Ryder Cup 2016 - Official Thread
Discussion
A bit of an anti-climax but beaten by the better side so fair enough. We were up in 6 and down in 2 at one point during the afternoon but couldn't sustain it. It was getting too predictable with us winning all the time anyway! Should be a great battle next time.
Absolutely loved the Reed/McIlroy battle played with great passion but friendship as showed on the 8th. Phenomenal win for Reed against an in form Rory which set the tone lower down the order.
My only gripe is the same as at Medinah in the dumbing down of the course to basically a Pro's pitch and putt course. Some of the views from the tee showed fairway then huge amounts of only light rough then next fairway. A bit like our local municipal. You could hit the driver basically anywhere and still have an easy shot to the green. One of the Yanks did a massive hook totally missing the huge lake....but still had an easy pitch to the green. When wayward Mickelson is shooting a 62 you know it is not exactly a taxing course.
I suppose it is only like the Indians setting up a spinning wicket at cricket to play to their strengths plus it does create great theatre but I would prefer the whole golf game to be challenged not just predominantly putting.
Having said that, as someone who has a <50% record on 3 foot putts, how good are the USA guys at putting. It seemed every camera shot was either them draining a 20-footer or us missing a 5-footer. That was the story of the Cup for me.
Absolutely loved the Reed/McIlroy battle played with great passion but friendship as showed on the 8th. Phenomenal win for Reed against an in form Rory which set the tone lower down the order.
My only gripe is the same as at Medinah in the dumbing down of the course to basically a Pro's pitch and putt course. Some of the views from the tee showed fairway then huge amounts of only light rough then next fairway. A bit like our local municipal. You could hit the driver basically anywhere and still have an easy shot to the green. One of the Yanks did a massive hook totally missing the huge lake....but still had an easy pitch to the green. When wayward Mickelson is shooting a 62 you know it is not exactly a taxing course.
I suppose it is only like the Indians setting up a spinning wicket at cricket to play to their strengths plus it does create great theatre but I would prefer the whole golf game to be challenged not just predominantly putting.
Having said that, as someone who has a <50% record on 3 foot putts, how good are the USA guys at putting. It seemed every camera shot was either them draining a 20-footer or us missing a 5-footer. That was the story of the Cup for me.
GloverMart said:
GloverMart said:
If we win this, and I don't think we will now, it will be despite Clarke as captain and not because of him.
Westwood appears more and more to be a pick of a mate rather than a player in form. Dreadful putting on those last two holes, appears to be a busted flush.
Split up the Spanish duo of Garcia and Cabrera Bello. Those two were quality and he splits up to pair Sergio with the out of form Kaymer.
Chris Wood must be wondering what he's done to upset Clarke. Bang in form this season, then ignored on the first day, he wins his match this morning with Rose and is promptly left out again.
His hands were tied over the selection of Willett, Fitzpatrick and Sullivan so maybe that's why he went for the experience of Kaymer and Westwood rather than Russell Knox or Soren Kjeldsen.
[b]Hope I'm wrong but based on this afternoon's matches, US to win by four or five points[b].
Bad form to quote myself, I know, but it ended up being worse than I predicted. Rory failed at the last minute, Justin Rose must have been using the wrong end of his putter all week and Lee Westwood was a mate's pick that went terribly wrong. Willett, Fitzpatrick and Sullivan looked out of their depth and Kaymer didn't hit form till it was too late. Westwood appears more and more to be a pick of a mate rather than a player in form. Dreadful putting on those last two holes, appears to be a busted flush.
Split up the Spanish duo of Garcia and Cabrera Bello. Those two were quality and he splits up to pair Sergio with the out of form Kaymer.
Chris Wood must be wondering what he's done to upset Clarke. Bang in form this season, then ignored on the first day, he wins his match this morning with Rose and is promptly left out again.
His hands were tied over the selection of Willett, Fitzpatrick and Sullivan so maybe that's why he went for the experience of Kaymer and Westwood rather than Russell Knox or Soren Kjeldsen.
[b]Hope I'm wrong but based on this afternoon's matches, US to win by four or five points[b].
Fair play to the Yanks, Mickelson and Reed were different gravy and this was the best golf ever seen at a Ryder Cup.
k would you do that? Also made the point that choosing POC to do the motivational speech....sure if your Irish he's a demi-god but given Rugby's not played to any standard in Northern or Southern Europe and even if your British/Irish it's not universally followed it was a very odd choice.can't agree more on your points there.
the course was set up for the US team - similar in a way to why Tiger used to do so well at Augusta wide fairways, rough not too punishing.
it was won on the greens though this one and there in should be the biggest lesson for the european team.
I felt that the two captains were pretty low key this year and we didn't see much of the vice captains either - that could be just me but i expected to see more of them - or at least more of an energising presence.
it also goes to show that shouting "come on" and fist pumping needs to be backed up with the numbers and europe were second at that too. maybe one or two too many rookies this time but you just never know how they are going to perform until they get there.
Pieters ad RC-B were standouts, rory played superbly for the most part until the 15th in saturday pm and oddly the same point yesterday, he looked spent.
i'd give sullivan another go. Willett / Kaymer / westwood very very dissapointing. never looked like they were in the game.
it might be one too soon for westy to be captain, Clarke might want another go either way i expect westy will be captain one day as will Sergio who was absolutely superb against Phil yesterday, possible the best match we've ever seen...
the course was set up for the US team - similar in a way to why Tiger used to do so well at Augusta wide fairways, rough not too punishing.
it was won on the greens though this one and there in should be the biggest lesson for the european team.
I felt that the two captains were pretty low key this year and we didn't see much of the vice captains either - that could be just me but i expected to see more of them - or at least more of an energising presence.
it also goes to show that shouting "come on" and fist pumping needs to be backed up with the numbers and europe were second at that too. maybe one or two too many rookies this time but you just never know how they are going to perform until they get there.
Pieters ad RC-B were standouts, rory played superbly for the most part until the 15th in saturday pm and oddly the same point yesterday, he looked spent.
i'd give sullivan another go. Willett / Kaymer / westwood very very dissapointing. never looked like they were in the game.
it might be one too soon for westy to be captain, Clarke might want another go either way i expect westy will be captain one day as will Sergio who was absolutely superb against Phil yesterday, possible the best match we've ever seen...
Great spectacle as ever the RC. It's good for the future of the cup that the Americans are back IMO. Feel sorry for the lads on our team that hardly got a game. The bottom order didn't stand a chance in the singles with so little match time. Seems like Clarkey's plan was to play his big guns all the time and only use the rookies when he had to. That was never going to work when Kaymer, Westwood and Willet had no form coming into the cup. We'd have done no worse if every player had got at least one game a day. At least that way some of the rookies would not be coming home, essentially still as rookies!
Was fun. A few heroes and a few zeros. Westwood was in 'cause he is Clarkes buddy, he shouldn't have been in the team. Fitz was like a deer in headlights. Peiters, he's going places. Stenson, our best. But overall, we had one of the weakest cup teams for a while, the yanks didn't really have much strength in depth either but was better.
Well done.
Well done.
Thing is that course did not punish any player for not finding the fairway. There were balls hit miles off course which were perfectly playable and most players were still getting the ball onto the green with their second stroke. Very little 'laying up', no lost balls, very few genuine bad lies. Only balls that went in the water features caused a penalty. Think Michelson would have won his points on a British course? No chance.
However, all along, the Americans were monstering the putts and looked unbeatable. Hard to understand our lack of putting confidence.
However, all along, the Americans were monstering the putts and looked unbeatable. Hard to understand our lack of putting confidence.
Northbloke said:
It seemed every camera shot was either them draining a 20-footer or us missing a 5-footer. That was the story of the Cup for me.
I was thinking that. Every time they showed a European putting you knew it wasn't going in. Sergio and Mickleson were amazing in their last game though.Blackpuddin said:
Think Willett is suffering from Major win hangover. Hope I'm wrong but judging by this weekend and his testy performance at Wentworth a couple of months back I'm not sure he has the right temperament to reach those heights again.
I have been pondering it all today! I do think Willett almost lucked into his Major - it seems everyone else lost it rather than he won it - but I suppose that is the nature of the game sometimes. But I do agree - he did not play well. Kaymer was getting a proper slagging in my house - and he came good at the end - a great comeback albeit against someone who knew the US had already won!As for yesterday - Europe did better, miles better than the score suggested - four of the USA points yesterday won on the 18th. It generated a lot of "if only's".
So, moving onto 2018 - I heard the pundits saying the captaisn only get one chance now - is that right? Westwood might be a good choice to be fair - he has plenty of experience at the RC - he should know how to beat the US. Maybe Padraig? Poulter?
Did Sandy Lyle ever get offered the captaincy? Woosnam, Langer, Faldo from that era all did it.
SilverSpur said:
Thing is that course did not punish any player for not finding the fairway. There were balls hit miles off course which were perfectly playable and most players were still getting the ball onto the green with their second stroke. Very little 'laying up', no lost balls, very few genuine bad lies. Only balls that went in the water features caused a penalty. Think Michelson would have won his points on a British course? No chance.
However, all along, the Americans were monstering the putts and looked unbeatable. Hard to understand our lack of putting confidence.
That was my thought too. Was set up to just pull out driver and smash it as far as you could and not worry about where it would end up as you'd still have a shot into the green. However, all along, the Americans were monstering the putts and looked unbeatable. Hard to understand our lack of putting confidence.
It was set up as a pro-am type course, so as much as I've read it was 'greatest golf ever' type stuff I got the impression it wasn't much of a challenge for the players.
The course was set-up very easy, so lots of birdies and long drives as a result. I don't mind that, per se, it is good to watch.
So is an extremely difficult course good to watch, in a different way.
Both teams played the same course and the winner, as always, was the team of better putters.
The global reputation of American golf fans sinks ever lower. But no sour grapes here, I really enjoyed watching it.
So is an extremely difficult course good to watch, in a different way.
Both teams played the same course and the winner, as always, was the team of better putters.
The global reputation of American golf fans sinks ever lower. But no sour grapes here, I really enjoyed watching it.
London424 said:
SilverSpur said:
Thing is that course did not punish any player for not finding the fairway. There were balls hit miles off course which were perfectly playable and most players were still getting the ball onto the green with their second stroke. Very little 'laying up', no lost balls, very few genuine bad lies. Only balls that went in the water features caused a penalty. Think Michelson would have won his points on a British course? No chance.
However, all along, the Americans were monstering the putts and looked unbeatable. Hard to understand our lack of putting confidence.
That was my thought too. Was set up to just pull out driver and smash it as far as you could and not worry about where it would end up as you'd still have a shot into the green. However, all along, the Americans were monstering the putts and looked unbeatable. Hard to understand our lack of putting confidence.
It was set up as a pro-am type course, so as much as I've read it was 'greatest golf ever' type stuff I got the impression it wasn't much of a challenge for the players.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-...
boxsey said:
Bit of sour grapes really, European team putted poorly, and RC's are always won on the greens.DuncanM said:
boxsey said:
Bit of sour grapes really, European team putted poorly, and RC's are always won on the greens.sidicks said:
deckster said:
To an extent I agree - but it does become somewhat one-dimensional when the world's most exciting golfing spectacle is effectively reduced to a putting competition.
Le Golf National, 2018 venue, has water on numerous holes, so should punish wayward shots!Gassing Station | Sports | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff