the TV around 1:30 AM with alarms set for two hours later to catch the announcement at halftime of the Sunday Night Football game, and to see people lose their minds over the Bubba pick. I awoke to an alarming number of messages, and in this complete daze, spent ten minutes trying to comprehend the fact that Arnold Palmer had just passed away (I was convinced I was still in a weird dream/nightmare state, but that’s a story for another time). At the same time, I had several messages saying that the captains had changed their mind, and they were instead going to select Ryan Moore with the final pick!

Davis Love III admits the decision on Ryan Moore as the final captain's pick wasn't made until after the final putt at East Lake yesterday.



— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelESPN) 

The update I received was that it was “all Bubba until Ryan emerged,” and even after selecting Moore, it was clear that 

both Davis and Tiger still wanted Bubba! T

he pressure of the Horschel Rule to select the hot hand appears to have gotten to the captains, and they picked against their instincts.

To my knowledge, Love has never officially indicated whether or not he actually planned to take the “hottest hand” with that final pick, and this is where the problem lies with the Horschel Rule. Picking Bubba with this final pick, who was clearly not the hottest hand, could not be justified in the eyes of the public. Love had just invited Moore up to Hazeltine to practice with the team in the week leading up to the Tour Championship, clearly indicating that he was being considered for the final spot. So how do you pass up on him after he finishes T2? What was the point in inviting him north if 

 performance wasn’t good enough to put him on the team? What would Moore have had to do in Atlanta to actually get picked?

Love had to know that he would be raked over the coals to the point that it could be a distraction for the team if he passed on him. Thus, the Horschel Rule forced his hand. So was it the right move?

If you ask twitter the question above, the overwhelming response is that Ryan Moore was the better option for this team than Bubba. While I am in support of this pick, I am not completely convinced that this is the case. Let’s break down the pros and cons.

 This pick moves past what would have been an overwhelming distraction, as outlined above. The fans, and the press alike would have been destroying Love and the task force for coming up with this Horschel Rule, only to burn it on a guy with a 3-8 record in Ryder Cup play, and hasn’t had a top-10 in a full field event since March. This alone is enough to justify the pick in my mind.

 He’s playing some great golf. He won the John Deere Classic in August, and has been one of the best players in the world since the last major.

Will say 1 more time



Ryan Moore's PGA Tour ranks since PGA Championship ended



Score to par: 1st
Birdies/eagles: 1st
Rounds in 60s: 1st



— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) 

 He’s the best putter of all of the available remaining options.

 He makes for a great foursome partner, which is a desperate need on this team.

 Bubba’s case is actually that strong. Yes he’s 7th in the world, but that’s largely off 2015 accomplishments. Yes he was 9th in points, but the points system is flawed. He’s got a very poor Ryder Cup record, and has been MIA for most of the season. (More on this below).

 East Lake is not very similar to Hazeltine. Take Phil’s word for it:

“We’re not going to have rough like that — this is the worst rough I’ve seen in years. We’re not going to have that rough next week. Why the Tour set it up so differently from what we’re going to have next week is a lack of communication and working together.”

 Perhaps Moore’s greatest strength, his driving accuracy, is going to be neutralized significantly by a 7,600 yard course that will mostly not punish those that are wild off the tee. So is Moore a better fit for Hazeltine than Bubba? Of course, the possibility exists that the answer to this question is no, and Moore’s hot play still outshines Bubba’s (hypothetical) play, but this is a very fair question to ask at this point.

 Does one tournament really change anything? You can make the case that Moore has been considerably better than Bubba for most, if not this entire year. The last five times that Moore and Bubba have teed it up in the same tournament, Moore has bested Gerry. But when you sum up all of the information above, it’s clear that this decision was made on the final day of the season, and if Ryan Moore shoots 75 on Sunday, he’s not the final selection. So are we comfortable saying that we let one final round of golf decide the final spot on the team? This very well may work out in the U.S. team’s favor, but what I’m bringing into question is the process. Perhaps this public pressure 

 Love from making a poor decision with Bubba, but did Love make this pick because he thinks Moore is the best available player to help Team USA, or did he make it because he couldn’t justify the backlash?

The answer to that last question likely does not matter, but if Moore plays poorly, and the US is dealt a fourth straight defeat, it’s a question that Love and the vice captains are going to be asked on repeat.

Davis Love III Selects Ryan Moore With His Final Ryder Cup Captain's Pick, But How Did We Get Here?

Casey in action at the 2008 Ryder Cup in Kentucky (Credit: Press Association)

American golf fans could be forgiven for properly hating Paul Casey, given his comments about them after the 2004 Ryder Cup – but on current form, they will be loving his absence at Hazeltine next week.

The Englishman is arguably the hottest European golfer on the planet at the moment, having finished second in his last two outings. Yet a long-standing rule which states European Ryder Cup players must be European Tour members, meant Casey was ineligible for selection.

He knew this at the start of the season after opting to focus all attention on the PGA Tour, and given his standing of fifth in the Fed Ex Cup standings heading into the Tour Championship, few would argue this tactic hasn’t paid off.

So is it fair that Casey, or anyone else for that matter, should be prevented from even having the opportunity to compete in the sport’s most coveted competition?

It’s one thing to only allow European Tour members to qualify, but to prevent non-members from even receiving a wildcard pick is counter-intuitive to both players and the team itself.

Take Casey for example. It’s perfectly understandable that someone who resides in Arizona wouldn’t want to be making round-trips to Europe every few weeks to compete. This is coming from a Brit who returned to England from Los Angeles a month ago and is still feeling the jet lag.

In addition, the argument used to be thrown around that European golfers should show respect for their home tour, but take one look into Casey’s history and this argument is out the window. He has 13 European Tour wins, 270 appearances and been a member of three Ryder Cup teams .

Casey’s win at the 2009 BMW PGA Championship saw him rise to a career-high third in the world rankings (source: European Tour)

The main issue for me as a European however, is that we should be putting out a Ryder Cup team that has the best possible chance of bringing home the trophy. In 2016, Europe is not afforded that chance without Casey.

It all boils down to the old European Tour versus PGA Tour rivalry that many view as giving the Ryder Cup that extra competitive edge over the Presidents Cup.

Traditionally this may have been the case. But so many Europeans now play on both sides of the pond, I would instead point out to the evenly matched teams and recent close finishes in the event as the reason behind its very competitive nature.

The problem, nice as it may be from a European perspective, is that they can’t stop winning. Why fix something that doesn’t need fixing?

This winning streak would probably still lead some on the European side to claim their tour is superior, despite week-to-week measures like money, world ranking points and quality of fields suggesting otherwise.

This year, no one would begrudge a Ryder Cup rookie appearance to American Brooks Koepka – who made a name for himself on the Challenge and European Tours, before winning on the PGA Tour and surging into the world’s top 20.

Koepka’s rise up the world rankings in the last few years has been meteoric (Source: OWGR)

Americans seem to have long moved on from this tour rivalry. They have been fiddling with their qualification and wildcard process for years, most recently by awarding the captain a ‘last minute’ wildcard choice after the Tour Championship – no doubt to avoid another Fed Ex Cup champion slipping through their fingers, as happened with Billy Horschel in 2014.

There have been murmurs in the European camp about changing the selection rules before. In 2012, when non European Tour member Carl Pettersson was making a charge at the PGA Championship, there was a possibility the last major champion before the Ryder Cup could be a Swede who was ineligible to compete.

However, Pettersson slipped and Rory McIlroy shot a final round 66 to cruise to an eight-shot victory. I don’t need to tell you what happened at Medinah seven weeks later.

The threat of Casey winning the Tour Championship and the Fed Ex Cup this weekend is far greater than the one Pettersson posed to the PGA Championship in Kiawah Island four years ago.

If Darren Clarke’s team retain the Ryder Cup in Hazeltine next Sunday then no further questions will be asked, but if on the other hand they are mulling over a narrow loss, the European Tour could be left regretting its very own ‘Horschel’ moment.

Why Europe needs to rethink their Ryder Cup selection policy

Last week, the qualifying period for the European Ryder Cup team concluded with nine players solidifying their spots on the squad for the October showdown at Hazeltine. Two notable players among the group were Rafa Cabrera Bello, who was featured in a 

Matthew Fitzpatrick is a twenty-one year old from Sheffield, England who plays predominantly on the European Tour. A member of Under Armour’s young stable of studs, the Englishman’s toothy grin can be deceptive, but he has the game and pedigree to rival some of America’s best young stars. Golf fans may remember watching Fitzpatrick dissect the course at Brookline Country Club en route to winning the 2013 U.S. Amateur. (With his younger brother on the bag, Ouimet-Lowery style). At the time, the young Northwestern-bound Englishman was touted to be the next Luke Donald destined to make an impact in college and on the PGA tour. However, those comparisons were premature as Fitzpatrick left Northwestern in 2014 in order to pursue a professional career on the European Tour. For a few years, Fitzpatrick has remained off the grid because of his play overseas, but he can use the Ryder Cup as a platform to reintroduce himself and his stellar game to American audiences.

Matthew Fitzpatrick, the 2013 U.S. Amateur Champion, and first Englishman to win it since 1911 (Picture Via SkySports).

Though he now has two victories on the European Tour, Fitzpatrick is still known for his phenomenal amateur career that included a victory at the 2012 Boys Amateur, Low Amateur at the 2013 Open Championship, a victory at the 2013 U.S. Amateur, a spot on the 2013 Walker Cup team, and a position at the top of the World Amateur Golf Rankings. Fitzpatrick boasted a strong match play record as an amateur. In 2013, he ran the table at the U.S. Amateur and sported a 3-1 record in a losing effort at the Walker Cup. Facing an infamously strong United States team, one that featured NLU favorites Max Homa and Justin Thomas, Fitzpatrick held his own and prevailed in both of his foursome matches and in one of two singles matches.


Standing at only 5’10”, Fitzpatrick is a relatively short hitter compared to the new breed of young bombers on tour. However, Fitzpatrick makes up for his lack of distance (190th on tour) with surgical precision tee-to-green. In 2015, he ranked 10th in driving accuracy, 7th in greens in regulation, and 13th in stroke average on the European tour, and he currently ranks 39th in driving accuracy, 7th in greens in regulation, and 53rd in stroke average in 2016. Even though his inconsistent putting (197th in putts per round) has limited his performance this season, Fitzpatrick has shown glimpses of superb play. Come October, his strong game tee-to-green still makes him a desirable partner in foursomes (alternate shot) format.

Last week, Fitzpatrick managed to grab the last automatic qualifying position based on his consistent play early in the season and strong stretch from late-July through August. Early in the 2015-2016 season, Fitzpatrick jump-started his year with a T-7 at the WGC HSBC Championship in Shanghai, T-16 at the 

. His game then cooled down, although he did manage to display glimpses of impressive play with a career major best T-7 at the Masters Tournament (a Sunday 67 helped him notch his first major top-ten) and a victory at the Nordea Masters in Sweden. His win at the Nordea Masters seemingly defied logic as the exact and short-hitting Fitzpatrick tamed an 8,000+ yard course that favors European bombers like Nicolas Colsaerts and Henrik Stenson. After a few months of below-average play, the young Englishman has seemingly found his game again in the past month. Following T-49 at the 2016 PGA Championship, he traveled back to Europe to record a T-9 at the Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Match Play and 5th at the 

 I would classify Fitzpatrick’s Ryder Cup stock as flat for most of the 2015-2016 season, but trending upwards at the right time.

Player Profile: Matthew Fitzpatrick

Sunday marked my second trip to the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton. We rolled deep, a crew of seven which included me, my college buddy Drew, my two childhood friends Chris and Tim, Tim’s brother Tom, Tim/Tom’s cousin Dan, and Dan’s college buddy also named Dan. Got all that? Good. Come with us on this journey.

First of all, I’d like to clear something up at the start. Massachusetts isn’t like those states west of the Mississippi, where a 2-hour drive is considered short. And people from Boston are especially fickle with their driving mindset, considering a day trip to the Cape to be nearly pointless because of traffic, and everything outside the I-495 belt to be Western Mass. So I’d like to lodge a formal complaint with the Tournament Players Club.

TPC Boston sits mainly in Norton, no less than 45 minutes from the city without traffic, which is a meaningless phrase in the car-congested Boston area. It’s only 25 minutes north of Providence, and just about 15 minutes from Gillette Stadium, the HQ of the sports world’s new evil empire. Call the thing TPC Norton, TPC Mansfield (the right halves of the 11th and 12th holes lie over the Mansfield town line), or TPC Brady for all I care. I just want people to know that we had to wake up at 6:30 to get there for the 8 a.m. gates, and we still didn’t quite make it.

Anyway, once we did get there, the day was a smashing success. Conversations were overheard, apparel was judged, bets were made (and lost), and previously unheard-of tour sauce moves were discovered. Add in beers; cigars; hand sandwiches (our term for high fives) from Spieth, Schwartzel, Bill Haas, and many others; along with a perfect mid-70s day with some breeze, and it was tremendous. Let’s get into some of the highlights.

No photos here, which was a mistake on my part. Having played the course a few times before, I always picture the entrance this way, complete with a winding drive through manicured trees before reaching the wide, circular clubhouse driveway and drop-off port:

As a lowly spectator, you get no such privileges. After parking in the desertlike expanse of concrete known as the Xfinity Center parking lot, you’re herded onto buses and driven right past the picturesque entrance, then into the loading area of a nearby warehouse. It’s an unsightly corrugated metal structure with a few box trucks backed into the loading docks; the type of place that Aaron Hernandez might be familiar with. Off the bus, over the river, through the woods, down about a half-mile-long path past the 9th hole, and you finally arrive near the clubhouse. Despite the abundance of grandstands, family fun areas, and sponsor booths, it’s not immediately clear where to go. The complimentary map helps, but experience is your best teacher. This year, we unerringly made our way over to the first tee in order to catch Russell Knox and Ricky Barnes, the sixth group of the day.

Branden Grace’s rhino driver head cover

We stuck to the same plan this year as we did last year: head to 1 tee and get on the ropes early. It’s an action-packed spot, with plenty of opportunities to see how guys prepare for their rounds. There’s a lot of visualization, some last-minute yardage book checks, and a healthy dose of banter. Last year, Boo Weekley took the honors for most colorful character by loudly discussing his desire for a little privacy and a date with Pamela Handerson (he said it much less delicately). There’s also the potential for great gallery finds, like this out-of-season Bruins fan.

Both Knox and Barnes took hybrids off the 356-yard par 4. Knox’s squirted left, eliciting a wayward drive point from the Scotsman. Interestingly, he was introduced as being “from” Jacksonville, Florida, which would have made him ineligible to compete on that European Ryder Cup team everyone says he got snubbed from. Either this was Knox’s way of defecting from Europe and announcing his eligibility as an American Ryder Cup hopeful, or Scotland’s tax codes are not to be messed with.

Up next were two sweet-swinging South Africans, Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace. After seeing Knox and Barnes miss the fairway with woods, these two split it with long irons. They were also conversing in one of their homeland’s eleven official languages, and it was certainly not English. My money’s on Afrikaans.

Being right on the ropes with the sun behind us definitely contributed to the sunburn on the backs of my knees, but also made us liabilities in the eyes of the volunteers. The lady working our side of the tee box mentioned that we would need to stay still when players were addressing the ball, as our shadows lay in their peripheral vision and if they moved, it would “freak the players out.” Like these grown adult professional athletes are skittish baby giraffes at the zoo. Fantastic stuff.

This is the only PGA Tour event I’ve been to, so I’m not sure if this is normal at other places. But here, beside the first tee, there was a temporary practice putting green. Temporary because, when I’ve played there, the area that the green is on is actually the back tee box. We had some fun giving the guys polite claps after they holed a putt, and tossing outrageous betting odds on the likelihood of them jarring half-assed warmup bump and run wedge shots from the fringe.

As Sunday was the third round of the tournament, the players have all seen this course at least four or five times between practice rounds, pro-ams, and regular tournament play. That’s why I developed a quick liking for Adam Hadwin’s caddie. I had been only 

 marginally aware of Hadwin before, so I wasn’t real excited for his twosome with Marc Leishman. Then, Hadwin’s caddie (who was dressed like he was aiming to take TJ Lavin’s host spot on MTV’s 

) pulled out the yardage book. On the first tee. Like, the first tee that never changes locations and that literally has the “356” number laser-engraved into a granite slab next to the tee marker. Either Hadwin needed some last-minute reassurance, or his caddie just wanted to look busy. The caddie then proceeded to do a couple deep lunges to limber up those big lifting muscles, and then finished his performance by steadfastly refusing to point left after Hadwin yanked his tee ball further left than Knox had a few minutes earlier. I didn’t see Hadwin the rest of the day, but he finished with a 2-over 73, so I’d suggest a few more lunges.

The next group brought the fireworks. John Huh got the unenviable task of playing with arguably the Tour’s most recognizable figure – Rickie Fowler. Up to this point, the teeing area had only been ringed by a single layer of patrons. But with Fowler’s arrival, the hordes descended en masse. Rickie’s moustache was even more glorious in person, and his golf bag had his Twitter handle across the bottom, probably at the behest of his PR team.

The first real action of the day came when I bet Chris $5 that Rickie wouldn’t be wearing joggers. It was just a hunch, and he took the action immediately. It turned into a somewhat heated debate, and eventually we needed to get the volunteer who had advised us about the shadows involved. She originally made the call that they were joggers, as they revealed most of his high tops.

The point was raised that joggers need to include an elastic band around the bottom, which prompted the volunteer to talk to another official on the tee. After this powwow, the ruling on the field was overturned, as it was discovered that they were just tight, short pants with zippers. 

One interesting thing that I had never noticed watching on TV is how players tee their balls up with their long irons and hybrids. Everyone (with one notable exception) places the tee into the ground so that the point is going towards the back of the tee box. The ball is then perched precariously on the tee, nearly tipping off the front side. It’s a practice I saw repeated enough that I got the feeling that everyone does this. I never played competitive golf so I don’t know if this is just a pro thing or a thing you get taught on the first day of golf school.

The exception to this was Jim Furyk. Rather than use a tee, Jim took his hybrid and pounded the tee box in the same spot several times from back to front, creating a tiny mound of raised turf atop which he delicately perched his ball. I would expect nothing less from him.

The try-hard apparel award goes to Kevin Streelman, who had big buttons on the back of his FootJoys and a hat that said “Streels” across the back. I stayed strong and refused to photograph him.

Chris Kirk has a glacial backswing and a beautiful soft draw. He’s also very lanky in person.

I’ve always disliked Brandt Snedeker because of the way he plays. He’s very fidgety, he doesn’t spend a lot of time over the ball, and every swing looks like it’s being made by a mouse who’s almost transformed into a human but still retains his mousey face and innate twitchiness. Also, I know he’s a great putter, but his ‘pop’ putting stroke is gross to me.

However, there are two things I can always respect about him. One, the dude LIVES for sunblock.

And two, he’s a good ol’ Southern boy. And after the first college football Saturday of the year, I’m sure noted Auburn alum Jason Dufner was pleased to have a fellow SEC member in his group. When these two got to the tee, Dufner immediately tossed in a dip (approx timestamp: 9:20 a.m.) and got down to business: football betting.

No Laying Up

Writing

The Most Entertaining (Potential) Ryder Cup Singles Matches

Ryder Cup History: The Notable, Quotable, and (Un)Forgettable Moments

PGA Tour Report Cards 2015/2016

Davis Love III Selects Ryan Moore With His Final Ryder Cup Captain's Pick, But How Did We Get Here?

Why Europe needs to rethink their Ryder Cup selection policy

Player Profile: Matthew Fitzpatrick

Sunday Thoughts on the Deutsche Bank Championship

Ryder Cup Mailbag

2016 Deutsche Bank Championship Preview

The Case Against Jim Furyk for the 2016 US Ryder Cup Team

Dublin, Ireland Golf Trip, Part IV: Killeen Castle

Player Profile: Rafael Cabrera Bello

Fictional Golf Character Power Rankings

How Would the United States Ryder Cup Team Look if the Points System Was Different?

Thoughts From the US Senior Open

Olympic Golf Primer

Preview: U.S. Senior Open

Hartford History: The Travelers Championship Preview