It must be Ryder Cup week.
The Americans’ biennial angst has resurfaced, Jon Rahm’s tummy ache became news last week and everybody but Ted Lasso seems to be chiming in about what’s likely to happen at Whistling Straits this week.
Thank you Brooks Koepka. Thank you Bryson DeChambeau. Thank you Seve Ballesteros for making the Ryder Cup relevant 36 years ago.
It’s nice to have the noise back.
It has been three years since the Europeans won the little gold trophy in France and five years since Patrick Reed shushed Rory McIlroy and the Europeans at sun-splashed and red-draped Hazeltine.
Welcome back and can we get a chorus of “Olé, olé, olé!” from the European side and a visual of some beefy American guys wearing Uncle Sam hats?
Like nothing else in golf, the Ryder Cup churns emotions because it’s like nothing else in golf.
It gave us Mark Calcavecchia in tears and American captain Dave Stockton in the Atlantic Ocean after the U.S. won at Kiawah Island in 1991.
It gave us Payne Stewart spraying champagne from a balcony at the Country Club after an American victory in 1999, just weeks before he would perish in a plane crash.
It gave us Darren Clarke crying in the Irish countryside after losing his wife to cancer and winning the Ryder Cup.
It gave us Ian Poulter making five consecutive birdies in the gathering darkness at Medinah on a Saturday nine years ago, setting in motion a Sunday comeback that still sends chills or shivers depending on your allegiance.
It gave us Phil Mickelson calling out captain Tom Watson after a lopsided loss at Gleneagles in 2014 and Tiger Woods going 0-4 at Le Golf National three years ago.
And, don’t forget it gave us Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin shaking hands after a conceded putt in 1969, a move that would no doubt be excoriated by the many brave wordsmiths on social media today.
Wonder what this week will give us?
It will start, no doubt, with questions about Koepka and DeChambeau – surprise, surprise.
That’s what the Ryder Cup does – it turns relatively small things into big things.
Koepka created a brushfire last week with comments in a magazine interview in which he talked about the particular challenges of playing in the Ryder Cup and how disruptive it is to his routine. He didn’t sound excited about it.
To be fair, it’s a very different week for players and he’s just the latest in a line of top players who have said similar things. It’s a variation on a theme previously voiced by David Duval, Rory McIlroy and others.
It doesn’t mean Koepka doesn’t belong on the team. If his wrist is healthy, as he pronounced it to be last week, Koepka can be one of the most valuable pieces of the American team.
He may not like how the week is structured but Koepka will show up with that stone-faced stare and a game that has won four major championships. If he’s healthy, captain Steve Stricker’s team is better with Koepka on it.
As for DeChambeau, he spent much of last week power training in North Carolina, working on winning the long-drive competition he’s in next week. He did so much work that DeChambeau said he “wrecked” his hands prepping for what is golf’s version of a WWE event.
That probably sent Stricker looking for some antacids. There was already a personality barrier with DeChambeau and some of his teammates, now there’s the matter of him swinging for the fences like never before. It will be a shock if Stricker sends DeChambeau out with a partner in alternate shot matches this week.
If the Americans win, there will be the expected chorus of comments about how the media made too big a deal out of things and they are all in it together. Even if the Americans don’t win, that may be the case. Or not.
But the Americans need to win.
Whistling Straits is a golf course that accentuates the Americans’ reliance on power off the tee and Stricker went all in on that approach when he added Daniel Berger and Scottie Scheffler to the roster instead of Kevin Na or Webb Simpson. Stricker chose to play to his strengths as he should.
The Europeans are playing the underdog card because that’s what they do, not unlike how Tom Brady keeps winning Super Bowls by pretending people are doubting him. The Europeans aren’t big underdogs. Captain Pádraig Harrington likes his team, and he should.
Asked recently about the only previous Ryder Cup he’s played in, Justin Thomas said he was struck by how quickly it came and went. After weeks and months of anticipation, the week arrived and then it was gone in a blur.
That’s how some people feel about Christmas. They love the build-up and when Christmas week arrives, they want things to slow down, to let the anticipation and excitement last a little longer.
It has been three years since the Europeans guzzled champagne in Paris.
Santa Claus is finally coming to town again.
Top: Ian Poulter and Sergio García
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