In golf’s calendar we are within a short putt of the Players Championship and a towering 5-iron of the Masters and because it’s an odd year there is a Ryder Cup in September over which to start licking our lips. In exactly 30 weeks from now, on Monday 22 September in fact, the two teams will gather at Bethpage Black on Long Island, New York state, for the 44th Ryder Cup.
Many books have been written about the phenomenon that is Tiger Woods. I have over 20 on my shelves and expect more soon. More books have been written about the Masters but that is because it, the first major championship, whoops tournament, of the year began in 1934. There have been many more about the Open as you would expect about an event that was first held in 1860.
But no golf event in the past 40-plus years has spawned so much noise and excitement, or so many books, as the biennial battle between Europe and the U.S. “Ryder Cup Rivals: The Fiercest Battles for Golf’s Holy Grail” by Hank Gola is the most recent.
Since the Ryder Cup became a genuine competition, which is to say when golfers from mainland Europe were first included in 1979, it has grown into an event that attracts some of the biggest television audiences in all sport, not just golf. Millions and millions around the world. People who hardly know the difference between a tea pot and a tee peg have heard about the Ryder Cup and at the mention of it a slow smile spreads over their faces.
About this time in the calendar in 2018, seven years ago, there came a somewhat effervescent assessment of the forthcoming match at Le Golf National near Paris, France. “The Ryder Cup is dead – you just don’t know it yet,” it began. Would-be journalists should note the classic journalistic ploy on display here – grab your readers’ attention immediately.
It went on: “… the young, talented, hungry golfers from the United States, benefiting from the cohesive leadership of the Task Force era, are going to roll to victory in 2018 in Paris … and … will set the stage for a decade of blowouts, sapping the intrigue out of the Ryder Cup.” It was splendid hyperbole.
There followed a number of reasons why the U.S. already had their feet on the throats of the Europeans and it was hardly worth members of the home team boarding the Eurostar in London for the three-hour train ride to Paris. A newfound American team spirit, for so long a strength of Europe teams, had emerged at the recent Presidents Cup. Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth had seemed a potent pairing at that event. Dustin Johnson was the world’s No. 1 player. Tiger Woods’ appointment as a vice captain was said to be a masterstroke.
The trouble is that in September, on a sprawling faux links near Versailles, the United States, the country that was “… going to roll to victory in 2018 in Paris …” did not do that. Woods, one of Jim Furyk’s captain’s picks, did not win a point from his four matches. Nor did Bryson DeChambeau, a debutant, from his three. Johnson was triumphant only in the opening morning’s four-balls, losing his next four matches. And Masters champion Reed won only the singles of his three appearances.
“For people that see him on any given day Sergio García can still hit it tee to green better than anybody on the planet. He’s still that good and he’s still very valuable.”
Jon Rahm
For Europe, Francesco Molinari, the reigning Open champion, was unbeaten in five matches, forming a famous partnership in four-balls and foursomes with Tommy Fleetwood, and leading the home continent to victory by seven points. Thomas Bjørn, the winning captain, promised to have the score tattooed on a part of his body if Europe won – and when his team delivered success its members made sure he did so.
Those of a European persuasion must contain their excitement at recent news: the unprecedented run of success by Europeans on the PGA Tour in the U.S. and that Sergio García, Europe’s leading points scorer, who moved to LIV Golf, has fulfilled the requirements to rejoin the DP World Tour – paying fines totalling $1.2 million – and thus is eligible for the Ryder Cup.
“For people that see him on any given day Sergio García can still hit it tee to green better than anybody on the planet,” Jon Rahm said of his countryman and Ryder Cup teammate. “He’s still that good and he’s still very valuable.”
In January Tyrrell Hatton won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour. Since the start of the year Europeans have won the three events on the PGA Tour that preceded last week’s Mexico Open and four of the previous five. Such a run of victories by Sepp Straka, Rory McIlroy, Thomas Detry and Ludvig Åberg was unexpected and welcome.
Barring injuries, McIlroy will make his eighth Ryder Cup appearance this September and Åberg his second. To win the recent Genesis Invitational, Åberg birdied four of his last six holes and sank a nerve-wracking 6-foot putt on the 72nd hole. Straka, 31, played two years ago in Rome and with three victories on the PGA Tour is a strong contender for this year’s event.
Perhaps the most encouraging result was victory by Detry, 32, in the Phoenix Open earlier this month. The Belgian has long been known for his talent but seems to have lacked trust in both it and himself. The confidence he will have gained by this seven-shot victory should enable him to qualify for Luke Donald’s team.
Another measure of the rise of Europeans is that of the top 20 in last week’s world ranking, eight men are eligible for Europe and 11 for the U.S. And Rahm, the heartbeat of any European team in which he plays, is not included in this ranking, his position – 52nd – being too low. Likewise Garcia, who was 487th.
Donald is attempting to lead his team to a rare victory in the U.S. – Europe have won in the U.S. only four times, the first in 1987. (The U.S. have not won in Europe since 1993.) Donald is also attempting to become the first man since Tony Jacklin in 1985 and 1987 to win successive Ryder Cups. He has every right to be feeling good at the moment and possibly better than he did at the same time before the 2023 event.
It it is early days in the Ryder Cup cycle. It is what happens on the last week in September 2025 that matters not the first few weeks of that year. Europeans can be encouraged by all means and can think of unfurling their yellow and blue flags and rehearsing all those songs for the first tee. But please forget the hyperbole. It is not dignified.
E-MAIL JOHN
Top: Early-season results have European Ryder Cup flag-wavers optimistic.
MIKE EHRMANN, GETTY IMAGES